Note: This is a guest post by Lana Kravtsova from Daring Clarity.

How do you know which idea, project, gig, client to give a green light to and which not even bother researching further? How do you get clear on which business model, product or service are really going to make you rich, happy and fulfilled and which are going to drain your energy and suck your time leaving your soul empty and hurting.

How do you stay on purpose and say “yes” only to the right opportunities. And if you’ve been in business for any time at all, you know that it’s not the lack of opportunities or ideas but an incredible amount of them that leaves us terrified and unsure what to do next.

There is one word that will solve all of the above problems for you.

Hedgehog.

I say this word to myself each time I have a new “why don’t we do this” moment and right there and then I know what I should do. I use it with my clients when we brainstorm for new ideas. I use it with my friends who ask for advice.

Works like magic each and every time.

Let me explain.

You probably heard about the book Good to Great by brilliant Jim Collins. There is a  section in the book where he talks about Hedgehog Principle.

It’s simple. It’s genius. It’s one of the best tools I know for clarity.

It’s all about the hog.

If you have a hog, you win. If you don’t have a hog, you lose.

The hedgehog principle works for personal brands, service providers, product makers. It doesn’t matter if you are a solopreneur or big fortune 500 company.  You  don’t even have to run a business to use a hedgehog principle.

If you need to get clear on the right vocation for you, this is the tool to use.

The hog is the intersection of the three questions:

What are you passionate about?

What can you be the best in the world at?

What drives your economic engine?

I’ll show you how to use it using my personal example and Walgreens example.

1) I am deeply passionate about life that has meaning. I am also deeply passionate about creative freedom. I truly believe that one of the best ways to lead a meaningful and creatively free life is to choose a vocation that is aligned with your Authentic Self.  So I help people to align their truth (Authentic Self) with what they do in the world. Meaning and creative freedom are the end results of that.

1) Walgreens is passionate about pharmacies. Plain and simple. That’s what they do.

How do you find what you are passionate about?

Ask yourself – what would I do if I were guaranteed to succeed? What would I do for free? What would I do if I knew for sure that all of my financial needs would be met?  Write down your answers.

2)  I can be the best in the world at sharing my knowledge and experience I gained on the way to my truth. In other words I am really good at teaching what I learned through personal experience, books I’ve read, seminars I’ve taken on the topic.  I can share my knowledge through 1-1 coaching, workshops, blogging, creating products, speaking.

Note: I might be the best in the world at many other things. I am a great cook, a great dancer, I know tons of games to play with kids and much more. But all of that is not on purpose, see #1.

I might also want to be the best in world in many other areas, but that might not be realistic or, again, not on purpose.

2) Walgreens can be the best in the world at convenient drug stores. Not any drug stores but convenient drug stores.

Questions to ask here:

What am I really good at? When do I feel incredibly useful? What do I feel I was born to do? Again, write down your answers.

3) What drives my economic engine is packaging my knowledge in various different formats.

Profit per x is the focus here. My profit per X is profit per certain unit/format of my knowledge.  It might be 1-1 coaching, workshops, ebooks or any other products or services  I create. To go even further, the best format right now for me to focus on is 1-1 coaching (my highest paying product) and packaging my knowledge into something that will become a passive income – books, ebooks, membership programs etc.(makes the most sense long term).

3) Walgreens economic engine is driven by profit per customer visit. Not per store, not per company, not per customer but profit per customer visit.

Questions to ask:

What are the things you can do to make a living? What makes the most economic sense to do?

That’s Hedgehog. The key is to find the intersection of all three circles or questions.

If I come across an opportunity that is not aligned with my personal Hedgehog, I don’t bother even thinking about it.

So what is your hog? Need help in finding one? Visit me at my blog at http://daringclarity.com