Clarity doesn't happen on accident. It requires intentional structure: daily quiet time before the noise starts, a weekly Sabbath that's actually restful, quarterly sessions to step out of the day-to-day and assess where you are, and periodic fasts that strip away the distractions and create room to hear God. These aren't optional extras I add when life slows down. They're the structure that makes everything else sustainable. Without them, I get blown around by whatever is loudest. With them, I can hear, assess, reset, and move forward with some actual confidence about the direction I'm heading.
The day-to-day of business will take everything you give it. Clients, proposals, projects, the kids, the schedule, the responsibilities: if you don't build in intentional pauses, you end up reactive to all of it. And reactive doesn't just mean busy. It means directionless. It means doing a lot of things that aren't necessarily moving you toward anything that matters. I've felt that, and I've had to learn, more than once, to build the structure that prevents it.
This episode covers four rhythms I've built into my life to create space for clarity: a daily clarity break, a weekly Sabbath, quarterly clarity sessions to step out and assess business, marriage and life, and periodic fasts that strip away what's holding me back or crowding God out. None of these are extraordinary. They're simple, repeatable structures. But when they're missing, everything drifts. When they're in place, I can hear, I can see what's actually happening, and I can trust that the direction I'm moving is the right one.
- Clarity is not a feeling. It's a structure. If you don't build in the pauses, they don't happen. The day-to-day will always fill the space.
- A daily clarity break doesn't have to be long. Twenty minutes before the phone, emails, or kids is enough. The habit is what changes the heart over time, not the length of any single session.
- Sabbath is not just a religious concept. It's a practical boundary that says: the work, the chores, and the calendar do not get all seven days. One day belongs to rest, to people, to life.
- Quarterly clarity sessions are the place to step out of the operational day-to-day and actually look at the business. Not to review the tasks but to ask whether the tasks are moving you toward the right goal.
- Fasting is one of the most powerful tools I've used to break things that have had a hold over my life and to create space to hear God in a season when everything else was drowning him out.
- Naming the season you're in changes your relationship with it. A wilderness season or a rebuilding season is not failure. It's a thing that takes time, and recognizing it keeps you from losing hope in the middle of it.
- Distraction is the enemy's primary tool. It doesn't attack loudly. It just keeps your eyes off God through busyness, schedules, and noise, until you find yourself in a hole wondering what happened.
How do I actually make time for God when my schedule is already packed?
Before anything else gets there. Not after the kids are settled, not once the clients are handled. Before. The clarity break I've built into my morning happens before the emails, before the noise of life and the world. A cup of coffee and quiet. Sitting there, listening, praying, mulling things over. Then time in the Word, usually one or two chapters of whatever book I'm in.
When I was a younger mother, I did this during nap time. For some people it's first thing in the morning. For some it's afternoon. For some it's after the house goes to bed. The slot matters less than the intention: this time is not for the phone, not for TV. It's for making space to hear from God.
When I do this consistently, things are happening in me that I might not feel in the moment. I might read a chapter and feel like I got nothing out of it. But over six months, over a year, my heart is changing. My relationship with God is changing. That compounding effect is real, and I only see it when I look back.
When I do it on a daily basis, it's a habit and a routine I've built in that builds structure in my life. And through the process of making it happen, things are happening in me. My relationship with God is changing. Just being in the Word for 10 minutes a day is changing my heart.
Amy Dardis, Episode 31What does a quarterly clarity session actually look like for a small business owner?
A quarterly clarity session is a few hours minimum, done outside your normal work environment. Getting out of the office or the house matters. The change of setting helps you see things you can't see when you're buried in the daily grind.
If it's a working session, it covers the previous quarter: the goals you set, whether you hit them, what got in the way. Then it looks forward: what are we doing over the next 90 days? What are the bigger overarching goals? And is what we're doing in the day-to-day actually getting us there, or are we just grinding and not moving?
