A few years ago, if you’d told me that one of the most valuable leadership habits I’d develop would involve sitting quietly inside a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, I’d have laughed.
I originally started using hyperbaric oxygen therapy to help manage severe osteoarthritis in my knees after a skiing accident in my early twenties.
The physical benefits have been worthwhile.
But they weren’t the biggest surprise.
The biggest benefit was something I never expected.
Clarity.
Not the kind of clarity that comes from reading another business book or attending another workshop.
The kind that comes when your brain finally has permission to stop.
The first time I climbed into the chamber, I had no phone, no laptop, no emails & no distractions. Just a notebook and a pen.
By the time I came out 90 minutes later, I’d filled nine pages.
Ideas.
Questions.
Problems.
Decisions.
Insights.
Things I’d been carrying around in my head for weeks suddenly became obvious.
That experience taught me something I’ve seen repeated with countless leadership teams since.
Most leaders don’t have an information problem.
They have a thinking-time problem.
The Leadership Habit Most People Skip
Within EOS®, one of the simplest but most powerful habits is the Clarity Break™.
It’s exactly what it sounds like.
Dedicated time to think.
No meetings.
No phone.
No podcasts.
No emails.
No notifications.
No multitasking.
Just you, a notebook and your thoughts.
Simple.
Yet surprisingly difficult.
We’ve become so accustomed to constant stimulation that silence now feels uncomfortable.
The moment there’s a gap, we instinctively reach for our phone.
But leadership doesn’t improve because we consume more information.
It improves because we create space to process it.
Why Leaders Stay Stuck
One of the biggest traps for business owners is believing that being busy means they’re making progress.
The calendar is full.
The inbox is moving.
Problems are being solved.
Decisions are being made.
It feels productive.
But many of those decisions are reactive.
The bigger your business becomes, the more your role shifts.
You’re no longer paid to answer every question.
You’re paid to make good decisions.
And good decisions require thinking time.
Without it, leaders stay in reaction mode.
They’re solving today’s problems instead of anticipating tomorrow’s.
The Glass of Muddy Water
One of the easiest ways I explain a Clarity Break is with a glass of muddy water.
Imagine filling a glass with water and silt, then shaking it constantly.
The water stays cloudy.
You can’t see through it.
You can’t see what’s settled at the bottom.
That’s what most leaders’ minds look like.
Constant meetings.
Constant messages.
Constant interruptions.
Constant input.
The water never settles.
But leave the glass alone for a while and something changes.
The silt settles.
The water becomes clear.
Your thinking works exactly the same way.
The challenge isn’t that you aren’t capable of making good decisions.
The challenge is that you’ve never given your brain long enough to settle.
What Happens During A Clarity Break
People often tell me they already have thinking time.
“I think while I’m walking.”
“I get my best ideas cycling.”
“I solve problems while I’m driving.”
And I believe them.
I get ideas while travelling, walking Apollo & Hermes, or staring out the window on a flight.
But inspiration isn’t the same as intentional thinking.
A Clarity Break has only one purpose.
To think.
My own routine is incredibly simple.
The first ten or fifteen minutes are a complete brain dump.
Everything that’s occupying space in my head goes onto paper.
Then I start asking questions.
- What’s the biggest issue in the business right now?
- What conversation have I been avoiding?
- What’s distracting the leadership team?
- What opportunity deserves more attention?
Then I write.
Without an agenda.
Without trying to force an answer.
Over the years I’ve noticed something interesting.
The first twenty minutes usually clear the noise.
The real breakthroughs happen much later.
That’s why I recommend setting aside at least an hour.
Less than that & you’re often only scratching the surface.
Why Weekly Beats Waiting for a Crisis
I used to take a Clarity Break every now & then.
Whenever I felt overwhelmed.
Whenever I had time.
Now it’s a weekly habit.
The difference has been remarkable.
Instead of allowing issues to build up, I process them every week.
Instead of waiting until something becomes a crisis, I spot patterns earlier.
Instead of reacting, I find myself thinking ahead.
The quality of my decisions has improved.
The speed of my decisions has improved.
And perhaps most importantly, my confidence in those decisions has improved.
The Answers Are Usually Already There
One of the biggest surprises is that Clarity Breaks rarely produce completely new ideas.
More often, they confirm what you already know.
I’ve watched leaders realise:
- A person is sitting in the wrong seat.
- A project needs to stop.
- A difficult conversation can’t wait any longer.
- A customer no longer fits the business.
- An opportunity doesn’t align with the Core Focus®.
The answer wasn’t missing.
It was buried beneath the noise.
The Clarity Break simply created the conditions for it to surface.
The Real Job of a Leader
People often assume leaders are paid to have all the answers.
I don’t believe that’s true.
I think leaders are paid to create clarity.
For themselves.
For their leadership team.
For the business.
And clarity doesn’t come from moving faster.
It comes from creating space.
Space to think.
Space to reflect.
Space to challenge assumptions.
Space to ask better questions.
That’s the work that rarely looks productive from the outside.
But it’s often the work that creates the biggest shift inside the business.
The Question to Ask
When was the last time you deliberately gave yourself an hour to think?
Not to answer emails.
Not to prepare for a meeting.
Not to catch up on work.
Just to think.
Because if your leadership team is constantly reacting, the next breakthrough probably won’t come from working harder.
It might simply come from giving your mind enough time for the silt to settle.
If you’ve never tried a Clarity Break, block out an hour this week. Leave the technology behind, take a notebook and see where your thinking takes you. You might be surprised by what becomes clear.