This is a guest post by Glen Allsopp of PluginID.
You can find excellent productivity advice in a million places around the web. From clearing out your inbox and keeping yourself organised to tips on dealing with procrastination and getting work done faster. However, one crucial element that a lot of people forget about is the mind.
No matter how effective your email clearing strategies are, if you are dealing with internal conflicts and have a lot of thoughts running through your head, you’re going to operate less efficiently. Today I want to share my tips on how you can remove your mental clutter, and show that less really is more.
Learn to Let Go
Letting go is one of those things that we make out to be a lot more difficult than it is, yet the benefits are so great that it’s surprising so few of use this on a regular basis. Whenever an incident happens, we tend to make it far more important than it is, we hold onto it in our minds for far longer than necessary. We can’t go back in time to change what has happened so just let go.
It’s our internal resistance to things that gives them more importance, makes them feel more real. Our internal dialogue that goes over what has happened, wishing certain events didn’t occur. Imagine you are holding a marker pen; how do you let go? You just let go, you just drop it. Do that to the things in your mind, the incessant little voice in your head. Forgive and forget.
Keep an Updated To Do List
Up until the last 7 months or so, I had never used a to do list in my life; I had used a ‘to buy’ list when I go shopping, but nothing for my daily tasks. The benefit of using a to do list is quite obvious: you remove the stress and need to memorize things by writing them down, and you don’t try to “rack your brain” later when you want to recall something.
For online To Do List purposes I use ToDoIst, a neat, ajax based system that includes all the features you could ever need. It also comes well supported so there are desktop widgets, Firefox sidebars and more.
For offline purposes, I have a small black notepad that I use to jot down my random ideas. This can include things I need to do that have nothing in relation to my daily tasks (I work online, so tend to use ToDoIst the most) but things that would be on my mind otherwise. Additionally, you could also store notes on your phone when you are out and about to keep your mind care and clutter free.
Practice Meditation
As I always say, meditation is one of those things I was very skeptical about and thought only monks did. To be honest, I just thought of it as pointless; of course, this was before actually trying it out for myself, isn’t that funny (or in other words, common). I first decided to try meditation after reading Do You! by Russell Simmons, a book based on the set of values that the Dem Jam Records founder used to help him build businesses worth close to a billion dollars.
I was hoping that Sara had put together an article on meditation so I could send you there, however I noticed it was something she would like to improve on through her ‘Three Things I Suck At‘ post. Luckily, instead of sharing my usual meditation technique, I did find this excellent post by her, which recommends:
Focus on the five senses. Take a deep breath. What does the moment smell like? What sounds do you hear? What do you feel on your skin? These are the details that make each moment special. When you can’t stop the interior monologue from intruding, take a minute or two to create a mental catalog of what this moment feels, smells, looks, sounds, and tastes like for you. It can be a pretty effective way of quelling that inner voice, and at the very least, gives you a few minutes to savor the moment before returning to what’s on your mind.
I think this is a great technique about getting in the moment, which helps you stop imagining future situations and worrying about the past. Instead, you focus on right now, and that is the best way to remove mental noise and get things done.
[Editor's Note: I still haven't learned how to meditate effectively... or at all, really. Evelyn Lim has some great insight on meditation if you're interested.]
Use Visualization Techniques
This is probably one of my favourite ways to remove mental clutter. Not that it is the most effective, but it is certainly the most fun to try, and the results are highly interesting. Visualization techniques are used commonly in self-help books; whilst they don’t provide the lasting clarity you might want, they can provide worthwhile and instant short term relief from your mental activities.
Kettle Head Example - This is a very simple technique but works well. First of all, actually focus on all the clutter in your head. The voice, the complaints, the wishing certain moments had changed, your anger at certain situations. Let it all bubble up. Now, imagine someone is putting a flame next to your head and these emotions and feelings start whizzing around, bubbling, the hotter they get, the more they are moving.
Visualize your emotions moving around and getting more active, just like when you heat up water in a kettle. Keep doing this while keeping the image of water boiling in a kettle in mind. Eventually, imagine all this pressure just exploding and releasing through the top of your head, that it has built up so much that it all just disappears. All your negativity, that annoying voice, your negative feelings… gone.
Once you start to relax after this technique, you should find yourself in a much more relaxed state and in a much better position to get on with your tasks for the day.
How do YOU remove mental clutter?
Glen Allsopp is a Personal Development blogger at PluginID. His aim is to inspire, awaken and motivate people and help them realise they CAN be who they want to be.
photo credit: h.koppdelaney
