Find Your Clear Vision

1. Commit to Your Clear Vision: Navigate the Messy Middle

Your Messy Middle is the space between who you were and who you are becoming.

Stop wanting, start committing. Many people desire change but remain stuck in old patterns, trying various therapies or courses without lasting results. The key differentiator is moving from merely wanting change to committing to it. Wanting keeps your goals distant, while commitment puts your foot on the path, even if the destination isn't fully clear. This commitment initiates a lightness and opens space for new possibilities.

Build your Inner Platform. To navigate the "Messy Middle"—the transformative space between your past and future self—you must construct an "Inner Platform." This framework connects your evolving identity, built on a creative mindset, self-awareness, inner trust, and elevated energy. A solid Inner Platform makes you a magnet for opportunities, allowing you to stop fighting for limitations and embrace reinvention from the inside out.

Become a confident creator. Building this Inner Platform means committing to trusting yourself, expanding your energy through personal habits, and becoming deeply self-aware. This process clarifies your purpose and the legacy you wish to leave, transforming you into a confident creator of your life. Your Clear Vision, once clarified and anchored in this inner strength, makes you a visionary whose confidence is seen, felt, and remembered.

2. Unmask Your Paradox Pattern: Identify Limiting Beliefs

A Paradox Pattern is a repeatable pattern embedded into your thoughts, actions, and behaviors used to prove that you are capable, lovable, and enough to have it all.

Uncover hidden patterns. The Paradox Pattern is a deeply woven, repetitive loop of thoughts, feelings, and actions, often rooted in false stories from the past, that prevents growth and limits potential. The author's personal experience with shingles, driven by perfectionism and overcompensation, illustrates how these patterns can manifest physically and professionally, masking a fear of not being "enough."

Your "Circus, Your Monkeys." This pattern creates a self-made "dropbox" of drama and fear, where you're trapped by cultural upbringing, self-identity, perceived truths, and self-doubt. It's like being the ringmaster of a circus, orchestrating false identities—such as The Polished Perfectionist, Martyr, or Superwoman—to prove your worth, capability, or lovability. This constant performance is exhausting and strategically disqualifies you from new possibilities.

Recognize the archetypes. The book details various archetypal Paradox Patterns within the Drama Triangle (Victim, Rescuer, Abuser) and Anti-Creator Consciousness (Warring Self, Sacrificing Self, Righteous Self). Examples include:

• Orphan: Fears being unlovable, seeks attention.
• Martyr: Fears being a burden, sacrifices self.
• Perfectionist: Fears weakness, overcompensates.
  Identifying your specific pattern is the crucial first step to breaking free, as "what got you to where you are today won't get you to where you want to go."

3. Embrace Holistic Energy: Blend Feminine and Masculine

Creating a life by design happens in small choices. It’s when who you are and what you do is interwoven into your mind, body, soul, and the choices you make.

Integrate your whole self. A "holistic whole-self strategy" means there's no separation between your identity and your actions. It's a braided union of feminine and masculine energies, leading to integrity and intentional decision-making. This balance is crucial because traditional, masculine-dominated leadership models often lead to burnout and unhappiness, pushing a "survival" energy that no longer serves true fulfillment.

Understand energetic traits. Both feminine and masculine energies exist within everyone, regardless of gender identity.

• Masculine energy: Logical, rational, driven, focused on production and control. Can lead to isolation and a belief that productivity equals happiness.
• Feminine energy: Intuitive, creative, exploratory, focused on joy, beauty, and flow. Embraces the unknown, curiosity, and connection.
  Harmonizing these energies provides the Inner Platform with the structure and space to grow, allowing for creative problem-solving and authentic expression.

Live by design, not default. Leaders who successfully blend these energies, like Gwyneth Paltrow or Mindy Kaling, demonstrate that professional success doesn't require sacrificing personal well-being or authentic expression. By consciously integrating your creative, intuitive feminine side with your structured, action-oriented masculine side, you can create a life by design. This union allows you to claim your full creative power and express it unapologetically, moving beyond outdated societal expectations.

