The Clear Sight Guide
Audit your life. Break the barriers. See your next step.
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If you’ve picked up this guide, you’re likely tired.
Perhaps you’re a teacher who spent the day managing thirty different personalities. Maybe you’re a creative who feels like your “spark” has been replaced by a deadline. Or perhaps you’re a professional who simply can’t remember the last time you felt truly present at home.
The Clear Sight Guide is about one thing: Subtraction.
We live in a world that is constantly adding – more emails, more bills, more expectations. This guide is designed to help you strip away the “mental clutter” so you can find your footing again.
It’s for anyone who feels like they’re running on empty and is looking for a logical, honest way to find their way back to a better version of themselves.
About me
I was 122kg, burnout and lost. I didn’t find my way back through “hacks” or complex theories. I found it by hitting the mute button, getting honest with myself and taking one step at a time.
Now I have lost more than 20kg and have a better work-life balance than ever before.
I used Chapter 2 to reclaim at least 15% of my monthly income from “noise” expenses, and Chapter 3 to move from 122kg to my current high-energy baseline.
Chapter 1: The Horizon Check – Clearing the Fog
To find your way home, you first have to stop and look at the map. Most of us feel “stuck” not because we aren’t moving, but because we are trying to navigate through a thick fog of worry.
In this chapter, we aren’t fixing anything yet. We are simply clearing the air. Understanding the “Noise”.
Imagine your mind is a room. Over years of working and living, that room gets filled with boxes – unpaid bills, health worries, work stress, family expectations. Eventually, you can’t even see the floor. This “clutter” is what makes you feel heavy.
To clear the room, we have to identify what kind of “clutter” we’re dealing with:
- The Heavy Weight (Finances & Career): The constant, nagging worry about “enough”. It’s the stress that keeps you awake at night. We treat this with Clarity (Chapter 2)
- The Physical Barrier (Health & Energy): The feeling of being uncomfortable in your own skin or too tired to play with your kids. We treat this with Small Steps (Chapter 3)
- The Blurring Lines (Work vs. Life): When the stress of your job follows you into your kitchen or your bedroom. We treat this with Rest (Chapter 4)
- The Inner Fog (The “Stuck” Feeling): The sense that you’ve lost the “real you” somewhere along the way. We treat this with Momentum (Chapter 5)
For a deeper look at my personal transition from corporate burnout to the logic of subtraction, read here: The Logic of Subtraction: Why I Started Guy After Work
The Circle of Focus
Take a piece of paper. This is your first “Horizon Check”.
- Draw a Circle
- Inside the Circle: Write down the things you can actually change today (e.g., What I’m having for dinner, the time I put my phone away, one small expense I can cut)
- Outside the Circle: Write down the things that are weighing you down but you cannot change (e.g., The price of gas, a difficult colleague, what happened last year)
The Rule of the Path
Focus your energy only on what is inside the circle. Everything else is “Weather”. You can’t change the rain, but you can choose to put on a coat. We are only going to work on what you can carry.
The Chapter 1 Milestone
By putting these worries into categories, you’ve stopped the “fog” from being one big, scary cloud. You’ve turned it into a list of things we can look at, one by one. You aren’t “lost” anymore – you’ve just finally cleared the view.
The Frost Circle: A natural metaphor for the Circle of Focus. In Chapter 1, we clear the fog and focus only on what is within our immediate reach.
Chapter 2: The Financial Foundation – Muting the Money Stress
For most of us, money is the loudest “noise” in the room. It isn’t just about numbers on a screen, it’s about safety, freedom and the ability to sleep through the night. When your finances feel like a “mess”, it’s impossible to have Clear Sight in other areas of your life.
In this chapter, we aren’t going to talk about “getting rich”. We are going to talk about getting clear.
Visibility Equals Calm
Anxiety grows in the dark. Most people feel financial stress not because they don’t have enough, but because they don’t know exactly where it’s going. They live in a state of “guessing”.
The goal here is to build a Guardrail Budget – a clear boundary that protects your peace of mind by turning “scary unknowns” into “manageable facts”.
