Hasn’t it been HOT, HOT HOT! I’ve just got back from Hayling Island – it’s the first time I’ve been in the summer. Usually we’re there at Christmas or New Year to visit family. This year for the first time, we decided to make the most of the fact that we have family living right on the coast. And oh my goodness, wasn’t it hot. When we arrived it was blowing a gale … if you live on the coast AND you wear glasses, you’ll know how blurry eyed I felt after a couple of hours walking on the beach. My glasses were covered in salt grime and I just couldn’t see clearly.
It really got me thinking … very often the women that I talk to who want to go back to work (business or career) after the school holidays can’t see clearly either. Sometimes you don’t realise how grubby and cloudy your sight is until you clean your glasses. Suddenly you have clarity. You realise why you were feeling a bit dull and maybe even uninspired by the view. It wasn’t that the view wasn’t inspiring … you just couldn’t see it properly.
To me getting clarity on what you really want is the key foundation stone for everything when you want to go back to work or start a business after a career break or redundancy. Without clarity, it’s almost impossible to build or rebuild your confidence.
How does clarity help your confidence?
The thing about clarity is that when you are clear about what you really want, how to get what you really want becomes clear too. How do you know when you have clarity? Well if you keep changing your mind, it’s likely because you haven’t yet made THE right decision or found THE bright idea. You don’t yet have the clarity and therefore it’s likely that you don’t have the confidence. Perhaps you’re scared of making the wrong decision or making a mistake or failing or maybe even scared of succeeding and what that might lead to.
Clarity is important because it helps you make the right decisions. Clarity gives you direction. When you are clear on what you want, your creativity blossoms. Your approach to problem-solving becomes so much more focused. You know what you want and therefore you know you will find a way to get it.
Clarity means that life feels less overwhelming.
Clarity allows you to focus your energy and your attention. Decision making and clarity of thought means that life feels less overwhelming.
Clarity on its own won’t find you a job or decide whether you want full-time or part-time or help you freelance or start that business you’ve been daydreaming about, however the increase in focus, energy, direction, creativity and decision-making will allow you to make faster and more confident progress. Not just faster but more direct. Less circular. Less idea hopping. Less mind changing. Therefore less time-wasting, less energy-sapping, and less frustrating.
Clarity needs two companions for you to find your confidence: decisions and actions. I’ll come back to those in another post. For now let’s focus on how clarity helps your confidence.
Clarity doesn’t mean that you won’t still experience the niggling doubts, the negative thoughts, the hesitations or the fear factor. However it does mean that you will overcome these more easily. Because you can see where you want to go, what you want to do and how you will get there. Maybe it will still be tough or scary but it can also be exciting and exhilarating.
Mums – you are still uniquely you
Being a mum changes us in many ways yet we are still the same person. You are still uniquely you. With the same skills, talents and experiences. Going back to work after a career break or redundancy gives us the opportunity to re-evaluate who and what we are. To get clarity about what we really want. To find the confidence to go and get it.
What about you? How does clarity help your confidence?
For me, clarity brings about so many other extras: self-confidence, assurance, improved mood, less anxiety, et al. I love your analogy with the glasses!
Yes all of those too!