4. Pop from the Dropbox: Choose New Thoughts

When you break the thought, you break the pattern and break through.

Escape the "dropbox." The Paradox Pattern keeps you confined in a "dropbox" of limiting beliefs, making you feel stuck and unable to envision a future beyond your current circumstances. This mental loop is fueled by self-doubt and a constant need for external validation. The author's copyright infringement lawsuit, initially a breakdown, became an opportunity to "pop" out of her perfectionist dropbox.

Create "white space." The key to breaking free is to create "white space"—a pause between your habitual thoughts and feelings. This isn't about "letting go" of negative thoughts, but rather "trying on" new ones. By taking a few deep breaths and asking "What if...?" or "What would it be like to believe in me 100 percent?", you open up mental space for self-awareness and new choices.

Choose outside the predictable. When you're stuck in the dropbox, you're operating from old energy, trying to solve new problems with outdated solutions. Popping out means choosing a new thought, even if it feels radical or uncomfortable. This shift from "have, do, be" (I have to do something, then I'll be happy) to "be, do, have" (When I am happy, I can do something and have what I desire) empowers you to create your future from a place of desired feeling, rather than external achievement.

5. Build Your Clear Vision with the CLEAR Framework

Visioning is a powerful tool for creatives because it’s coming up with an idea that doesn’t yet exist.

Design your future. A Clear Vision is not a fixed destination but a dynamic, creative mindset for manifesting genuine happiness and contributing your unique gifts to the world. It's a "winnable game" of reinvention, rooted in long-lasting goals and celebrated daily. The CLEAR framework provides a structured approach to define and realize this vision:

• Clear Concept
• Legit and Long-lasting
• Expanded Energy
• Aspirational Success
• Rooted In Celebration

Define your core concept. The "Clear Concept" is the foundational idea, intention, and essence of your vision. It answers "I am here to... and this is important because..." This involves brainstorming what lights you up, what you're good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for (using the Ikigai philosophy). It's about identifying the overarching theme that unifies your desires, like "space" for the client Stevie.

Map out your success. The framework then guides you to ensure your vision is "Legit and Long-lasting," asking if you're truly committed and if now is the right time. "Aspirational Success" defines the metrics and milestones, moving beyond "achievable" to truly transformative goals. This includes "Massive Mindset Shifts," "Macro Milestones" (overarching steps), and "Mini Milestones" (first baby steps). Finally, "Rooted in Celebration" emphasizes integrating joy and rewards throughout the journey, signaling to your brain to release dopamine and sustain high energy.

6. Expand Your Energy: Nurture Your Inner Power

Learning how to discharge and recharge your energy is fundamental to building your Inner Platform to release the negative energy that is gluing together unwelcome patterns.

Manage your energetic flow. Your energy is your most precious resource, and effectively managing it is crucial for performance, health, and happiness. Negative experiences or past traumas can get "glued" into your cellular memory, creating repetitive patterns that drain your creative potential. Learning to consciously discharge negative energy and recharge with positive energy is vital for breaking these cycles and feeling safe in your power.

Activate your chakras. The book introduces eight chakra energy centers as dynamic, expandable, and replenishable sources of energy within your body. By understanding and engaging with these centers, you can build self-awareness and intentionally shift your energetic state:

• Lower Chakras (Root, Sacral, Solar Plexus): Focus on survival, safety, creativity, and personal power.
• Upper Chakras (Heart, Throat, Third Eye, Crown, Star Consciousness): Govern love, expression, intuition, higher consciousness, and universal connection.
  Conscious practices like specific yoga poses, breathwork, or meditation can help release blockages and cultivate flow.

