I collected a few thoughts of mine on how to create clarity.
To be precise, they are not only my thoughts. I love coaching and self help books and implemented a lot of tools into my daily routine. This is a colletion of what appears most important to me.
Enjoy 3 Tiny Lessons on getting clearer – either as video tutorial or in written form.

Tiny Lesson #1: The 2 most important tools for creating clarity

I am a bass player, musical director, composer, record label owner and father of two.
As you can imagine this is a lot to handle and one can easily get overwhelmed.
Luckily there is tools which help you to get clear and stay clear and manage your time well.
Here are the two most important tools ever!

It’s pen & paper!

Here are some reasons:

• Once you write down stuff, it is recorded, storaged and your mind can let go. So you are easing your mind, freeing it from workload / getting clogged.
• Furthermore now you have a statement you can keep track of.
• Your thoughts are moving quicker than lightning and yesterdays ideas or concept might be forgotten already, whereas your notes will remind you to important stuff, ideas and concepts
• But most important, writing is a manifestation, and a manifestation provides clarity.

So let us do on exercise: grab a pen and paper and write down what’s on your menu tomorrow

My list could look like this [pls note the slight exaggeration at some points ]

• explain my kids to not poke their fingers into my speaker cones
• do grocery shopping and clean up that desk
• write 2 No#1 Hit Songs
• practice that lick at 300 bpm
• write the 1st chapter of my autobiography
• file my tax return
• prepare for the gig on saturday

Important at this point:
Please – do not judge your items on the list, not while writing and not afterwards.

And now, do yourself a big favor:
Write that to do list very evening for the next 7 days.
Every evening grab pen & paper and write down what you have and want to do the next day.
Do that for 7 days and then meet me back here for the next step:

Tiny Lesson #2: Visualization exercise –
how will your perfect day in 5 years look and feel like?

Today it is visualization day: what will your perfect day look like in 5 years?
Please, have your pen and paper ready and then let’s go.

Important:
It is not about what you think a perfect day should look like but about what you want your perfect day to be like.

So, for example: getting up at 5, exercising for 2 hrs in the gym, then calling your mum and afterwards having 10 ultra productive hours etc.
If that is what you really want – fine.
But if deep down in your heart you are craving for that remote island, sipping cocktails 24/7, hey, then please go for it.

Here are some questions which might help you to visualize that great day.
And please, use pen & paper!

Questions:

• where do you wake up?
  • in a nightliner, in the middle on a fantastic tour
  • in a condo you just purchased
  • on the beach of that remote island
  • on the peak of a mountain, in your little byway tent, freezing your behind off
• what do you smell?
• what’s the temperature like?
• what do you hear?
  • birds chirping
  • kids running down the hallway
• what do you have for breakfast?
  • a smoothie
  • a big ole omelet…
• who is with you?
  • family
  • band mates
  • dolphins, ….
• what do you do all day?
  • tracking music
  • practising
  • windsurfing

What does your perfect day look like?

Take your time, let it flow, do not judge yourself, do not break your head and write it down.

Tiny Lesson #3: What Is The Next Step?

Please, have your visualization from Tiny Lesson #2 at hand.
If you do not have it, please go back and check Tiny Lesson #2

We now want to find out:
What is the next step?
What is the very next action we have to do to get closer to that perfect day.

And again: do not break your head on the way and do not judge yourself, your dreams.

Let us take the example of that person who just found out she wants to sipp cocktails on that remote island.

Her comes the hought process:
„OK, i want to drinkt cocktails on that dream island.
Well, which island would it be? Let me do some research. That will be my next step.“
Already pretty good but now we need to be more precise, following the old mantra:
‚ soon is not a time, some is not a number‘
Let us turn ‚I should do some research‘ into:
By the end of this week I will know about 3 possible destinations, what the climate is like on those islands, about the visa regulations and how big the cost of living are!
Boom!

Another example:
I want to be that Hans Zimmer like film composer.
In 5 years I will be sitting in my studio and write a score for the next Hollywood blockbuster.

Thought process:
„Wow, how does that work? Composing is one thing, but how did they get there.
Yeah, I know, I have to work on my webpage. That’s what I’ll do next.“
Wait -doooot – soon is not a time , some is not a number – make it precise.

Try this one:
„By the end of this week I have an inventory of my web appearance.
I’ll answer following questions for my webpage, linkedin, instagram and Facebook account:

• is the info text up to date?
• do I have one great picture?
• is my video content up to date?“

Boom!

You made a big step here.
You dared to voice your big dream, transcribed it into a goal and created an actionable first step. That’s a mighty lot.
Congratulations.

That was session 3 of my Tiny Lessons on Getting Clearer.
Feel free to visit edwardmaclean.com/coaching for more info.