The Traveler is sitting on the rock beside the path.
There's two choices in front of him.
And instead of rushing forward,
He takes the time to be Certain his path is going to take him there.
In order to be Certain,
He must be Clear.
Who is this Traveler?
Where is he in life?
What does he really desire?
We've arrived to the beginning. We started with Collapsing Time1 because that's where everyone wants to begin. We walked back through Certainty2 which you must have in order to Collapse Time (and get what you want in life).
If you haven't read Certainty, go read that first:
Now we're at the beginning.
The place most people either don't want to go, fear to go, or are oblivious to.
Clarity.
A seemingly most mundane place to begin, is the most important piece to th-
SKKKZZEEEETTT
We interrupt this incredibly boring article TO BRING YOU THIS IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT ---
You Can't Walk From A to B If You Don't Know Where The F#$% You Even ARE
Seems like that should be obvious
No?
Like,
Go ahead and draw a line from point A to point B,
Only
Don't have a point A.
Don't have a starting point.
Draw a line to point B, I'll wait.
Go ahead.
I'm not going anywhere.
NO CHEATING NOW!
Remember, your line can't have a starting point in this exercise.
The author is now sitting back and whittling a spoon while you attempt the lesson
Ok good,
Now that we've established the absurdity,
Let's get into why this isn't as easy as it looks.
Actually,
Before we do that ...
Let's jack up the absurdity.
We're here at Clarity, and this is the third part of our series. We started with Collapsing Time because that's where most people want to start.
They want to go REALLY FAST towards the thing they think they want.
They do it without Certainty, without knowing that the path their taking to get where they want is going to actually get them there ...
And they're doing that because they don't have Clarity.
Ok so,
Now draw that line again
REALLY REALLY FAST
GO NOW
QUICK
I'm imagining you flailing your pen vaguely over a sheet of paper as fast as possible unable to actually draw a line because you have no starting point and no direction for the line to go in.
Thats you ...
If you're trying to Collapse Time before you attain Certainty, which you can't attain without Clarity.
Just
WILDLY FLINGING YOURSELF ABOUT LIFE
Like an absolutely insane Goose that thinks anything which moves needs to be attacked.
Ok,
Let's get back to reality on Clarity here:
You want to get what you want in life as soon as possible.
So before we move fast towards whatever that is, we want to be Certain the path we are going to take is going to get is there.
Without knowing where you are starting from, mapping the path is impossible.
But Clarity is deeper than knowing where you are.
It's also knowing WHO you are.
How Do Most Deal With Clarity?
The answer is simple.
Most DON'T.
Picture a plucky enthusiastic and hopeful individual who wants to break out of the 9-5 rat race. They dream of a life where they can wake up whenever they want, the only boss they have to answer to is themselves, and they never have to worry about money again.
Beautiful dream.
So one day while they are browsing Facebook on the toilet at work, they run across a post which talks about making $10k/mo with a "faceless" Youtube channel.
You mean,
They can make MORE than they make NOW, with easy to make videos on Youtube which don't even require them to be on camera? Hot dog what a deal! They can make videos this should be easy!
They buy the course.
They buy the software.
They buy all the equipment they need.
They go deep into the nuances of how to make a really good youtube video. They study and they study. Finally after months of trying to make the perfect video, they've done it!
Upload.
I think dear reader you can see where this is going.
Our budding entrepreneur ...
BECAME AN INSTANT OVERNIGHT MILLIONAIRE MAJOR SUCCESS YAY!!!!
*PSYCHE!!!!!!!!*
Major burn on you I know.
Obviously they got crickets, because building something that valuable takes more than vague dreams and ill-defined desires.
They'll never know why it didn't work though.
But as they spent all of their money investing in this dream boat, and they are now stranded on the island of lost souls, they'll forever blame every single other thing and person out there instead of themselves for why it didn't work out.
The course sucked. They got the wrong equipment/software. The people watching the video just didn't get it and are stupid.
Its probably not so extreme.
Maybe they just needed to make a lot more videos. To stick with it. To grind it out.
Maybe they had nothing valuable to offer through a Youtube channel to begin with.
Maybe they suck with video and hate the process so they'll never be able to do well with it.
Maybe they are great with video, but not in a way that they need to be in order to make the kind of living they desire from it.
This person started out wanting something.
They saw this opportunity and they thought THAT was the thing which would get them what they wanted.
They thought it was easy.
They thought it was the thing they needed to do.