I’ve written a guide on how to identify the small, hidden expenses that quietly drain your energy and bank account. Read here: The Sock Problem: Identifying the Hidden Leaks in Your Budget
Financial Guardrails
Step 1: The Honest Map (The Guardrail Budget Tool)
To find your footing, you need one single place where the truth lives. I call this The Guardrail Budget. It isn’t a complex accounting book; it’s a one-page map of your month.
You need to see three specific numbers:
- Fixed Costs: The “Non-Negotiables” (Rent/Mortgage, Utilities, Insurance) – these are the bricks that build your shelter
- Variable Needs: The “Fuel” (Groceries, Transport)
- The Freedom Fund: What is left over after everything else is paid
Step 2: Setting Your Guardrails
As an analyst, I found that I made the best decisions when I gave myself “Rules of the Road”. Instead of trying to save “everything”, I set specific targets that allowed me to live without guilt.
Example Guardrails:
- The Grocery Cap ($300/€270): This is your fuel. By setting a limit, you stop the “random shopping” that bleeds your account dry
- The “Just in Case” Fund ($100/€90): A small buffer for the things life throws at you (like a broken toaster or a last-minute gift)
- Fun Money ($50-$100/€45-€90): This is vital. If you don’t allow yourself a reward, the system will feel like a prison and you will eventually break it
Step 3: The Power of “Free Money”
Once your bills are mapped and your guardrails are set, the amount left over is your Free Money. This is the most important number in the guide. This isn’t just “extra cash” – it is your Future Freedom. Whether you use it to pay off debt, save for a trip to the mountains, or invest in a new hobby, this money is now working for you, not for your bills.
The Analyst’s Insight
A budget isn’t a restriction – it’s a choice. When you know exactly where your money is, you stop asking “Can I afford this?” and start asking “Is this worth my freedom?”
The Chapter 2 Milestone
By the end of this week, your goal is to have your “Honest Map” filled out. When you can see your whole financial month on one page, the “Heavy Weight” of money stress begins to lift. You aren’t guessing anymore. You have Clear Sight.
The Guardrail Budget Tool Template
I didn’t build this to sell – I built it to survive.
This is the exact Guardrail Budget Tool I use every Sunday evening to audit my own signal. It is the only reason I can afford to spend my weekends in the wild without the “financial fog” following me into the forest. It remains the most important spreadsheet in my life.
I don’t just share this tool; I rely on it every Sunday to keep my own horizon clear. Read more here: The Guardrail Budget: A Financial Analyst’s Guide to Stress-Free Money
Chapter 3: The Physical Alignment – Outsmarting the Barrier
When I was 122kg, I thought the problem was my lack of discipline. I thought I was “lazy”. But as I began to look at my life through a clearer lens, I realized the truth: Discipline is a finite resource, but environment is permanent.
In this chapter, we aren’t going to talk about “no pain, no gain” or extreme diets. We are going to talk about Friction. We are going to identify the tiny things that stop you from moving and learn how to “trick” your mind into taking the first step.
The “Sock Problem”
One of the most honest moments of my journey was realizing that on some mornings, the hardest part of working out wasn’t the workout itself – it was the struggle of bending over to put on my socks. That tiny bit of physical and mental friction was enough to make me say, “Not today”.
We all have “Sock Problems”
- It’s the gym bag that’s buried in the closet
- It’s the fridge full of ingredients that require an hour of cooking when you’re already tired
- It’s the cold floor in the morning that keeps you under the covers
To get better, you don’t need more willpower. You need less friction.
Outsmarting the Barrier
Step 1: Identify and Remove the Barrier
Take a look at the “Physical” bucket from your Chapter 1 Horizon Check. When you cleared the view, what did you notice about why you didn’t move yesterday?
- If it’s time: We don’t find time; we stack it (e.g., Taking a walk while listening to a podcast you love)
- If it’s energy: We make the first step so small it’s impossible to fail (e.g., For me it’s running shoes next to the couch)
The Environment Design Hack
Don’t wait until the morning to decide to be healthy. Decide the night before –Place your walking shoes on top of your laptop. Put your workout clothes on the bathroom counter. Make it harder to avoid the goal than to achieve it.
