Do You Want to Flounder or Thrive?

Many authors and thought leaders are going 100 mph, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to do the work of 5 people. It’s exhausting to watch, but it’s remarkable in its own right. They have a long, long list of things they want to do and things they need to do—bucket lists, reading lists, lists of people to meet, list of current relationships to nurture, invitations to more events than they could possibly attend—yet they flounder when it comes to making progress.

They lack clarity, and end up swimming in circles.

They lack a dynamic mechanism in place that can act as a filter or a buffer to eliminate unnecessary tasks and obligations. Everything they do needs to be looked at through the lens of their objectives and if the activity isn’t building towards those goals then it shouldn’t make its way onto their overbooked calendars.

That’s the power of clarity—without it you flounder.

Now, there are other authors and thought leaders that I work with that protect their time like it is the most precious resource in the universe (and to them it may very well be). They don’t allow a call to be scheduled, won’t attend a meeting unless they are absolutely sure it aligns with their goals. They have clarity and make choices that support their goals and keep the world from clouding their vision. They get the right stuff done in a timely and logical way. Their content is reaching the markets they are serving and having a measurable impact, to boot. They tend to be more relaxed, less frenetic, and not only are they financially better off, they seem to be more emotionally balanced. As an added bonus, they also just seem happier and less stressed—that’s thriving.

So, of course, the answer to the question of whether you want to flounder or thrive is pretty obvious (if you prefer floundering, sorry, but I can’t help you). We all want to thrive. No one enjoys floundering for months or years, or decades on end. Are you willing to put the time, the energy, the effort, and the resources into getting the clarity you need? Is it something you can or should be doing in isolation? I’d say most folks (eventually) are willing to put in the effort but shouldn’t be doing it in isolation. If you desire clarity and want to thrive, commit to developing a strategy today.