Implement a ritual wellbeing list. To sustain expanded energy, integrate foundational self-care practices into your daily routine. This "ritual wellbeing list" ensures you're nourishing your mind, body, and soul:

• Water: Hydrates and promotes flow in energy centers.
• Sleep: Allows the brain to cleanse toxins and discharge old energy.
• Meditation: Cultivates self-awareness and recharges inner peace.
• Vitamins: Fuels the body with essential nutrients.
• Movement: Discharges stagnant energy and invigorates the body.
  These non-negotiable practices are your commitment to self-love, ensuring your body can support your Clear Vision.

7. Cultivate Inner Trust: Redefine Your Identity

Being truthful with how you feel and what you want is the first step to connect with your pop energy and your most vibrant self, who is being honest all the time; if only we would listen a little more closely.

Honesty unlocks trust. Often, we're disconnected from our truth, believing "this is the way it is" in our careers or relationships. The journey to inner trust begins with radical honesty about your feelings and desires, as exemplified by the client Meera who, by saying "If I'm being honest...", secured two months of unpaid leave. This truthfulness is the first step to connecting with your "pop" energy and your most vibrant self.

Trusting is messy work. We've been conditioned to distrust—our decisions, others, and societal structures. This often stems from past hurts or patriarchal systems that suppress authentic expression. The Paradox Pattern thrives on this mistrust, making us feel inadequate or doubtful. To counteract this, you must actively choose to trust, even when it feels uncomfortable, and recognize that vulnerability is a strength, not a weakness.

Embrace Creator Consciousness. Move beyond the Drama Triangle's victim, rescuer, and abuser roles, and the Anti-Creator Consciousness of sacrificing, warring, or righteous thinking. Instead, cultivate "Creator Consciousness Energy" by practicing:

• Self-Worth Energy: Prioritize your own love and attention, saying "no" to misaligned tasks.
• Connection Energy: Confront your insecurities to foster genuine connection with yourself and others.
• Human Collective Energy: Release the need to be "right" and embrace a colorful world of diverse insights.
  This shift allows you to design your reality from a place of trust, self-worth, and connection to humanity, magnetically attracting positive experiences.

8. Choose Flow on Purpose: Act with Courage, Not Confidence

Flow is a full-body experience of letting go of the thoughts that don’t align with your highest and best thinking.

Detachment from outcome. Flow is a state of effortless movement and creativity, often blocked by overthinking, over-correcting, and resistance to new experiences. The canoe trip analogy illustrates how pride and competitiveness can prevent flow, leading to wasted energy and frustration. To enter flow, you must be willing to detach from the outcome and simply "go with it," trusting that the process will lead you where you need to be.

Shift emotional energy. Dr. David Hawkins' Map of Consciousness highlights that negative emotions are destructive, while positive emotions are creative. When faced with an unknown, your mind often pulls from past "tainted energy," predicting negative outcomes. To cultivate flow, consciously shift from destructive emotions (pride, anger, worry) to recharging ones (courage, acceptance, joy, love). Start by neutralizing negative feelings with deep breaths and a symbolic "clap" to signify a new beginning.

Courage fuels confidence. Flow doesn't require confidence; it requires courage and commitment. Confidence is often a paradoxical strategy to "get ready," an avoidance technique. Instead, embrace courage—the energetic empowerment needed before you do a hard thing. By taking action with courage and commitment, confidence naturally follows. Practice up-leveling your flow by stepping outside your comfort zone, trying new things, and embracing playfulness, knowing that "flow is an action."

9. Amplify Your Outer Platform: Share Your Vision

Just because you have a Clear Vision doesn’t make you visionary. Taking inspired action by making your idea come to life—through who you are being and what you are doing—makes you visionary.

From inner vision to outer impact. Having a Clear Vision is the first step, but becoming a visionary means taking inspired action to make that vision real and sharing it with the world. This external expression is your "Outer Platform," a framework for showcasing who you are through personal and professional branding, thought leadership, and creative expression. It's the physical manifestation of your inner work, creating opportunities aligned with your vision.