But the reality of their scenario is they fixated on a vague desire, and as soon as they saw a gas pedal in front of their foot they slammed their foot down.
Without telling what was in front of them.
Without knowing that they were even on a path their vehicle could travel.
Without even knowing what the vehicle was that they were in.
Without having ANY knowledge or understanding of whether that gas pedal would make them go backwards, forwards, or EXPLODE.
Ok ok
I can hear you breathing "BUT BUT BUT THAT'S ENTREPRENEURSHIP"
Naw buddy.
That's more like "BULLSHIP." Entrepreneurship involves making things, solving problems, and taking risks YES ...
But this is exactly what we are saying.
The people who get what they want in life, and get it fast, they have the following established:
They know who they are.
They know where they are, what they have, what they can do with it.
AND THEY KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANT.
Therefore they are able to map a Certain path to get there, and then find the ways to arrive as quickly as possible.
This isn't an Entrepreneurship thing, it's a life thing.
How about health and fitness?
Without any research I can confidently say that the most common way people choose a diet or exercise "program" for themselves is based 97% of the time on what everyone else around them is doing (and to the extent they are influenced by marketing through social media).
(I definitely didn't pick that number off the top of my head)
"I read that Keto is the best way to lose fat I'm gonna do that!"
Bet you didn't think through how Keto would destroy your metabolism and give you significant problems 10 years from now, did you?
(I don't know if that's what's going to happen to you with Keto, I'm not an expert on biology, nor am I an expert on YOU, but that's the whole damn point)
Whole 30? Paleo? Biking? Weight Lifting? Pilades? Yoga?
There's nothing wrong with any of these things.
But how many people stop and think "let me get to really know myself and how I react to different foods and physical activity, and how that all fits into my life, and whether making certain diet or exercise changes are going to be manageable and sustainable in my life?"
My answer is 3 people.
Everyone else is going "HAPPY NEW YEAR! Yea NOW I can get in shape!"
Ok Jim.
But maybe all you really need to do is sleep a bit more, eat more veggies, and move your ass more each day.
Remember that bit about Frequency and Intensity from Certainty?
Let's take Jim as a sacrificial lamb in our examples here. (For the concerned, Jim doesn't exist, and no lambs will be harmed)
Jim works at a computer for a day job, and thus spends most of the time during the day sitting on his ass. In the past Jim has done diets, and he used to work out pretty regularly. Covid shut down all that for him (for a variety of all the excuses).
Now, if Jim suddenly decides to do Whole 30 and work out 5 times a week, he's going to fall on his face pretty rapidly.
He's been doing none of those things, and suddenly fitting all that into his life and around his family is going to be really hard.
Plus, does Jim even really WANT to do Whole 30?
Does he feel good and excited and motivated to make his food plans around those restrictions?
Does he WANT to work out 5 times a week?
Does he even know what he would do which could be effective for him?
If Jim doesn't want to injure himself and fall back off the wagon for another yet, he best stop and get some CLARITY.
So,
Let's talk about what that Clarity Is.
Actually, first,
One more thing.
I want to point out a common thread throughout all of this,
You may have picked up on this, if perhaps subconsciously.
Look through all the examples we've gone over where people have failed to get what they want.
All the scenarios where people have lacked clarity, where they've lacked certainty, where they've attempted to collapse time not even knowing where they are going ...
What do you think they have in common?
Did you answer ...
They are all Forms?
DING DING DING!!!!
WE HAVE A WINNER JONNY. SHOW THEM WHAT THEY'VE WON!!!!
IIiiiitttssss a FANCY NEW DINETTE SET FROM ROYHILL!!!
No wait,
Wrong show.
What you win is the clarity of perspective on Form vs Function.3
"Form" is the thing. Its "a keto diet." It's "making a faceless youtube channel."
The Function is the outcome you desire from the thing. It’s “feeling good in your body.” It’s “more stamina to play with my kids.” It’s “making enough money to live on while working at home.”
Our "trapped in the 9-5" person who wasted tons of time and money on a faceless youtube channel was focused on *the thing* because they thought that's what they needed to get the outcome they desired.
Clarity ...
Is about deeply understanding The Function you are after.
In order to do that ... ?
Finding The 3 Parts to Clarity
Clarity is one thing and many things put together at the same time.
Remember the reason we want Clarity is so that we can understand the right path to take us towards what we want - it's to find Certainty.
In order to find that path, we need to know where we are starting from, and we need to know where we are going.
