The more I go through life, the more value I place on clarity. And while clarity can often come from an epiphany, it takes a lot of training to put oneself in a position to have such epiphanies. Besides having a lot of life experience to know what has worked and what has not, it also requires cultivating a calm and serene disposition and great patience so that one is not physically and mentally distracted by obscure opportunity knocking. A curious mind leads to a lot of reading such that there are times when something read makes so much sense that it can alter the course of one’s life, whether it comes to investing, relationships, health, career, etc.
By now, it’s pretty clear that I often find some great insights on X (formerly Twitter). Here are a couple of tweets related to clarity that captured my attention. This one is pretty direct and speaks to ridding oneself of excuses, cultivating and sustaining good habits, and keeping one’s thoughts positive; the byproduct of this combination should be mental clarity, and that life is clicking.
This is from a very popular psychologist who has also come to the conclusion that clarity is so powerful to cultivate in life. Apparently, fashion publication mogul Anna Wintour thought so as well.
The Power of Clarity
Clarity helps separate the signal from the noise, the essential from the non-essential. It allows people to confidently pursue a path and be indifferent to the critics and naysayers. It helps bring about serenity and a sense of centeredness. It’s almost as if there’s a magnetic pull bringing you forward, and while there will always be obstacles and impediments, there’s a keen understanding that no journey is complete without navigating through them. Exercising one’s courage to take on whatever is in one’s way builds up our productive capacity and confidence to not shy away from these in the future. There’s almost always a solution. It’s a function of time, creativity, money, having the right tools, and organizational abilities to mobilize resources.
From my tennis court project, I have learned a lot about the power of clarity and having a team that shares the vision and can bring it to fruition. The contractor is extraordinarily talented and has so much experience that he can see problems and challenges before they arise and become potentially insurmountable. I have faith in him, and my faith and confidence make him want to do an extraordinary job for me.
There have been times when aspects of the project have been gnawing at me, feeling like something was missing, and then after talking it over with Heather and the contractor, we ultimately align on what feels like a great solution. Then it feels right again, and we keep moving forward. We have always stayed open-minded and fluid, never bound 100% to the original plans, except when it comes to engineering constraints and safety requirements.
My clarity has also enabled me to accept the financial risk I’m taking, as I know what I’m helping create will be extraordinary and life-changing. It also motivates me to do what I can to earn back some of my investment through hard work and creativity.
In addition to the court, there have been times when I have purchased real estate when I just knew it made sense. My experience and understanding of numbers and location characteristics would come together and have me conclude that I had to act. I have also felt this in terms of certain stocks that I have purchased when reading about the CEO’s vision, plan, and opportunity set. I have been drawn by the simplicity and soundness of the thesis and just knew intuitively that the reward potential outweighed the downside.
There are also times when clarity results from a consensus and allocation of resources that can lead to unintended consequences. For me, an ideal example of this is the so-called green revolution. The more I have studied the subject, the more convinced I am that we’re going to need even more fossil fuels to provide cost-effective, reliable energy in sufficient quantities to keep the economy growing and living standards elevated. As such, I have no issue investing in fossil fuel companies, especially given their dividend yields and low multiples. They provide an essential product, and they seem to be priced like their demand fundamentals will be deteriorating. I think the opposite will occur in that demand will be growing, and even if it’s not, I think I’m decently compensated for the low probability downside risk. In essence, I’m betting on misplaced clarity that lacks any doubt and leads to profitable opportunities as a result of unintended consequences.
As much as I value clarity, it can also have a sinister side, as clarity in the mind of a psychopath can lead to horrific outcomes. Think of Hitler, Mao, Stalin, and Putin as prime examples.
As it’s often said, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and when true believers think that they have a monopoly on the truth and only they know the way, then that’s when we should be apprehensive.
Overconfidence, idealism, and ideological thinking can lead to clarity, but very little doubt and that’s a dangerous combination. I know full well that I can be wrong, but I also believe that when I gain clarity, the rewards can materially outweigh the risks. So far, this has proven itself over the course of my life, but I have also made plenty of mistakes, but those were often due to emotional insecurity stemming from fear, greed, a desire to take action, envy, and impatience, just to name some of the most potent negative influencers.
I have also come to learn that we don’t need clarity all of the time, but we do for the big decisions in our lives, such as who we marry, where we live, what school we go to, the career we choose, the friends we surround ourselves with, and how we invest our money. These are big areas of our lives, but if we get these choices right, the rewards can be unlimited.
I’m hoping these random musings on clarity may help you gain more clarity in your life and that it will spill over to mine as well.
For me, truthfulness is a key quality for success and peace. Similar to clarity in avoiding embellishment or deception.
It seems clarity ‘given’ is a driven effort to make someone see or understand whereas clarity ‘discovered’ is an epiphany. Truthfulness ‘given’ is spontaneous and sometimes unique to the individual and therefore less coercive. Truthfulness ‘discovered’ can also come as an epiphany.