Your brand is already alive. Whether you have a LinkedIn profile, an Instagram account, or a career, you already have a brand. The goal is to intentionally cultivate this brand, rather than letting it evolve by default. A personal brand is an energetic exchange—your mindset connecting to someone else's—built through storytelling, visual presence, and consistent messaging. It's not just about "building it and they will come," but about "being it" every day.

Marketing is sharing. While branding builds personality and connection, marketing is the "how" you share your authentic energy with the world. This involves utilizing "brand touchpoints" like your website, social media, email signature, and leadership presence. Remember the "Know, Like, Trust" marketing theory: it takes multiple interactions for people to get to know, like, and trust you. Your Outer Platform is a garden that needs consistent tending, not just a one-time watering.

10. Position Yourself as a Visionary: Define Your Authentic Voice

The most powerful tool you have as a visionary is your voice.

Target your audience. Effective positioning means knowing exactly who you're speaking to. Your target audience is often smaller and more specific than you think. By narrowing your focus, you clarify who needs to hear your message to help bring your Clear Vision to reality. This targeted approach ensures your efforts are impactful, whether you're seeking a new job, building a business, or influencing an industry.

Engage your "superfans." The "20/60/20 Practice" suggests focusing on your "superfans"—the 20% who actively resonate with and champion your message. The 60% in the middle are listening and may convert over time. Avoid wasting energy on the "crazy pants" 20% who are resistant or critical. Your voice, amplified with your vision and directed at the right audience, positions you as a visionary.

Discover your Visionary Values. To create an authentic voice, identify your "Visionary Values"—four high-level topics that anchor your sharing, both online and offline. This involves:

• Identifying inspirations: Who lights you up, dead or alive?
• Analyzing their values: What qualities, stands, or approaches do they embody?
• Connecting to your own: Recognize that these admired values are also within you.
  For example, Mackenzie identified "Fighter, grace, family, body positive, trailblazer" from her inspirations. These values become the unique flavor of your leadership and brand messaging, making it easy for others to understand what you care about.

11. Craft Compelling Messaging: Build Trust and Connection

Branding designers and advertising agencies design icons, symbols, graphics, and messages that, when put together repeatedly, create an emotional response, and over time the hope is that you will get to know them, like them, and trust them.

Inspire outer trust. In a world of "catfishing" and deception, building a personal brand requires creating a safe space where people can trust you are who you say you are. This means consistently aligning your inner truth with your outer expression. The "Know, Like, Trust" principle is paramount: people need to get to know you, like you, and eventually trust you, much like Reese Witherspoon's carefully cultivated brand.

Develop your brand style guide. Your visual presence and messaging are crucial for consistent communication. Six key brand elements help you tell your story:

• Tone of Voice: Reflects your personality and expertise.
• Your Name: Creative use of your name for memorability.
• Color: Evokes emotion and enhances your visual presence.
• Typography: Font choices that convey your brand's feel (serif for traditional, sans serif for modern).
• Photography: Authentic images that tell your story.
• Gimmick Limit: Avoid over-the-top elements that detract from authenticity.
  These elements, when consistently applied, create a memorable and trustworthy brand experience.

Master the "About Me Page Cocktail." This framework helps you articulate your story and expertise effectively:

• Your Mission: "I help [audience] [create result], and this is important because..."
• Backstory: Top three professional/personal moments that led you here.
• Personal/Professional Evolution: "I used to..., now I..." showcasing growth.
• "Ah-ha!" Moment: The pivotal insight or event that changed everything.
  Then, address your audience directly:
• Who You're Talking To: Call out your target audience.
• What You're Offering: Clearly explain your services/value.
• Testimonial: Social proof from satisfied clients.
• Call to Action (CTA): Guide them on the next step.
  This structured approach ensures your messaging is clear, compelling, and builds genuine connection.

Last updated: September 15, 2025