Step 2: Multiple Motivations (Stacking the “Why”)
Losing weight is a long-term goal, and the human brain is bad at waiting. To keep moving, you need immediate rewards. Stop working out just to “be thinner”. Start doing it for a “stack” of reasons:
- The “Mute Button”: Moving to get away from the screen and clear the head
- The Capability: Moving so you can finally hike that trail with hills and many stairs without gasping for air
- The Confidence: Moving because you want to like the person you see in the mirror or on camera
- The Curiosity: Moving to try a new sport or explore a new part of the forest
Step 3: The Daily Baseline Checklist
Consistency lives in the “Small Wins”. To lose 20kg, I didn’t focus on the 20kg, I focused on today. I created a simple, one-page checklist to keep my body honest without overthinking it.
I call this The Daily Baseline Checklist, built around the “Core Four” habits:
- Hydration: Did I drink enough water today?
- Nutrition: Did I stay within my fuel “Guardrails”?
- Movement: Did I take my “First Step” (a walk, a stretch, a workout)?
- Maintenance: Did I take my vitamins/supplements?
The Analyst’s Insight
Weight loss isn’t a math problem you solve once. It’s a habit-stacking problem you manage daily. If you manage the day, the months will take care of themselves.
Learn why an Analyst’s “Baseline” is a more powerful tool for long-term health than relying on temporary motivation. Read here: The Analyst’s View: Why Life Needs a Baseline
The Chapter 3 Milestone
Your goal this week is to identify your “Sock Problem” – the #1 thing that stops you from being active – and find a way to remove that friction. Then, start using the The Daily Baseline Checklist to track your “Core Four”.
The Daily Baseline Checklist
Even now, having lost 20kg and found my rhythm, I still check this list every evening.
On days when work feels like chaos, these four habits are the only things that keep me from sliding back into the “red”. They aren’t just a starting point – they are my permanent foundation.
These four habits were the foundation of my 20kg weight loss journey. You can read the full breakdown here: The Daily Core Four: My Minimum Effective Dose of Health
Chapter 4: The Mute Button – Protecting Your Peace
In my years as an analyst, I learned that even the most powerful computer will overheat if it never stops processing. Your mind is no different. Most people carry the “static” of their work life into their personal life, creating a blurred existence where they are never truly working and never truly resting.
This chapter is about building a Firewall for your mind. It’s about learning how to hit the Mute Button on the world so you can finally hear yourself again.
The Work-Life Blur
We often think that “getting better” means doing more. But often, the most productive thing you can do is stop. If you find yourself checking emails at 9:00 PM or feeling a sense of guilt when you aren’t “being productive”, your boundaries have leaked. When the 9-to-5 bleeds into the 5-to-9, you lose the ability to recover. And without recovery, there is no growth.
For a deeper dive into how I use nature to filter out corporate static and find mental clarity, read here: Signal vs. Noise: A Financial Analyst’s Guide to Mental Clarity
Clear Sight
Step 1: The Hard Disconnect (The Ritual)
To find your “Clear Sight”, you need a physical or sensory signal that the workday is over. You need a ritual that tells your brain: “The office is now closed”.
- The Sensory Shift: Change your clothes immediately when you finish work
- The Digital Border: Put your work phone in a drawer or turn off specific notifications at a set time
- The Audio Cue: Use a specific “Transition Playlist” or nature sounds (like the crunching snow in my videos) to bridge the gap between “Stress Mode” and “Rest Mode”
Step 2: Returning to the Wild (The Ultimate Reset)
There is a reason I film the bogs and forests of Latvia with no loud music. Nature is the world’s original Mute Button.
When you stand in the middle of a forest, the trees don’t care about your deadlines. The wind doesn’t care about your spreadsheet. Nature operates on a different clock. By spending time in “The Wild”, you force your brain to downshift from High-Frequency Stress to Low-Frequency Peace.
The 60-Second Rule: Next time you are on a trail, stop. Don’t take a photo. Don’t check your watch. Simply stand still for 60 seconds and listen. That silence is where your “Baseline” lives.
Once you have found your baseline through silence, you can look at your career with the objective eyes of an analyst.
Step 3: Evaluating the Source
Once you have muted the noise, you can finally look at your career and personal life with Honesty.
- Is work really the problem, or is it your lack of a boundary?