Sometimes a clarity session isn't strategic at all. For Josh and me, getting away together two to four times a year has been one of the most life-giving things for our marriage. New place, new experiences, leaving the kids with family. A year is too long to go without that kind of reset.
It's easy to feel like you're really busy, and then when you take a step back, you're like, oh, I'm actually not going anywhere. I'm actually not moving forward. I'm just grinding, and that's not purposeful.
Amy Dardis, Episode 31What is a clarity fast and how does it help with direction in business?
A clarity fast is giving something up for a period of time in order to intentionally seek God for wisdom, direction, revelation, or breakthrough. Not as an obligation. As an intentional choice: I need him to do something I can't do in my own strength.
I've fasted food, makeup, social media, TV, sugar, alcohol, depending on what either had a hold over my life or was crowding God out. The question I ask going in: what is keeping me from hearing him clearly? That thing becomes the fast.
I try to do at least one fast a year. I like to start the year with one. There's something about positioning yourself at the beginning of a new year to say: God, I want you to set the tone. I'm clearing out the clutter and distraction to make room for that.
What is a clarity season and how do you stay hopeful when it takes years?
A clarity season is a season of something being stripped away, rebuilt, shaped, or shifted. It can take months or years, because not all clarity comes as fast as we want it to. Some people call these wilderness seasons or Job seasons. I've used both terms.
The marriage was probably a five-year season of hitting rock bottom, going to marriage counseling, working through things, relearning how to communicate and build trust. The anxiety season took two or three years of stripping away old habits, old clutter, old commitments. Both times I just knew I was in a season. I wasn't fighting it. I was working through it.
When you can name the season, you don't lose hope in the middle of it. You keep planting, keep sowing, keep doing the work, knowing the fruit is coming even when you can't see it yet.
When you can acknowledge the season you're in, it helps us to not lose hope in the process. It helps us to stay patient through the process. It helps us to keep planting, keep sowing, keep doing the work.
Amy Dardis, Episode 31Resources mentioned
- Free Employer Brand Resources — Hiring and brand clarity tools for trades and service business owners
- Ep 22 — The Idol of Your Own Strength — What happens when you grind instead of rest
- Ep 25 — The Idol of Advice — Six weeks of silence and what it cleared
- Ep 29 — The Idol of Comfort — What gets exposed when God removes the stable season
Full transcript
Clarity works for anything: business, relationships, marriage, family, life in general. God is the author of it all. He is the potter and we are the clay, and he has a plan and a purpose. My heart is to seek him and to seek his will, and the only way to do that is to make sure I'm creating space, creating opportunity, positioning myself intentionally to hear from him on a regular basis.
There are really four ways I've structured rhythms of clarity into my life. We're coming up to the end of a year and about to launch into a new one. The end of the year is a naturally symbolic time to pause and really seek God's voice and direction. But I think we should be doing this at all times, every day, every month, every year, in all situations and decisions.
The first is a clarity break. A clarity break is short-term: an hour, a few hours, no longer than a day. It's being intentional about seeking God first. For me, that means a morning break before anything, before the emails, before the kids, before the noise of life and the world. It's a cup of coffee, sitting there in quiet, listening, mulling things over, praying. Then I move into time in the Word, usually one or two chapters of whatever book I'm in.
When I was a younger mother, I did this during nap time. That was the time that made the most sense. Before I started doing it first thing in the morning, nap time, or quiet time as my kids got older and stopped napping, was the slot that worked. For some people it's first thing in the morning, for some people it's afternoon, for some people it's after the house goes to bed. But it's not being on the phone, it's not being in front of the TV. It's making space and preparing my heart to seek God for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour.
When I do this on a daily basis, things are happening in me that I might not feel in the moment. I might read a chapter and feel like I got nothing out of it. But over six months, over a year, I know my heart is changing and my relationship with God is changing. It's in those quiet moments that he will speak to me, convict me, or give me peace and strength for the day.
