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My life philosophy dragged me out of a depression last year.
In early 2022 I was anxious, directionless and lost.
It was Seneca that once said ‘if one does not know which port one is sailing, no wind is favourable’.
This is where I was. I didn’t know which way to go. I was stuck in the mud.
Good job it wasn’t windy, I guess.
I wasn't alone. There are millions of people who feel like this.
Disconnected. Disinterested. Disengaged.
It took some time but I managed to find my way out. It’s been a journey but I’ve never been as happy, motivated or content as I am right now.
But how?
This concept underpins much of my life philosophy. It was vital for me getting better.
You must find clarity and break free from life's distractions.
The Race Of Life
I like to describe my philosophy in a simple metaphor.
You are a sports car and life is your race.
‘Clarity’ is the steering wheel which guides you around each corner.
Without getting clear with your thoughts, you tend to veer off track.
At best you drive aimlessly into the distance, at worst you crash straight into the barriers.
The race of life is full of distractions. Sometimes it’s raining. Sometimes it gets dark. Sometimes there are bumps in the road.
You need to find ways of turning on your windscreen wipers and flicking on the headlights.
Without clarity you miss the right turns.
Without clarity you smash into head first into bumps.
Without clarity you never finish first.
Getting clear in your thoughts is the first step to happiness, success and high performance.
Without clarity you struggle to understand yourself and your purpose.
You consistently make decisions that negatively impact you in the long term.
You become a passenger in your own life.
The quality of your life is dictated by the clarity of your thoughts.
Find clarity and you find your steering wheel.
Find clarity and you take back control of the life you want to live.
Three keys to clarity
What does clarity actually involve? We can break this down into 3 key areas:
Self-awareness
Awareness is always my first step with self-improvement.
Take time to study and understand yourself.
Develop your sense of who you are and what matters to you.
Create a vision of what you want your future to look like and build a path to get there.
The more self-aware you become the more opportunities you get to notice your thoughts.
Over time, the clearer the direction becomes you would like to travel in.
Self-regulation
The world is manic. We’re all busy. If you don’t take steps to mitigate this it can take its toll on your ability to think clearly.
Take steps to ensure you regulate your stress levels.
Engage in activities that restore your energy and improve your health.
In turn this clears your mind.
You make better decisions.
Self-regulating is the skill of balancing your health with your productivity.
You need to make sure you don’t lose sight of the big picture.
Your promotion, relationship, side-hustle all pale into insignificance when compared to your health.
Self-regulation provides the foundations for a high-performing life.
Attention
Attention is the new £50 note. It is the currency that makes the modern world go round.
The world is designed to distract you.
It has never been more important to practice maintaining your attention.
Distractions are inevitable. How you deal with them is how you separate yourself from the crowd. You must be intentional with your focus.
If you are not, your mind will get overloaded. You must actively hone the ability to focus.
Without it, you become a slave to instant gratification, procrastination and distraction.
9 Steps to Clarity
So how do we actually ‘find clarity?' It's not something that happens immediately. You must set the foundations for a clear mind.
Create an optimal environment, practice patience and clarity will come.
Develop Understanding
In order to develop awareness you must first take steps to better understand yourself.
1. Define your values - I recommend using the Values Compass. I made a template here:
2. Create a 1, 2 and 5 year vision - describe what you want your life to look like at these milestones
3. Set goals - create actionable and realistic steps to help you achieve your vision
Rejuvenation
Take steps to prioritise your health, calm down your nervous system and declutter your mind.
4. Seek meaningful connections - ideally with people in real life
5. Engage in activities that you genuinely enjoy - if you don’t have one then start something new!
6. Prioritise healthy behaviours - improve and increase the length of your sleep, eat whole foods/reduce ultra-processed foods and increase your daily movement
Create and Clear
Take control of your attention by channeling your creativity into something you genuinely care about.
7. Minimise distractions - have device free time and reduce digital media usage
8. Channel creativity and attention - practice an area of interest or new skill/hobby with no distractions on a regular basis
9. Reduce information overload - be selective with your news and social media intake, use trusted sites and consume on your own terms (not via the TV)
To Round Off
You can not win your race without being able to steer.
Getting clear in your thoughts gives you that ability.
Clarity of thought allows you to find direction in life.
In turn, clear thoughts help guide the actions you want to take.
And that, for me, is surely what life is all about.
Living authentically through actions that you actually care about and finding a little bit of meaning in what you do on a daily basis.
- Mark Cox
I really enjoy writing these newsletters. I hope you enjoy reading them and if you got this far - I really appreciate it - so thank you!
If you did enjoy, please think about sharing it with someone as I would love to grow this far and wide.
Love yas x