Are You Ready to Move From Confusion to Clarity In Your Business?
In the last episode of The Selah Entrepreneur podcast, I introduced you to the P.A.C.E. Method to Business Clarity. A 4-step cycle we all go through in our entrepreneurial journey.
Have ever felt like you are throwing darts blindly hoping they will land somewhere close to the bullseye on the target? I know I have!
We all get confused, and we all long for clarity from time to time. We want to know that the path we are on or considering taking is the right one.
The 4 steps in the PACE Method can help you understand your goals, projects, and business, instead of throwing those darts blindly.
In the last episode, I gave you an overview of the PACE Method. Today I’d like to dive deeper into each of the 4 steps and share why each is important in your clarity journey.
I Need to Get Clear About… ________ (insert your word or phrase)
The need for clarity comes in all shapes and sizes, levels of importance, and seasons.
Sometimes it’s a minor issue you are trying to work through and at others it’s pretty major, like pivoting your business. Big or small, simple or complicated, these four steps can help you get clear and move forward. A quick recap:
- Pause: Pause, slow down, and develop a habit of rest and reflection
- Assess: Assess your current business, season, & who you are today. Who you are today differs from who you were when you started your business.
- Clarify: Clarify your who, what, how, and why & take action on what you know.
- Evaluate: Evaluate the results of your action & adjust as needed.
Let’s dive into step 1…
Step #1: Pause
To pause means, “a temporary stop in action or speech, to linger.” In music, it is a “mark or a note to hold a note or to show an extended silence.”
The word Selah and the definition I’ve adopted fits in nicely here, “to pause, to calmly think, take note, this is important”. Selah is an invitation to pause and slow down.
As entrepreneurs, and well humans, we are often going fast but not really getting anywhere. We wonder why we are so busy but not making the progress we had hoped for.
There’s noise, information, packed schedules, a long list of should-dos and more that get in the way and bog us down.
The speed and noise can lead to:
- High levels of stress
- Mental fatigue
- Chronic health issues
- You always feeling busy, like there’s never enough time
- Constantly feeling behind
- A lack of fulfillment in our work and lives
- Burnout and so much more.
The Lies of Busyness
The busyness of the fast track becomes a way of hiding, a way of getting things done, whether or not they are important. But since checking off items on your list feels like you are being productive and useful, you keep going and not questioning.
Busyness wants you to believe:
- It’s all up to us, and that if we let up, our business world will fall apart.
- That we are lazy for resting, taking a break, or saying no to opportunities.
- That everything is urgent.
- That constant hustle is the only way to get things done.
But… What if You Paused?
What would happen if you actually slowed down, paused, rested, considered, examined, thought, sat in silence?
When you hear those words, what feelings come up? “Oh, that sounds nice!”, or “If only I had time to do any of those!”, or possibly even, “Some of that sounds terrifying!”.
Busyness wants us to stay in fear and constant action mode.
You might think one or all of the following at the thought of pausing or slowing down:
- What will others think? Will they think I’m being lazy?
- What will I hear and think in the silence of a pause? Possibly a realization of something I don’t want to admit or feel ready to deal with.
- I’ll realize just how tired I really am.
- I haven’t done enough to rest.
Pausing, slowing down, resting, and slowing the racing thoughts, these are habits that need to be relearned and adopted into our routines.
I put A LOT of emphasis on pausing in my writing, in my programs, and in my coaching. Why? Because we have forgotten how to slow down, how to be okay with silence, and how to not be constantly business thinking, planning, growing.
A coaching client of mine called this concept of slowing down and thinking differently as a “Selah Mindset”. And I loved that idea!
At the core, a Selah Mindset, is a new way of thinking, a realization that…
You and Your Business Are Worth Pausing, and Resting For
- You need to rethink your speed of life, of business, and thinking.
- Sometimes you need to slow down before you can speed up.
- You need to create and set time aside to think about, dream about, and troubleshoot your businesses.
This is hard to do without practice. It’s hard when you don’t plan for intentional, purposeful, and strategic time that you specifically set aside for pausing and resting.
Beyond that, we all need habits of rest and rejuvenation AWAY from our business. We need to set aside time to NOT think about the business. We need to refill our entrepreneurial and creative tanks with rest, laughter, family, faith, and inspiration.
We can’t do that if we are thinking about our business 24/7.
When our business feels off, when we can’t stop thinking about our business constantly, when we feel our business will fall apart if we don’t work it all the time….
Big signals that we need to rest, even if we don’t think we have time. You have time. And remember, you and your business are worth resting for.
Learn to work from rest, not rest from work.
