Kristen Boss is a coach for high performers and entrepreneurs and founder of Becoming Boss, a platform that encourages entrepreneurs to stop the hustle by helping women find their purpose.

Without a doubt, one of the biggest buzzwords in the entrepreneur community these days is “clarity.” It’s like a lost treasure that a new business owner goes on a hunt for. The truth is, some entrepreneurs go on the quest for clarity, and they never come back. 

They get lost in the desert of overthinking, analysis paralysis and “I need more research.” I see so many aspiring business owners with big dreams get stuck in this place for YEARS. 

There is a big problem with going on the hunt for “clarity.” 

Clarity is not found in doing research. It’s found in taking action. The reason why so many people get stuck in the search for clarity is because doing research always feels safer. Not only does it feel safe, but it lures us into a false sense of productivity- the classic “getting ready to get ready.” But researching, planning and getting ready isn’t what makes you money. Not entirely. 

Here’s the Secret About Clarity 

Nothing will get you clarity faster than taking radical action. Especially when you feel the least qualified and the least ready. Experience teaches you lessons that research never will. 

Clarity is the gift for the action-taker. Clarity is given to us in pieces and not as a whole. You need to be brave enough to take steps forward, even when you only have a small part of the larger picture. Part of knowing what you want, is also knowing what you don’t want. On paper it’s just theory. Experience makes it fact. 

I see so many people who are stuck on the endless search for clarity. And years later, they are still stuck exactly where they were with little or no forward progression toward seeing their dreams come to life. 

Using Clarity as a Crutch 

The ugly truth is I see many business owners using “finding clarity” as a crutch. They make it a precursor to taking any action. If you want to be a business owner, you must be willing to be a risk-taker. You must be willing to fail. The fastest way to clarity is failure. Failure is our greatest teacher. 

I believe people seek clarity so as to avoid failure, and this does not serve the business owner! We need to be resilient with our failure. Every failure is a lesson learned and allows us to take another step forward in our journey. Failures can be costly, but hiding behind the elusive hunt for clarity is a sure way to cost us opportunity, lessons and valuable connections.

Find Your Niche With Clarity 

The biggest area I see people hung up on is finding clarity around their niche, especially in the coaching world. While having a niche certainly helps, the timing of a niche is more important. In order to have clarity around your niche, just start talking to people. Have tons of conversations with a lot of different people! Each conversation and experience will help bring the bigger picture into focus. The more people you help, the more you will get clear on who you most enjoy helping and who are you best positioned to serve! 

I liken clarity in business to finding our “soulmate” in life. You can have your soulmate written down on paper with a lot of details and qualifications that you might think you want, but if you aren’t out there meeting people and connecting with them, how can you truly know what you want? Just like “failure” is terrifying for a business owner, “rejection” is terrifying for someone in the dating world. We have to embrace both sides of the coin in both worlds. Failure is on other side of success. And belonging is on the other side of rejection. 

Polarity Brings Clarity 

If you are using clarity as the reason you haven’t been moving forward in your business, I want to encourage you to start seeing clarity as a gift for the action taker, not the researcher and planner. 

Research and planning only gets you so far. Action and failure will be your greatest teachers in the world of business. Failure isn’t personal. Stop making it personal! 

Clarity doesn’t make you more qualified and it certainly doesn’t remove fear. Commit to taking action and make a plan for failure. Celebrate failure and put a notch in your entrepreneurial belt of lessons and failures. 

One of my favorite sayings is “polarity brings clarity.” Oftentimes, we are so afraid of getting what we don’t want, that we don’t take the risks or try at all. But when you experience something you DON’T want, it helps you get really clear about the things you do want. It might even bring clarity to some blind spots you didn’t even know existed. 

What You Need Instead of Clarity 

So friend, you don’t need clarity. 

You need a good whopping dose of BRAVERY, so that you can take the action you need. Confidence doesn’t come from a pile of information and research (it’s a false sense of security). Confidence comes when we take massive action, embrace failure, and learn the importance of being resilient in business. Confidence happens when we have tasted failure and learned that it, in fact, does NOT kill us. Even when our brain would like to tell us differently. 

The clarity you want is on the other side of taking radical and courageous action. 

When you realize that ALL outcomes bring you clarity, that is when you realize that you truly can’t lose. You only stand to gain! And isn’t that why you went on the quest for clarity to begin with? 

Stop hiding behind “needing clarity.” Take action. 

Clarity is the reward for the brave. You’ve really just been looking for courage.