Your Next Clear Move
Welcome to Your Next Clear Move™—the podcast for leaders, professionals, and high-capacity humans who are done “getting ready” and ready to move.
I’m Debbie Peterson, Leadership Readiness Expert, and in each episode I deliver grounded insight, clarity-driven mindset strategies, and one actionable step to help you stop the drift and lead yourself forward.
This isn’t about fixing what’s broken. It’s about reconnecting to what matters—and making decisions that align with who you are and how you want to lead next.
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Your Next Clear Move
How to Create Your Personal Clarity Compass (and Use It to Navigate Your Career with Confidence)
Debbie Peterson introduces the Clarity Compass, a customized tool that helps leaders navigate their careers with purpose and intention instead of constantly doing more. This powerful framework centers on four key forces for clarity—direction, focus, energy, and action—serving as your personal GPS when feeling off track or overwhelmed.
• The Clarity Compass puts intention back at the center of your career decisions
• Without clarity, even successful leaders can drift and lose their sense of purpose
• Your "why" forms the north position of your compass, anchoring you during uncertainty
• Define your next growth opportunity specifically—it could be visibility, influence, or work-life harmony
• Identify supporters who can help you achieve your goals, from mentors to resources
• Break down your goal using the "org chart method" to create a practical roadmap
• Take 30 minutes within the next 48 hours to create your own Clarity Compass
Head over to www.debbiepetersonspeaks.com to connect with Debbie for support in creating or applying your Clarity Compass.
Hey, hello and welcome back. I am Debbie Peterson of Getting to Clarity, and this is another episode of the Getting to Clarity podcast. This is the place where I invite you to come to get the tips, tools and techniques to create more of an impact in your leadership, in your career, in your business, but with less of a sacrifice in your life. And today we are talking about a tool, a customized tool that you can create, that will help you navigate your career, your leadership, with confidence, and it is called your own personal clarity compass. So stay tuned.
Speaker 3:Welcome to the Getting to Clarity podcast the place where busy leaders discover how to create more success in their leadership journey with less sacrifice in their life.
Speaker 2:Here's your host, debbie Peterson, of Getting to Clarity.
Speaker 1:So the Clarity Compass is an edge for you in your career, your leadership, your business, and I want to give you the steps to create your very own, customized just for you and what is out in front of you, your potential. Because what if the next step in your career wasn't about doing more, but it was about getting clearer? So for anybody who has been pulled in a dozen directions I know that's me a lot of the time the challenge isn't just knowing what to do, it's knowing what matters most. Okay, busyness isn't exactly better, and what you do is you use this clarity to make decisions that lead to meaningful growth, and that is what the compass is designed to do. So here's why this matters, because without a compass, even the most driven, successful leaders can drift, and it's not a lack of ambition that slows us down, it's the pressure to do everything. Please, everyone, keep pushing, moving forward, even when something doesn't feel right. And over time, that leads to exhaustion, being overwhelmed, second-guessing yourself, or just that creeping sense that you've lost touch. You don't know who you are anymore, and that was me when I was in corporate, you know.
Speaker 1:The Clarity Compass puts intention back at the center of your career. It helps you to focus on what's important, not just what's urgent. It gives you a filter for making decisions, for setting goals, for protecting you and your energy along the way, because when you know what truly matters, the path forward becomes easier to see and easier to take action on. So what exactly is the Clarity Compass? Well, it's something that I have created, but it's a tool, and it helps you to lead yourself forward with purpose. It centers your career decisions around four key forces. I call them the four forces for clarity, direction, focus, energy and action, and I want you to think of this squad as your personal GPS. That's what the compass does for you. When you feel off track, it brings you back to center, to what matters most, and you don't need hours of time or a mountain of sticky notes. You just need a few intentional moments to pause, to really think and decide what your next clear move looks like. So how do you create it? Well, let's get into that next.
Speaker 1:The first step is to reconnect with your why. Your why is related to you. What is most important to you? Perhaps your purpose? It is your personal reason for doing the work that you do. So to figure this out, you might ask yourself why did I choose this path in the first place? What kind of impact do I want to make? Who is it that benefits from the work that I do? What values guide how I lead, how I show up and how I want to grow? When you ask yourself these questions, you'll start tuning into your why. And your why is the anchor for your clarity compass. It's in the north position. It's what grounds you when things feel uncertain. It helps to refocus you when the noise gets really loud.
