How to find clarity.

A change tornado.

I love catching up with people who are doing interesting things.

Chatting on the phone and hearing what they’ve been up to is usually a great joy for me.

But recently I found that it was starting to make me feel bad, especially when I would talk with people who were CRUSHING it.

When I’d hear of somebody doing super well it, I’d think “Why am I not doing that?” or “Wow, I am so far behind.”

This is no way to live, so I wanted to figure out where these thoughts stemmed from and I think I did.

A couple of things:

1. I have no framework for deciding what opportunities I want to pursue and why I will pursue them

2. I’m not actually pursuing anything meaningful to myself, and thus any opportunity seems good compared to me just running in circles

To address these issues, I needed to pull out my secret weapon.

Whenever I don’t like a certain aspect of my life I do something I call a change tornado (if anybody can think of a less corny name, I’m all ears).

A change tornado is where you start changing a bunch of things in your life in order to get a better, or at least new, persepctive, habit or result.

You can use this when you are feeling stuck.

The only rule is that the changes have to be positive changes. I’m not talking about doing erratic things or picking up new vices just for the sake of change, but rather purposely throwing myself into new, positive habits in an effort to see new results.

To continue with this example here’s how I applied the change tornado to my lack of clarity problem.

I had a hunch that my lack of clarity on the direction of my life was coming from not knowing what I wanted in life.

I had another hunch that I was jamming so many personal development podcasts, business newsletters, and stories of successful people down my throat that I wasn’t giving my brain enough time to think for itself.

All of my ideas became regurgitated podcast material. They weren’t authentic.

I’ve found that I do my best work when I’m coming from a place of love (meaning I love what I’m working on), authenticity, and curiosity.

So what did I do?

A couple of things.

1. Media diet

   1. I unsubscribed from every newsletter and email I could find

   2. Deleted social media for 1 week

   3. Stopped listening to podcasts for a while

   4. Stopped reading for a while

2. Picked up running

   1. Signed up for a race and started training for it

3. Stopped drinking alcohol

   1. I’ve heard this can have MASSIVE benefits and wanted to give it a try

4. Journaled about what I really cared about

   1. Gave myself a place to truly think through and write down what I care about without the distraction of other people’s voices around

Basically, I just started changing a bunch of stuff to see what would happen. I chose things that I have heard can give people clarity.

Here are some things I realized through this process:

• I love personal development and the idea of becoming the best versions of ourselves

• I love building fun brands

• I love people & building community

• Living with a sense of purpose is important to me

• Feeling like the work I’m doing is impactful is important to me

• Running & not drinking makes you feel like a million bucks

• It is okay for me to evolve and not be a photographer/videographer forever

I wouldn’t say I’m 100% clear on my direction but I do feel a hell of a lot better than I did before the process and have some hunches on how to move forward now, which feels good.

So why am I telling you this?

I’m telling you this because I bet there are aspects of your life where you feel unclear or stuck.

And maybe, just maybe, a change tornado could be your ticket to clarity.

More blogs coming soon,

Flickman