- Are you actually “stuck” in your career, or are you just too tired to see the opportunities?
When you strengthen your personal life through movement and financial clarity, you gain the “High-Ground”. From the high-ground, you can see if your job still fits who you are, or if it’s time to start planning a new path.
The Analyst’s Insight
You don’t save time by skipping rest. You waste time by working while exhausted. A disciplined “Mute Button” is the secret to a high-performance life.
The Chapter 4 Milestone
This week, choose your “Disconnect Ritual”. Whether it’s a 15-minute walk without your phone or a specific song that signals the end of the day, commit to a hard boundary. Use the silence to ask yourself: “Am I living my life, or am I just managing my stress?”
Chapter 5: Full Throttle – The Intentional Return
You have audited the mess, secured your financial foundation, outsmarted your physical barriers and learned how to hit the Mute Button. Now comes the most critical part of The Clear Sight Guide: moving forward without falling back into the fog.
In this final chapter, we talk about Momentum. It’s about taking the clarity you’ve found and using it to drive your life at “Full Throttle” – not with frantic energy, but with the quiet power of someone who knows exactly where they are going.
The Loop of Improvement
“Getting Better” isn’t a destination you reach and then stop. It’s a loop. Now that you have cleared the sight, you can see the road. But the world will always try to add more noise, more clutter and more stress.
To stay at Full Throttle, you must commit to the Iterative Steps:
- Observe: Notice when the “fog” starts to return
- Audit: Check your spreadsheet and your checklist. Where is the leak?
- Adjust: Remove the friction and hit the Mute Button
- Advance: Take the next step
Momentum
Step 1: Managing the Momentum
When you start seeing results – the numbers in the “Freedom Fund” going up, the numbers on the scale going down – the temptation is to do everything at once. Don’t. The secret to a permanent rework is Steady Velocity.
- Stick to your Guardrail Budget
- Stick to your Daily Baseline Checklist
- Protect your 5-to-9 Ritual
If you miss a day, don’t throw away the system. An analyst doesn’t delete the whole database because of one error. They simply patch the bug and restart the program. Start again the next morning.
Learn how to treat your daily energy with the same rigor as a professional balance sheet to prevent future burnout. Read here: How to Audit Your Energy Like a Balance Sheet
Step 2: Seeing the New Path
With a clear head and a stronger body, you will start to notice things you were too tired to see before.
- You might realize you have the energy to start a side project
- You might find the confidence to seek a new role or a new relationship
- You might realize that the path you were on is exactly right, but now you can walk it with a smile instead of a grimace
This is the reward of Clear Sight. You are no longer navigating by accident – you are navigating by design.
The Analyst’s Final Insight
The greatest barrier you will ever break is the belief that things have to stay the way they are. Once you prove to yourself that you can rework your morning, your money and your movement, you realize you can rework anything.
The tools above are the coordinates for my own Honest Map. Every trail I film and every budget guardrail I set is a way of ensuring I never lose sight of the horizon again. I hope they help you map out a path that finally feels like yours.
Your Next Steps: Beyond the Guide
This guide is your map, but you are the one who has to walk the trail.
I’ve walked the Ķemeri bogs in the dead of winter and climbed the Sigulda hills with 20kg of extra weight on my back I no longer have to carry. I know how heavy that first step feels. But I also know how the air smells and how quiet the world gets once the fog finally clears.
You don’t have to navigate this transition alone. Whether you use my Guardrail and Baseline Tools that I still use personally to find your footing or we sit down for a Personal Alignment Session to map out your specific horizon – I’m here to help you find the view.
I don’t just write these guides; I stand under the bridge. Read why I still use these exact tools every single day to maintain my alignment: The Honest Map: Why I Still Use My Own Tools Every Day
To help you stay on the path, I’ve made my personal tools available to you:
- The Guardrail Budget Tool: Stop guessing and start seeing your freedom and “free money” grow
- The Daily Baseline Checklist: The one-page system that turned my health around
- The “Clear Sight” Consultation: If you want a partner to help you audit your specific mess and set up these systems for your unique life, let’s talk
Welcome to the Path to Better
Let’s find your baseline
— GuyAfterWork
Want to see these resets in action?
Watch the Nature Resets on YouTube
