Distractions are everywhere.
Focus is hard.
Adam Landrum taught me the importance of Clarity Breaks.
Let’s just call it like it is. We live in the Age of Distraction. Slack messages. Email threads. Meetings about meetings. Threads to read to know if you were supposed to read them. It’s easy to mistake movement for progress. But the real breakthroughs? The real clarity, traction, and transformation? They come when you carve out time for deep, uninterrupted work.
That’s where the magic of a clarity comes in.
That’s the power of a Clarity Break.
What Is a Clarity Break?
In the language of EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System), a Clarity Break is time you intentionally schedule to step away from the day-to-day and think. Not react. Not multitask. Just think.
No meetings.
No inbox.
No distractions.
You block the time. You find a quiet space. You bring a notebook. And you give yourself permission to wrestle with the real questions:
- What’s working?
- What’s not?
- Where are we stuck?
- What needs to change?
You don't need to have an agenda. You just need space.
Why It Works
Clarity Breaks work because they shift your mind from urgent to important. You’re not trying to check something off a list. You’re trying to understand what belongs on the list in the first place.
It’s like cleaning your windshield after driving through a rainstorm. Same road. Different view.
In the past few years, I’ve built the discipline of taking regular Clarity Breaks. Some short. Some long. And every time I do, I walk away with more clarity, stronger decisions, and renewed energy to lead.
Problems I’ve Solved in Clarity Breaks
This isn’t theory for me. These are just a few of the things I’ve worked through. Sometimes in a coffee shop, sometimes in my home office, sometimes in a cabin on a mountain where I can see for miles. Personally, the mountains are simply good for my soul.
Proven Processes
EOS teaches us to document the way we work. But that doesn’t happen in the chaos of back-to-back meetings. In a Clarity Break, I’ve outlined and refined the processes that drive consistency in our delivery at Wonder.
Core Processes
Big decisions about how we operate need space. And space is what Clarity Breaks create. I’ve mapped the foundational ways we serve clients with my notecards and flow spread across the floor.
Value Propositions
The best messaging doesn’t come from brainstorming with 10 people in a room. It comes from thinking deeply about what your ideal client actually values. That happens in quiet. In stillness. In reflecting on the true needs of others.
Offers Too Good to Refuse
The best offers come from clarity, not complexity. When I stop trying to be clever and get laser-focused on solving a real problem in a simple way, that's when irresistible offers show up.
Sales Commission Structure
Even tactical, structural issues, like how to design a comp plan that drives the right behavior, have found their way to clarity in the space of my Clarity Break.
Get clear. Clear the calendar, that is.
The Clarity Break is one of the simplest, most overlooked tools in EOS — and one of the most powerful. It’s also deeply personal. No one schedules it for you. No one demands it. But if you make the time, protect the space, and show up ready to think, you will find what’s next.
If you're running a business and haven't created a rhythm with Clarity Breaks, this is your nudge. Start small. Block an hour. Bring a notebook. Leave the laptop.
If you're not running on EOS, but the idea of creating intentional space to think resonates, give it a try. The best leaders think. And the best thinking happens when you finally stop doing everything else for everyone else.
