This past Saturday, I attended a presentation featuring author Matthew Kelly whose topic was “Living Everyday with Passion & Purpose.”  I was struck by one of his opening comments that passion and purpose are by-products of personal clarity.  He said, “people who live everyday with passion and purpose have clarity.”  Namely, they know who they are, what their strengths and weaknesses are, and what’s important to them.

Are you living every day with passion and purpose?  If your answer is, “no,” then you may lack clarity. Not sure?

Reflect on these questions:

1.  What is important to you?  What inspires you?  What values do you hold most deeply?

2.  What are your strengths?  What are your areas of development?

3.  What would you like people to remember about you after you leave this earth?

What came up for you?  Did you actually stop long enough to reflect? Saturday’s speaker suggested that personal clarity emerges from the silence. Kelly shared this great analogy.  Imagine you are driving a car filled with family, kids, friends…whoever.  Just imagine a car filled with people engaged with one another.  Suddenly, you realize you have NO idea where you are.  You’re completely lost.  As the driver, what are the first words that likely come out of your mouth?  “Shut up!”  How is it that turning down the radio or telling your passengers to “shut up” seems to help you find your way when you are lost?

Could it be that clarity does indeed emerge from the silence?

We live in a very noisy world.  And if you are in a career transition, you likely feel quite lost at times.  How can you achieve personal clarity so you can live with passion and purpose? How do you get silent among all the noise? I suggest you start by turning off the TV, the iPhone, the laptop, Facebook, LinkedIn, and any other distractions that are preventing you from answering the reflection questions above.

I challenge you.  Stop.  Get quiet.  You may be surprised how fast you move forward by stopping.