Interwoven through "where we are" and "what we want" is Who We Are.
1 - The Clarity of Self
This is perhaps ...
THE ULTIMATE CLARITY insert booming godlike voice
"To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom" - thank you Socrates you ancient font of good quotes you
This is where it really all begins. What it all really comes down to.
Before you can get what you want in life, you have to know what you want in life.4 In order to know what you really want in life you have to really know and embrace yourself.
How many people go throughout their entire lives chasing after a vision of life that is based on someone else?
How many times have YOU done that?
You simply can't have all the correct answers for getting anywhere in life unless you really know yourself.
Part of where you are is WHO you are.
It's how you play your game.
It's understanding the things you are best at and the things you aren't best at.
It's knowing what you don't want to do as well as what you do want to do.
It's understanding the foundational philosophies and principles you live your life by which you embrace and know for certain you'll be happy with no matter what.
How do you find Clarity of Self?
You slow down.5
This is why when people start with speed, it's one of those choices which leads to the least beneficial outcome (I'm putting that lightly). People don't want to slow down and figure out who they are, they just want what they want and they want it NOW.
You slow down and you STOP trying to make the ultimate outcome happen.
You change your perspective so that you become the gardener of you - someone who embraces the practice of becoming better at growing trees rather than trying to grow the tallest tree.
You start moving, slowly, and you learn.
You take what you have in the present, the things you do right now which you find yourself good at and enjoy, and you just do those more.
Knowing yourself is a long game.
"BUT I WANT TO KNOW MYSELF NOOOWWWW"
*SLAP*
Get a hold of yourself!
We just went over this.
When you apply speed without Certainty and without Clarity, your best case scenario is you spin your wheels for a long time. Worst case, you completely wreck yourself and never get what you want.
Slow The F(#$) Down.
Spend time with yourself. Get good at being bored.6
You are the only one who can figure this all out. No one is going to tell you who you are. No one else CAN.
One framework we use for this is Frequency - Intensity - Purpose.
Frequency is what it sounds like. It's doing something a lot. Intensity is putting your unique stamp on the thing you're doing. Purpose is what you discover after you have applied enough Frequency and Intensity.
Knowing yourself is a process of growing that happens when you work through all that.
Your knowledge of yourself is never absolute. It is always growing.
But if you don't slow down to start figuring out where you are now, before moving forward ...
2 - Clarity of Where You Are
Before you even move, you must know where you are.
Remember our little drawing exercise?
Btw,
While I was waiting for you to draw a line with no starting point I whittled this spoon.
Here you go:
We've established that absurdity. You can't go in a direction if you don't know your starting point.
And 'where you are' is semantically and technically "the starting point."
Who you are is a part of this, but let's focus on the technical "where" aspect.
In order to head in any direction, you have to have an awareness of where you are in the present or "direction" has no meaning.
There's nothing to measure against.
Heading in a direction suggests both that you are starting in one place, and that after going toward another place you can look back and see how far you've come and in what way you have come.
You can think of "where you are" as a compiling of your current state.
Understand all the dynamics, assets, factors, relationships and situations of your life because they all weigh in on where you are.
Think you want to become a real estate investor, but it's going to take all of your savings and assets to do it well?
What about your family? What kind of risk does that put on them to make a move like that?
It's not just the money that you have, or the assets you have.
Remember,
We're doing this because we want to choose a Certain Path towards the things we want in life ...
(Which we'll get to in a moment)
Part of the Path that you are going to walk on includes how that path affects the life of the people around you (which by the way in turn affects you and the life you ultimately live - it’s all intertwined).
As a family man with a wife and 4 kids, every choice I make in my business I weigh against the impact on my family. Part of the reason for that is one of my values is in my family. So I'm not going to make choices which make their life harder.
In fact, I make choices for THEM FIRST.
But I know this and live this way, because I have Clarity of Myself, and of Where I Am. So when I work towards What I Want, I can take all of those things into account.
3 - Clarity of What You Want
Clarity of "What You Want" sounds simple.
Know what you want.
And it makes sense that knowing what you want is easier if you know where you're starting from and more importantly, who you are.
But as we've explored before,
It's much harder to know what you want than it is to know what you don't want. Most people who *think* they know what they want, aren't focused on the FUNCTION of their desire ...
They are focused on a FORM - which they believe will result in THE FUNCTION.
