I write these letters to gain clarity and perspective> My hope is to share them with you to help you do the same.
I started writing the story for my next book back in the summer of 2022 in a tiny apartment in the 2nd arrondissement in Paris.
I’d set 15 minutes aside every morning to write on my phone. Surrounded by early morning smells of fresh croissants from the bakery across the street, I would try and project into the future to stay in line with my futuristic science fiction tale. I would reference the structure I created to make sure the story made sense. I tried to get it all right from the beginning.
A little over two years after starting and about a month away from publishing the book, I was still making final edits. Working with an AI education company, I incorporated what I learned each day into the final version of the book.
I never planned for this. It just happened that I found myself here with an organization that could help me think about what the future looks like.
This is a reminder that you can’t get it right from the beginning.
Clarity, most times, comes through the process.
Waiting to Clarify:
Most of us want full clarity before we take any action.
We wait and wait and wait until we get the final greenlight, sparkling through the crystal clear glass of clarity, before we act on what we want to do. Until then, we dwell in the fog of the unknown, hoping that thinking and talking about our goals will clear the mist.
Although talking through your goals does help but when it’s done in excess, it works against you.
You begin to say the same thing over and over again, especially when you don’t have people holding you accountable. Thinking and talking expends energy that could be used to take action.
The truth is clarity comes from taking action.
Because when you act, you get feedback. That feedback then informs your next step, allowing you to think, decide, and act again.
This loop is the best way to get out of the fog and find clarity. Through the process, you learn that the destination you had in mind was vague to start with. It changes as you progress.
In time, you realize that you are not only learning about the external world, you are actually learning about yourself and the transformation that’s going on within.
You understand the process is more important than the outcome.
You learn that the journey itself is the destination.
4 Ways to Find Yourself in the Process (Build clarity-momentum)
When I started writing these letters, I had no idea what I wanted the outcome to be.
No big goal of what it would look like a year after starting. I just knew I’d learn a lot from doing this “writing exercise” every week. Now I have a system that allows me to do it consistently and I’ve learned more about my interests and what resonates with people.
You just have to start with the first step of the journey. When you prioritize action, you get feedback, gain clarity, and find meaning in the process itself.
Here are a few steps to build clarity-momentum through action.
1. It’s not about you (It’s about the craft):
It is said that Issac Newton first thought about his system of gravitation when an apple fell on his head whilst seated under a tree.
Don’t wait like Newton.
No passion fruit is dropping on your head to bless you with “your passion.”
It’s not about you. It’s about the valuable skill you pick up as you do your work.
Waiting for your passion to reveal itself is asking “what does the world have to offer me?”
A better approach is to flip this question and ask: “what can I offer the world?”
This is a more active approach that requires participation. You ditch the passion boat and get on the action road. Acquiring your version of rare and valuable skills that allows you to attract the type of work you want to do.
Don’t wait or rely on passion.
Get started and think about building a craft.
2. Fly the OODA Loop:
Earlier in world war 2, American fighter jets were no match to the much bigger German jets.
But they had one advantage, their smaller size allowed them to change directions quicker. John Boyd, was a military strategist who developed the idea of the OODA Loop.
It’s a framework to help make quick decisions in fast-moving environments like a battlefield. This can be applied to your craft as you progress in your journey.
The OODA loop goes:
- Observe: your entire field of reference and gather information.
- Orient: yourself based on the relevant information that’s been gathered.
- Decide: what to do from your point of orientation.
- Act: on that decision as soon as possible.
The feedback you get from acting will feed into the beginning of the loop to observe and start the entire process again.
The great thing about the OODA Loop is that you can use it at any point in time. You are always a beginner at the beginning point of observation.
When in doubt, fly the OODA Loop.
3. Pause & Reflect
“Know thyself”
Those words were etched above the entrance to the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, a sacred site for the ancient Greeks. It’s a reminder of what’s important. As much as you make observations of the world around you, the more important task is to pay attention to the world within.
With every decision, act, and feedback, there is an internal transformation that happens.
And you can’t improve something you can’t measure. So if you want to improve the quality of your life, you have to build out your internal gauge of what that “quality” is.
This all starts with self-reflection.
Take action to get going on your journey. Pause to reflect and know thyself.
Writing and doing creative work helps as a self-reflecting tool.
4. Stack & Frame Your Skills
Jack of all trades. Master of none?
There was a point I thought that was me. Engineer, musician, writer, business development specialist, sales rep, entrepreneur, blogger….
One of the musicians I interviewed for my first book literally said “bro, are you confused or what?” when I told him about my journey.
Perhaps, I was confused then. But the reality is that I was searching and I still am. This whole thing is a journey but what I’ve been learning recently is that as you go along your journey, through reflection, it’s important to stack up things that compound.
Skills you can leverage to attract opportunities that give you more autonomy, rooms for growth, and ability to contribute.
This comes through being intentional, paying attention, and developing your storytelling skills, so you can frame your unique journey in a way that gives you leverage.
I remember watching a video clip of the late great designer and entrepreneur, Virgil Abloh, holding up a dented tin can of a candle saying: “If I put this candle in an all-white gallery space, it looks like a piece of art. If I put it in a garage, it looks like a piece of trash. Someone will throw it away. It’s dented. I can either spend time designing the candle or I can just design the room it’s in.”
In this case, how you tell your story is the all-white gallery or the garage. It’s the room your journey lives in.
The way you frame your story and journey is very important.
Go on your journey and learn to tell your story the way you want it to be told.
