There are days when your head feels like a crowded meeting room: too many voices, too many tasks, too many expectations, and no one to moderate. You function, make decisions, deliver results. And yet you’re left with this vague feeling that something isn’t quite right.
Many of our readers – executives, coaches, entrepreneurs – describe exactly that:
“I have so much knowledge, but no direction.”
“My head is full, but my decisions feel empty.”
And this is where the misconception begins: we believe that clarity comes from even more information. More books, more courses, more frameworks, more tips for focus and productivity. But what is missing is rarely knowledge, but rather an internal point of reference.
Too Much on Your Mind, but Too Little Within Yourself
Mental Load has little to do with how many tasks you have. It arises when you no longer feel where you are coming from when you make decisions.
Top performers don’t lose their direction because they are incapable. It’s because they spend too long only reacting to what is happening outside:
- Expectations
- Deadlines
- Risks
- Opportunities
- People who want something
- Systems that need something
Your mind collects everything, but without an internal filter. And at some point, the system simply becomes full. What is missing is not structure. It is self-reference.
Why “More Tools” Only Create New Clutter
When their heads are full, many people reach for exactly what they know:
- New to-do methods
- New journaling rituals
- New clarity workbooks
- New coaching ideas
- New digital tools that promise clarity
But:
The more you take in, the louder the clutter that is already there becomes.
Because clarity does not come from changing systems. It comes when you can once again distinguish between:
- What is truly important
- What is merely loud
- What you do out of habit
- And what you do out of fear
That is inner orientation. Not in your head – in your consciousness.
The Real Blockage: You Hear Everything Except Yourself
When people say, “I don’t know how to decide,” they don’t lack competence, they lack distance.
Managers and coaches often say:
- “I need to think everything through first.”
- “I need more input.”
- “I don’t want to make the wrong decision.”
But the core issue is simpler: you no longer have access to yourself.
The noise outside drowns out the clarity inside.
Orientation is not a thought process. It is a perception process.
How to Regain Clarity: Three Steps That Have an Immediate Effect
This is where it gets practical: low-threshold, without the obsession with self-optimization.
(1) Pull Back the Perspective
Clarity arises when you step outside the stream of thoughts. This cannot be achieved through pressure, but only through distance:
A 5-minute break.
A short walk.
A clearly formulated sentence: “What is really my issue here right now?”
(2) Name the Actual Thing
Behind chaos of thoughts there is often an unnamed core: a conflict of values, a hidden fear, an unmade decision. Once you name it, the rest almost sorts itself out.
(3) Make Decisions Based on Attitude Rather Than Reflex
Orientation does not mean making the “right” decision, but acting from a clear inner place. When you feel what is important to you again, every step becomes easier.
And Why None of This Has Anything to Do With “Work-Life Balance”
Most people try to force orientation through external order. But clarity does not come from new routines. It comes from a quiet but consistent question: “What do I really want to refer to?”
Once this point of reference is clear again, even a full calendar no longer feels chaotic. You carry it with a different attitude.
Unterm Strich – der Podcast mit Debora Karsch
You don’t achieve clarity by emptying your mind. Rather, by recognizing which voice in your mind is your own.
And that is precisely the central theme of our podcast:
Impact requires attitude.
Attitude requires awareness.
Awareness begins within you.
You can find the podcast here:
