Is Your Water Clear?

"The water cannot be clear at the bottom of a waterfall if it is muddy at the top." - Korean Proverb

This was told to me by my Grandmaster when I was beginning as an instructor. My grandmaster was telling me why my class hadn't gone well that day. As an instructor, if I was not clear in my instructions, if I didn't know exactly what I wanted the students to do and use my words and gestures to communicate it, how could the students know what to do? How could they perform at their best? So before giving a command or instruction I started to ask myself, am I clear about the result we are trying to achieve here and what is the best way to get that result? I would practice this over and over again. If studying martial arts taught me anything, it is that repetition is necessary to become good at something.

I then took this understanding into my workplace. I was working as a Project Manager at the time and I asked myself, "Do I know exactly what needs to be done here? Am I communicating it well? Obviously we can't communicate what is needed effectively if we aren't completely clear ourselves. If I was unclear about what steps are needed, in what order, and who is responsible to get what done, then I couldn't be effective.  As the leader of the project, it was up to me to make sure everyone was working on their respective roles, and keep the project moving forward. That can only be done when I am clear about the goal of project, the skills of the people working on it, any other resources we have, timelines, milestones and deadlines, etc.

As leaders, our people are counting on us to be clear on the direction and the vision. When we are not clear as leaders, our people and the goals of the organization suffer. In the waterfall analogy,  the water can only get muddier on the way down, just like our message. It needs to start out as clean and clear as possible, then if it picks up a little mud on the way down, the chances are better that it won't be so muddy as to be unclear. But if it starts out unclear, it can only get worse.

Clarity isn't something you have, it is something that you constantly seek. Things change rapidly and as the leader you need to be constantly looking at the situation, understanding the changing tides, and make rapid adjustments while continuing to communicate with your team.

Ask yourself, how do I want to come across to others today? How do I want to interact with others, while still being true to myself and not fake? By giving this some thought beforehand, you are developing clarity on your behaviors, actions, and reactions, so that you appear to others the way you hope to appear. Again, not faking it until you make it, but by deciding your intentions. So before that meeting, phone call, or social interaction or even date night, ask yourself:

• How can I be a good person or leader in this situation?
• What does the other person(s) need here?
• What kind of mood or tone do I want to set?

By asking these questions, we set our intention and we are more likely to create a positive experience and outcome.

When we are clear on what we want, what the situation demands of us, how we can we be at our best consistently, how we want to be perceived, and how we can make a difference, we will find that our emotional well-being gets better, our productivity is higher, our leadership is stronger, our results are greater, and we experience more satisfaction and better living. That's what we call the high performance life. It all starts with clarity.