Why Clarity Disappears First When Things Speed Up
A few years ago, I noticed a strange pattern in my work.
Whenever things got busy, I’d end up rewriting the same email over and over, sometimes for hours.
Not because it was unclear but because it didn’t feel right.
The message made sense.
The ask was reasonable.
And still, I couldn’t quite hit send because I assumed something must be off in my wording. I went back to tweaking sentences and wordsmithing.
So I did what I’ve always done when the pace picks up.
I slowed myself down.
Stayed later.
Adjusted the tone more.
I tried to make the words sound steadier than the situation actually was.
That’s when something clicked.
The problem wasn’t my message or my ability to communicate. It was that the work around me was moving faster than my sense-making could keep up.
Nothing was wrong with the email.
The clarity I was looking for hadn’t caught up to the speed of change.
Decisions were still forming. Scope was still unclear.
Priorities were shifting in real time.
Everyone was moving but no one had become clear where things had actually landed.
And without realizing it, I was carrying that ambiguity in my head.
Like a lot of change leaders, I’d quietly become the buffer or traffic controller between moving parts that hadn’t actually been aligned.
That’s the quiet thing speeding up does.
It doesn’t just add work.
It steals your clarity first.
One Practical Anchor (Use This Now)
The next time you catch yourself overthinking, rewriting, or hesitating, pause and ask:
“What hasn’t been named that needs clarity?”
It might be:
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An unresolved decision.
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An unclear priority.
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A conversation that hasn’t happened.
If something feels heavier and more time intensive than it should, it’s usually because you’re carrying information that hasn’t been made explicitly clear.
Once you spot it, write a single, simple sentence that names it:
“We haven’t decided X yet.”
“We’re unclear on Y’s priority this week.”
“This piece depends on a conversation we haven’t had.”
Use that sentence in your next meeting or email, even briefly. You’re not fixing everything but instead you’re restoring just enough shared clarity and direction for the next step.
This is a small example of “restoring clarity upstream” a skill that becomes a real advantage when change is continual.
What I’m Loving 🩵
🛠️ A tool / tip
Time-blocking focus on my calendar. I block “thinking time” as Do Not Disturb so I’m visibly offline and not in meetings. Those protected blocks are the only reason I get real work and deep thinking done in a week that would otherwise be consumed by back to back meetings and calls.
đź“– A book or podcast
Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman - it's grounding, practical, and oddly calming. His thinking about limits and trade-offs pairs beautifully with rethinking what “falling behind” actually means.
🫶 A simple pleasure
Reading fiction before bed every night. Small ritual, big reset. I intentionally choose stories unrelated to my work so my brain can fully unplug and let my imagination refuel
When things speed up, clarity doesn’t disappear because you’re doing something wrong. It disappears because speed outpaces sense-making every single time.
Learning how to restore a sense of clarity both calmly and intentionally is a learnable skill, and it’s at the center of the work I’m doing.
Warmly,
Heather
P.S. If this email hit a little too close to home, hit reply and tell me the first thing that comes to mind when you think, “I wish I felt calmer about ___ at work.” Your answers directly shape what I write about here.