“If you get tired, learn to rest, don’t quit.”
~Bansky
Step #2: Assess
Step 2 in the PACE Method is to set aside time to assess, take stock, and get real with yourself.
The word assess means to:
- Evaluate or estimate the nature, ability, or quality of.
- To determine the rate or amount of.
- To determine the importance, size or value of.
Now that you are practicing and learning the “art of the pause” and slowing down, you are creating the space to think. The margin and space you are making allows you to think critically and strategically about your business.
You need to assess where you are at in your business, project, or idea. Create a baseline that you can use to monitor growth and change.
You should do this step without judgment of yourself. This is a moment to take a deep breath and get honest. Kinda can be scary, but it is the first step to showing you what’s what in your business.
In this step, you are asking things like:
- What’s working in my business? What’s not?
- What do I like about my business? What do I not like?
- What projects am I working on right now? What projects have I started and are unfinished? (Multipassionates… your list will be long here! Mine often is)
- What parts of my business am I crystal clear on? Which ones am I not?
- And a whoooole lot more.
Again, the purpose here is to get a baseline of where you are at so you can move forward in your clarity journey.
Step #3: Clarify
The word clarify means:
- To make clear or easier to understand;
- To clear of confusion or uncertainty.
And isn’t that what we all are looking for in our business? We want a business that is clear, easy to understand, and clear out the confusion and uncertainty we often feel.
With your assessment completed, it’s time to get clear on who you serve, what problem you solve, how you solve that problem, and why.
With the answers to your who, what, how and why, you will discover a confidence that wasn’t there before. That confidence is going to motivate you to simplify and focus your work so you can stay clear about your business.
This knowledge gives you the ability to look back at your assessment with more clarity and make better, more strategic decisions about:
- What are your priorities? What can you let go or put off until later?
- What do your clients need right now? How can you better serve them?
- What allows you to show up as your best self for your clients?
Clarity helps cut through the confusion and clutter so you can get unstuck and start taking action in your business.
Step #4: Evaluate
This is a step so many entrepreneurs forget. We get moving. We build momentum, and we see we’re making progress. But we forget to take an important step to stop and evaluate.
To evaluate means: to determine the significance, worth, or condition of usually by careful appraisal and study
You need to develop a habit of examining your progress. Look at the work you are doing, your goals, and your plans, and evaluate their effectiveness to see if you are getting the results you are looking for.
Do you stay on this path? Do you adjust your heading slightly? Or is it time to let it go? Is it time to move on to the next thing?
In my coaching groups, we do Monthly Reviews and Quarterly Reviews of our businesses. I introduced these to hold myself accountable! I need this just as much as my clients.
You need to take the time to evaluate your actions to spot trends, opportunities, where confusion may have crept back in.
You evaluate, tweak the plan and keep moving forward.
This is How You Become a Proactive and Strategic Leader of Your Business
- Instead of reacting to it.
- Instead of it leading you.
- Instead of you thinking about it 24/7.
And don’t forget to pause, rest, take a break from your business so you can come back refreshed to your work and the clients you love to serve.
These are the building blocks to build a simple and sustainable business that you can steward well.
So a quick recap! The PACE Method to Business Clarity Includes:
- Step #1: Pause. Learn to work from rest and step away from your business to rest and recharge.
- Step #2: Assess. Get clear on what is going on in your business, how it’s doing, and how you are feeling. Get honest here!
- Step #3: Clarify. Know your Who you Serve, What Problems You Solve, How You Solve them, and remember your why you solve them. And… take action.
- Step #4: Evaluate. Regularly review, and evaluate, the action you have taken so you can spot trends, ideas, opportunities and know if you are on the right track.
These 4 steps take practice. You are building a new routine and a new way of thinking. With each level of clarity you uncover, you will discover a greater sense of confidence in your decision making, which is amazing to experience.
- If you would like help in your clarity journey and implementing the PACE Method into your business routines.
- If you would like to learn to work from rest.
- If you would like to be supported, seen, and understood amid all the clutter and confusion you feel stuck in.
Let’s talk!
You can schedule a Clarity call at https://SelahStudios.co/discovery
and we can make a plan to help you move from confused to clear in your business.
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Marta Goertzen is an entrepreneur, writer, WordPress Website developer, and nature photographer. She daily explores the trails and beaches of the South Central Oregon Coast with her dogs Oliver & Mochi. You can follow along on their adventures on Instagram. Marta also fully believes that change starts with gratitude and that gratitude can change everything. Find out how with the “Grateful Friday 7-Days of Gratitude Starter Kit”