Clarity Creation

Welcome to the Chaos to Clarity series! This series is great for anyone who’s feeling a bit out of sorts, stuck and maybe even a bit chaotic in their life/business. 

I want to preface this and say that there will always be times of chaos in life & business (right now as I’m typing this one child is trying to show me a dance move, the other is whining because it’s nearly nap time and the dog is barking at the wind…so. There’s that 🤣 ). This isn’t meant to dull out all chaos for the rest of eternity. Also, let’s just recognize how BORING life would be if everything was always sunshine and butterflies. 

I used to think chaos in life was meant to bring me down and show me all the “bad”. When in reality I feel like chaos in life is a way to spice things up and show you that you can in fact weather all the storms. 

First and foremost - You have survived 100% of the storms life has thrown at you thus far. 

Not all that long ago I felt like things in life and business were a mix of spinning out of control and not spinning at all. Everything I did felt heavy and weird along with a side of confusion. I had no clue what I really wanted to be doing but also felt like I “should” be doing it all. Or like I was doing it all but really only half assing everything. I knew I needed to have a come to Jesus meeting with myself to figure out what it was that I wanted to focus on. Take it from me, you can have it all but you have to decide what that looks like, how  much energy you’ll need to give to each thing and know that the timeline you *think* you’ll be following might have to be extended in your “doing of all the things”. I will also say that trying to do all the things at once will probably result in a lot of tears & frustration because nothing is actually getting done. AHEM…procrastination nation 😬 

Let me take you back to 2013 when I took my first yoga teacher training. We did an exercise called the passion & core values exercise. It was life changing for me. I realized that I could have my cake and eat it too. That there was a way for me to do all the things I wanted to do, not get burnt out and still have down time. It’s taken me a while but I’ve finally come to terms with what I NEED to do and what I WANT to do as far as my businesses go. I know I don’t NEED to do everything and that it’s ok to WANT to only do a select few things. 

As far as the exercise goes, I’ve since added to it and gave it my own twist. This exercise allows you to delve into what your core values and passions are, help keep you focused in your business as well as cultivate creative juices (or reignite creativity if it’s been dulled).  

What is a core value and what is a passion?

A core value is something that can describe your being or true authentic self. A passion is what goes and gets results and allows you to express and distinguish your being. 

When I start feeling like my business is going nowhere and/or I want to switch directions (or I have a shiny new thing that I want to venture off on…which is often LOL) I start by asking myself some questions:

First scenario - I discover a shiny new thing that I want to do: 

Will it move my business forward? 

Will it hold my business back?

Will it be busy work?

Will it be a $5k task (forward moving) or will it be a $5 task (spin in place, slow moving)?

Second scenario - I am feeling stuck and uninspired:

What will move my business forward?

What do I think is holding my business back?

What work am I doing that is busy work?

What are some $5000 tasks that I want to do but haven’t started yet?

What are some $5 tasks that I want to do (or have been doing)?

Sometimes I answer both sets of questions and sometimes I only answer one. Usually the first is the set that I answer the most - being creative I spend A LOT of time thinking of new fun things to do. So if you need someone to throw ideas of what to do to spark your business, seriously give me a call and we’ll pow wow about it. 

Next I grab my list of words (CLICK HERE for the download of this whole exercise) and a highlighter! With that list I set a timer for 3-5 minutes and highlight words that stand out to me. If you do this exercise I know 3-5 minutes seems like not a lot of time, but that’s the point. You are simply looking for words that stand out to you! If there are other words that jump out at you that are not on the list feel free to add them. 

After the timer is up I start using those words to fill in the phrase:

My life is not worth living if I have to live without _______. When I feel ______ I feel alive, loved, in the moment and purposeful. 

The word that always comes up for me is creativity. My life is not worth living if I have to live without creativity. When I feel creative I feel alive, loved, in the moment and purposeful. That statement couldn’t be truer for me. Being creative is the thing that fuels my fire the most. Even now, as I write this I get so excited and filled to the brim thinking of all the creative ways I could bring this information to you! 

Work your way through your list, if the words that you chose do not fit into those sentences then cross them off. 

Why do these words matter?!!? These words are things you can come back to when you’re feeling down or stuck or out of sorts. If you go back to the initial questions - you can probably fit the word into that sentence. 

Will being creative move my business forward? YES.

Will being creative hold my business back? NO.

You’ll probably notice that you have multiple words that can fit into these sentences. There will most likely be one or two words that stand out the most that give you your true authentic self. For me, creativity is that. If you’d ask people to describe me, chances are they’d say, “she’s very creative”. 

Let’s take a look at passion - these are things that will accelerate you forward. Think of your core words as the driver or the one doing the steering and the passion words as the one pushing on the gas pedal. 

A couple of my passion words: mindfulness and curiosity. 

So I’m sure by now you might be thinking, “but I thought this was about motivation!? I’m not motivated…how does knowing these words get me motivated?!”

Here’s where I want you to get quiet. To sit still and just ponder. If you focus on these words what happens? Do you start to feel a bit lighter? Do you start to feel a kindling of inspiration start to form? 

That’s where you want to be working from. That little kindling. And just like kindling, in order to make a fire rage you have to give it oxygen. You have to give it life. In order to make your business flourish and step into motivation you have to give it life and room to grow. 

In today’s world we want things now. As fast as possible. But with business you have to take one step at a time. And sometimes you have to take a step back in order to leap forward. 

When you start letting core values and passion lead your way you’ll find that you can weather any storm. 

I want to know what your core and passion words are! Comment below or send me an email! 

If this has you wanting more you can also book a free 1-on-1 discovery call with me! We’ll take a dive into this exercise and talk about where you are in your business, where you want to go and what’s holding you back.

There’s more to come from this series!! Check back next Monday for my simple technique to start taking action in your business today or get on the email list below to be notified when the blog goes live each week!