Speaker 1:Step number two define your next growth opportunity. So now you're anchored in. Zoom in on what's next. So what is your next level of growth? What's your growth opportunity? It doesn't mean it's a title change. It doesn't mean it's a promotion. It could be gaining more visibility. It could be growing your influence. It could be creating better harmony between your work and your personal life. It might be developing a new skill set. You get to decide, but be specific, because clarity doesn't live in generalities. So ask yourself what kind of role or responsibility excites me? What would it mean to grow right now, in this moment? Write down a clear sentence. My next opportunity is to and then write it out and specific enough that if you handed it to someone else, they would be able to understand what it is that you're trying to achieve.
Speaker 1:Step number three identify who can help you. You know you don't have to do this all by yourself. Momentum multiplies when you stop going it alone. So ask yourself who do I already know? You know who's in my corner, who stretches me, who causes me to think bigger, who has done what I want to do. Support might come from mentors, colleagues or even conversations that you haven't had yet. And don't forget about books, podcasts or even communities that align with your next level Trade associations. Get creative about who can help you, because clarity doesn't mean isolation. It's about knowing where you are and who can walk with you.
Speaker 1:Step number four break down the goal, and I call this the org chart method. You know big goals can feel overwhelming when they're vague, and clarity comes when you turn the big picture into a step by step roadmap. So here's what I want you to do Visualize an organizational chart Okay, got it. Visualize an organizational chart Okay, got it. Now I want you to visualize your goal, your next level goal, as the president, at the top of an org chart. This is your big vision, your next opportunity.
Speaker 1:Now identify three to five major supporting categories that go underneath this. These are your senior vice presidents. Each category represents a key area that supports your success to achieve this goal. For example, it might be visibility and executive presence. It could be strategic project ownership. It could be team development. It could be mentorship or sponsorship. So think of what those three to five subcategories are and put them in the SVP slots. Coffee or coffees with senior leaders. It might be updating your internal bio or LinkedIn profile Okay.
Speaker 1:So what we're doing is we're chunking down into specificity, and this structure help you move from overwhelmed to organized. It gives you a roadmap. You're not just chasing a goal, you're thinking about it. You are leading it with a team of strategies that support your vision. So what might this look like in practice, in the real world? Okay, so let's say your why is to lead with more purpose, to be authentic as a leader, to create space for others to grow.
Speaker 1:Your next opportunity, your next level growth opportunity, is to step into a senior leadership role. Okay, you know your growth depends on better visibility, that you've got to be able to demonstrate that you collaborate well with others. Right, and you need support from a mentor or a sponsor. So you use the org chart model to break the goal down into practical steps. You lead a team project, you speak up more often, you refine how you share your value. So suddenly, you're not waiting for clarity, you've got it, you're using it.
Speaker 1:So what is your next clear move? Well, I'm going to tell you within the next 30, um, or within the next 48 hours. I want you to take 30 minutes and I want you to create your own clarity compass. Draw a compass with a North, south, east and West. And uh, why is at the top? What is in the East? Who is in the South? How is in the West? And then the now goes in the middle and go through these exercises and get clarity on this, so that you have this compass to guide you. Because once you've created it, it'll take you wherever you want to go. So you don't need to wait for the perfect moment. You don't need to do more to prove that you're ready.
Speaker 1:Clarity doesn't come from checking every single box. That's how you get burnt out and overwhelmed. It comes from getting quiet. You know you've got to be able to hear what needs to come through, has to be able to drop down. You know, choosing to lead and make decisions from what matters most. That is what is going to benefit you, because I've been where you're at. You know balancing ambition with uncertainty and wondering if I was truly ready for more. And here's what I've learned Clarity is already in you. It's in all of us. You just need the right tools to unlock it. So take some time, build your compass so you can take your next clear step with confidence. And if you'd like support in creating or applying your clarity compass, well, that's great. I'd love to connect with you. Head on over to my website and connect with me there at wwwdebbypetersonspeakscom. And until the next time, here is wishing you all the clarity you deserve. Take care, be good to yourself and bye-bye for now.
Speaker 2:Thank you for listening to this episode of the Getting to Clarity podcast with Debbie Peterson.
Speaker 3:If you enjoyed this show, please rate and recommend it on iTunes or wherever you enjoy your podcasts.
Speaker 2:To learn more about how you can bring Debbie and her transformational clarity leadership strategies to your organization, visit debbetersonSpeakscom.
