If you want to get closer to Extreme Clarity, here’s how I suggest getting started:
1. Crown the top priority:
The first and necessary step for getting any clarity let alone Extreme Clarity is to choose one highest priority. With general clarity, you choose a priority but allow other priorities to rise up and push the top priority aside. With Extreme Clarity, all other priorities are subordinate to the top priority.
The order of your priorities is by choice and by design. You recognize, acknowledge, and accept the consequences of the order of your priorities. You are not surprised by any tension, conflict, or discomfort these decisions create. You’re also not surprised by anyone who disagrees, misinterprets, or prioritizes differently.
2. Stay out of the middle:
The middle is where ambiguity, confusion, and uncertainty thrive. When you have two or more main priorities, you must choose one to serve above the others. Why? Because priorities eventually come into conflict. If you wait to decide when you’re in the moment, your priorities will change based on external influences and your emotions.
For example, people struggle with honesty and empathy because they don’t have Extreme Clarity of which one is their true priority. Same thing with comfort and being in shape or work/life balance. When you try to balance both priorities you end up wavering in the middle and being weak in both priorities. The middle is where you go when you don’t want to experience the consequence of any priority, but also where you don’t experience the benefits either.
3. Get binary:
The fastest and best way to push yourself into Extreme Clarity is by getting binary. Drill a decision down to two options. Sometimes three can work, but even three allows a surprising amount of complexity to creep in that clouds clarity. Binary options can be directional at first rather than detailed.
Will you go left or right, tell the truth or lie, prioritize health or comfort, live disciplined or undisciplined? Once you’ve chosen a direction, keep applying the binary standard to the next decision point. Binary decisions force you into deeper levels of clarity.
If you have questions about any of these, reply directly to this email.
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