When you can’t articulate the BIG GOAL in your head: How to clarify what you’re really after

“Clarity doesn’t come from waiting for the perfect words - it comes from moving through the fog with curiosity, courage, and a willingness to listen to what your future is trying to tell you.”

- Jason Shreve

July, 2025

🧠 When You Can’t Articulate the Big Goal in Your Head: How to Clarify What You’re Really After

You feel it. That pull toward something bigger. A goal that’s bold, maybe even a little scary—but when someone asks you to define it, the words don’t come. You just know it’s there, somewhere in the fog.

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Many high-performers and visionary leaders experience this moment: the desire is real, but the clarity is missing. The good news? Neuroscience and peak performance research offer powerful tools to help you move from ambiguity to alignment.

Here’s how to start.

🔍 1. Understand Why the Goal Feels Fuzzy

Before we jump into solutions, it helps to know what’s happening in your brain. When you’re trying to articulate a big, future-oriented goal, you’re engaging your brain’s default mode network (DMN)—the system responsible for imagination, self-reflection, and long-term visioning.

But here’s the catch: the DMN doesn’t speak in bullet points. It speaks in images, emotions, and metaphors. That’s why your goal might feel more like a sensation than a sentence.

🧠 Tip: Don’t force clarity too soon. Instead, get curious about the feeling. What does it remind you of? What images or metaphors come to mind? This is your brain’s way of sketching the edges of your future.

🧘‍♂️ 2. Use Flow-State Triggers to Access Deeper Insight

When you’re stuck in overthinking, clarity won’t come from more analysis—it comes from state change. That’s where flow comes in.

Flow states quiet the inner critic (via reduced activity in the prefrontal cortex) and amplify pattern recognition, creativity, and intuition. In other words, flow helps you access the part of your brain that already knows what you want—before your conscious mind can articulate it.

🔥 Try this:

• Go for a long walk or run without music.

• Do something immersive and physical (surfing, climbing, dancing).

• Journal immediately after—ask: “What do I know about this goal that I haven’t said out loud yet?”

  • When journaling, the recommendation is to hand-write your journal entry vs typing.

✍️ 3. Externalize the Vision—Messy Is Fine

Once you’ve tapped into that intuitive knowing, it’s time to externalize it. Not perfectly—just enough to give it shape.

Try these prompts:

• “If I weren’t afraid of failing, I would…”

• “The future I can’t stop thinking about looks like…”

• “If I overheard someone describing my work 5 years from now, I’d want them to say…”

Use sticky notes, mind maps, voice memos—whatever helps you get it out of your head and into the world.

🧭 4. Use the “North Star, Not GPS” Approach

At this stage, you don’t need a 10-step plan. You need a North Star—a direction that feels energizing, meaningful, and worth pursuing.

Ask yourself:

• “What’s the impact I want to have?”

• “Who do I want to become in the process?”

• “What would feel wildly fulfilling—even if it’s hard?”

Once you have that North Star, you can reverse-engineer the path. But clarity comes from movement, not just thought.

🧠 5. Prime Your Brain with Visualization & Dopamine Anchors

Neuroscience shows that visualizing a goal activates the same neural circuits as actually pursuing it. This primes your brain to notice opportunities and take action.

Try this:

• Visualize yourself 3 years from now, having achieved the goal.

• What are you doing? Who are you with? How do you feel?

• Anchor that vision with a physical cue—a song, a mantra, a movement.

This creates a dopaminergic feedback loop that keeps you motivated and emotionally connected to the goal—even before it’s fully defined.

💬 Final Thought: Clarity Is Earned, Not Given

If you’re struggling to articulate your big goal, it doesn’t mean you’re lost—it means you’re on the edge of something meaningful. The fog is part of the process.

Use flow to access your intuition. Use language to shape it. Use action to refine it.

And remember: you don’t need the whole map to start walking toward your future. You just need the next step—and the courage to take it.

“You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”

- Martin Luther King, Jr. -