The second rhythm we've been more intentional about in the last few years is Sabbath. For us that usually falls on Sunday. We go to church in the morning, and then the rest of the day is for rest, fun, fellowship, and worship. We're spending time together, playing a game, making a meal. I'm not running errands that day, not working, not doing chores. It really is a day of choosing to rest and have fun and engage with people. Instead of filling the schedule with every to-do and every task, we're setting aside time that is life-giving and restful, pursuing God through fellowship and loving people, taking a break from the responsibilities of life. Those responsibilities are important things, but they will run our life if we let them.
The next level of clarity is what I call a clarity session. A session is a minimum of a few hours, and it can extend into a day or a weekend or some type of retreat. There are two versions of this. One is taking time for higher-level strategic focus. In business it's easy to get stuck in the day-to-day: the clients, the projects, the proposals, the bids, all of the moving pieces. It can turn into something very reactive that's pulling you in all directions. A clarity session is the process of taking time to get yourself out of the day-to-day and look at your business, your relationships, your marriage, your life as a whole. It's stepping back and assessing.
If it's a working strategic session, it's looking at the previous quarter. I like to do a clarity session monthly to quarterly. Quarterly is probably ideal. It's looking at the goals that were set, seeing the progress that was made, recognizing whether you followed through or not. What obstacles came in the way? Then looking forward: what are we doing over the next 90 days? What are the bigger overarching goals? Where do we want to be in three quarters, at the end of the year, in three years? And is what we're doing in our day-to-day helping us get there, or are we running in circles?
Sometimes it's easy to feel like you're really busy, and then when you take a step back, you realize you're not actually moving forward. You're just grinding, and that's not purposeful. Or it might be assessing the brand: we think we know our messaging and our clients, but when we sit down outside the day-to-day and think about what we're saying and what we value and what's driving us forward, are they all consistent? Is there clarity or are there gaps? Is there vagueness causing friction?
Sometimes a clarity session is not work at all. Something that has been incredibly life-giving for Josh and me in our marriage is getting away together, at least two to four times a year. Whether it's a trip or an overnight or a weekend, we try to actually leave the house, leave the kids with the grandparents, and just go have fun in a different place. New experiences, letting that recharge us, reset our connection to each other and our perspective on life and the business. If you let it go too long, thinking you'll do a vacation and it'll be a week, a year or two or three years is a long time to wait to get recharged. We need it more often than that.
In the EOS framework there are quarterly strategic planning sessions: a quarterly day where you review the past quarter, assess what's working and what's not working, then spend a few hours planning for the next quarter, making sure you're on target to meet your one-year and three-year goals, and looking at any issues that need focused time. A clarity session very often does require getting out of the office or the house into a different setting for fresh perspective.
The third area of clarity that has been incredibly impactful in my life is fasting. A clarity fast is when we give something up for a period of time in order to intentionally seek God for wisdom, direction, revelation, breakthrough, intimacy. We are choosing to take a period of time that specifically focuses on him and on what his power can do for us in our life, our business, and our relationships.
Fasting can take any amount of time. I've done daily fasts, 24-hour fasts, 72-hour fasts, a week-long fast, a month-long fast. I usually chose to fast things that either had a hold over my life in some way or were distracting me from pursuing and seeking God. Things I have fasted: makeup, social media and TV, sugar, alcohol, food itself.
I try to do some type of fast at least annually, sometimes two to three times a year. I like to start the beginning of a year with some kind of fast. We were part of a church where we fasted together as a congregation, usually in January, anywhere from one week to 21 days. We did the Daniel fast for a lot of years, and that taught me to get into the habit of positioning myself at the beginning of the year to really let God lead, let him set the tone and the direction for what would happen that year.
Choosing to give something up for a while to seek power, wisdom, breakthrough in my life or in a specific season. This past year I fasted multiple times on different occasions because I desperately needed God. I desperately needed him to do a work in my life. I was willing to give up food, give up comfort, give up the distractions because I desperately wanted to see him move.
It's a great habit to be in, at least on an annual basis, to go before the Lord and say: I want your will for my life. Maybe I recognize that these things have a hold over me and it's keeping me from what you have for me, so I need you to break those chains. Or I'm feeling lost and confused and I have no idea what direction to take, so I'm canceling out the noise and creating room to hear your voice, to spend more time in the Word, to really seek your will and your discernment for this season.
The fourth area is what I call a clarity season. A season can take months or even years, because not all clarity comes as fast as we want it to. A clarity season is a season of something being stripped away, stripped down. It's a season of rebuilding, shaping, shifting, or preparation. Some people call this a wilderness season or a Job season. I've used all of those terms to define different seasons in my life, depending on how difficult it was.
These are seasons where we know that God is working on us in a specific area, stripping some things away or healing some things or bringing something to the surface. It doesn't happen overnight. It doesn't happen in a week. When you recognize the season you're in, when you can see that God is doing a work, it helps you not lose hope in the process. It helps you stay patient, keep planting, keep sowing, keep doing the work, knowing that you might not see the fruit today but you're going to.
I think about the season of our marriage. There was like a five-year season of hitting rock bottom, starting to go to marriage counseling, working through things, relearning new habits and new communication styles, building up trust. I just knew I was in a season where God was healing us from the inside out and teaching us to reconnect and rebuild something new together. Or I think about the season of my anxiety. I was so overwhelmed by everything and I was being challenged to simplify my life. That started very practically with simplifying my house, my routines, my calendar, because I felt like I was drowning in my stuff and my calendar and my commitments.
It was probably a two or three-year period of stripping away old habits, stripping away all the stuff and the clutter. Taking trips to Goodwill every weekend. Trying to find new ways of living and maintaining so I could spend more time with my family, more time resting, more time having fun. I was basically angry and bitter. Working all the time, spending weekends doing chores and projects. Never resting, never having fun, not spending quality time with my family. And I recognized that. So I said, okay, God, I am in a season of needing better systems. Take all this stuff away. Help me rediscover what fun looks like, what rest looks like, what quality time with my kids looks like.
That took a few years of things changing. But I knew what I was working towards. I knew it wasn't going to happen overnight. I was just in that season. Eventually the months go by and the years go by, and I can look back and see: yeah, it's different. When you can acknowledge the season you're in, it helps you not lose hope in the process. It helps you stay patient and keep planting, keep sowing, keep doing the work.
If we allow ourselves to get stuck in the day-to-day, just get blown and tossed by whatever is coming at us, we're reacting to the schedule and the kids and the business and the clients, and we start to feel completely out of control. We're not putting God in control. We're allowing all of these things to determine our steps instead of giving it to God and saying: how do I be more intentional? How do I do this wisely? How do I bear fruit in this season?
By implementing these habits, routines, systems, and rhythms into our life, we create space to say: God, you are in charge, you are in control. Here's what I do on a daily basis to remind myself of that. Here's what I do on a monthly or quarterly basis to remind myself of that. Here's how I keep going through difficult seasons knowing you're over all things and you will see me through.
Distraction is a silent killer. It doesn't happen overnight. The more the enemy can distract us away from God through busyness and schedules and activities, the easier it is for him to steal our hope and our joy and our purpose and our identity and our faith. Building in these boundaries keeps us in check and helps us stay focused on what really matters, on who really matters.
As we end this year, take a step back. Look at the year you just had. Recognize how you've grown, what you've done well. What were the struggles and the obstacles? What did you learn? And then whether it's through a fast or some time away or just starting a daily habit: God, you're in control, you're Lord and Savior over my life. I want to live a life that honors you. I want to be surrendered to you. Show me what path to take. I'm going to do my job to make space for you, to seek you, to draw close to you, and to put you at the center.