To navigate this,
We're gonna take a page from my 7 year old daughter,
Who frequently goes on bouts of asking me "why" for every single answer I give for anything ever. What's for dinner? Chicken. Why? Because that's what I decided to cook. Why? Because that's what's thawed. Why?
OK?
Let's apply that to life.
You want a nice shiny new Porsche 911 Carrera.
You've obsessed over Porsche for years. Now you're really getting into all this new goal setting, this perspective of getting what you want in life.
And you're like "YEA I'm finally gonna get my Porsche! That's what I want!"
Ok chief.
Why?
Why do you want that Porsche?
And you say "uh ... because I've always wanted it. It's so cool."
Great. Why is it so cool to you? Why is that important?
And you say "uh ... I really love the craft of things and I want my car to embody that."
Great. Why do you love the craft of things? Why do you care that your car embodies that? Why does it have to be that car to do so? Why can't you love the craft of things in a different way?
And you say "uhhhh .... well .. um.... gee golly mister I don't know"
See,
You don't really know what you want.
What you want is NOT "a desire for a thing." That THING represents something else. There's a deep reason behind your desire for the thing.
It's also quite possible your lack of clarity of SELF is feeding that desire, because you see something that connects deeply with you in a way that you don't understand, but what they have promises to fulfill on that desire.
(Great marketing)
In fact, most marketing is probably chiefly benefited from people not really knowing themselves or what they really want in life. But that's a conversation for another time.
How do you figure out what you want?
You go through the 7 Whys.
Well, you go through as many WHYs as possible. Just like my daughter.
You keep asking yourself WHY until you hit the basic foundation of principle and philosophy that governs your life.
And along the way you may find that the reasons for certain desires uncover gaps, or missing components to your life which aren't *the thing* but which you believe the thing will complete.
Maybe the real reason you want that Porsche is because when you imagine yourself driving that car around, it's as someone who has the freedom and success and happiness in your work and your life - and right now you do NOT have that freedom, success, and happiness as far as you see it or feel it.
Perhaps it's a good idea to slow down, and figure out that Clarity before you go spending all of your money on things that aren't going to actually get you what you really want.
Don't you think?
The Clarity Hierarchy
If you're here for the tools and the tactics ...
You might know that we constantly bring you back to the Principles.
And you might think,
"Well gosh darn I suppose I need to figure out how to figure it all out by just ... figuring it all out? They aren't gonna give me a tool to do that are they?"
Well my goosely chum,
Turns out while yes, we are all about Principles,
Secretly what we're really about is how to apply these Principles in Life (and Business, and Money, and Relationships, and Health, etc)
(It’s not all that secret)
A small distinction? Perhaps.
But here's where you get to win today.
We are privileged to have some of the most insightful individuals as a part of our community. One of those is Lukas Resheske.
Recently he presented a 5 part series on what he is calling The Clarity Hierarchy.
This concept we've presented before (in the early days of Lukas's ideation), as a tool for working backwards from the Form to the Function, in order to figure out what you really want to do in life.
(That article is From Form to Function, How to Think Your Way to Clarity)
That is a great place to start.
And when you are ready, you can view all 5 presentations where Lukas breaks down each level of the Hierarchy - Philosophies, Principles, Strategies, Tactics, and Tools. And how you can use that hierarchy to get Clarity, to use that Clarity to find Certainty, and once you find Certainty, to Collapse Time towards the thing you want.
Click here to receive the full 5 part series training.7
The Ever Changing Garden of Life
Who you are, where you are, and what you want are ever changing.
"HANG ON A MINUTE"
- You interject (rudely I might add)
"How am I supposed to be clear and certain if this sh$t is changing all the time?"
This IS life my friend.
We started with Collapsing Time because everyone wants to start there. They want the thing they want ASAP. They want to move fast and get where they want to go NOW.
But
Life is the journey. Life IS The Path you take.
I know that's cliche. But it's the truth. Life is every breath we take. It's every step we make ... I feel like I'm about to accidentally write a pop song.
If it all sounds simple,
It's because it is.
The only reason you haven't accepted it yet is because you have not walked through the river enough, and the times you have, you haven't had the receptivity necessary to really digest what this means.
To really learn in a way that your behavior actually changes.
If after reading this you're thinking "ehhh maybe"
Then do yourself a favor. Let it sit. And come back to this in time. At some point, it will hit you like a whale and bowl of petunias falling from the sky.
Live to Learn. Give to Earn.
Guardian Academy
This is simply astounding. Thank you for taking the time, effort and energy to give this to all of us. Thank you.