Clarity

Don't overthink it. You want to get the ball rolling, not find the solution to world peace. You've already collected your ideas, thoughts, and tasks now you need to define what has to be done next (the next action) to complete the task or start the project process.

If it is a task ...

What does 'done' look like?

Can it be done in two minutes? If so, do it.

If you need more time or effort does it need to be deleted or deferred?

If it needs to be deferred, determine the next action needed to move it forward and handle it. If it needs to be deleted, delete it.

If it is a project ...

You are here at 'project' because you've determined that to get to 'done' you need to do more than one action. So ... What is the next action?

At this point, if possible, I take a few minutes to move the project further along by going beyond the one task that started the project.

Even if you stop here, do you see how clarity has cleaned up a tired, long, unorganized list into next actions and projects that are ready to be completed, built on and/or moved forward.

Clarity moves my workflow processes forward - almost without effort on my part. Clarity is different from focus. Clarity is drilling down to where my focus should be to do the work. Clarity is the step you need to take after you've collected your ideas, thoughts, tasks, etc. Clarity is what defines your next actions and your projects.

Not having clarity exhausts me. It sends me in all directions working long, hard, busy, and, most importantly, not productively.