How To Organise Your Mind Through Thought Alone
Declutter by stopping distractions and awaken your inner genius
Sometimes it can be hard to clear your mind of all the different thoughts that constantly rush through it. Often we see a thought that we don’t like and force it to go away. Either by thinking of something else or more often by external distraction. A habit we do to protect ourselves, but actually, we hurt ourselves.
We pick up the phone, go snack, or play a game. We find that little something to give us a tiny rush of dopamine to tell us everything is alright. You’re doing good. And so you reward yourself for this behavior.
In reality, you just caged away a thought which is now eager to get out and show the world that he’s important and wants to be heard. It will not stop until you set it free.
Like a little child that wants attention, that child will make noise, cry and shout until it gets the so deserved attention from you. But you ignore it. You feel like if you give it attention, you will wake up sleeping dogs and the shouting and crying might get worse.
The problem is that many thoughts want your attention, and the longer you wait to give it to them, the louder they will become.
The results?
Headaches, stress, procrastination. A downward spiral of negative effects causing self-sabotaging behaviour.
Think of it as an inbox. What happens when you don’t open your email for a few days. 25 becomes 400, and soon you wish you could delete every single one of them because you are completely overwhelmed.
Complete chaos. What happens when you don’t answer? You get reminded, again and again. More frequently. Eventually, your phone rings. Noise and input from all sides. Everything and everyone wants your attention. But you cant. You get agitated and want to rip everyone's head off.
Your thoughts act the same way. If we neglect our thoughts and do not get back to them fast enough, they will accumulate and clutter your mind.
The mouse in the room has become the elephant in the room.
Thoughts are like people. Some you like and some you don’t. Some are bad, and some are good. We have to deal with both.
How to deal with thoughts
When a thought arises, ask yourself why it is there. What’s the source of this thought?
It used to be much easier to do this. Now we barely sit by ourselves in silence, with just our thoughts. Talking to each “child”. Going through the “folders”.
Ask yourself, is this thought outdated and can be disposed of or is it relevant and needs to be addressed?
Regularly going through your thoughts is crucial to decluttere your mind, gain clarity and be able to focus on what really matters.
Even just 5 minutes, without any distraction, is enough. First, it might feel overwhelming. You suddenly have 379 kids screaming at you, begging for your attention. But if you don’t give it to them, you will have even more trouble later.
The smartest people used to “just think” without distraction to make sense of their crazy ideas and thoughts.
Only thinking creates genius.
Darwin had a “thinking path” that he would walk down to ruminate, and Nietzsche is said to have strolled around in nature for several hours.
Daydreaming creates connections
Remember when your teacher told you to stop daydreaming in class. Well, your brain was probably helping you form more connections.
As our minds wander, different parts of our brains activate, accessing information that may have previously been dormant or out of reach. “This accounts for creativity, insights of wisdom and oftentimes the solution to problems that the person had not considered.”
University of Florida Psychiatrist Eugenio Rothe
A wandering mind is a creative mind.
Researcher Scott Barry Kaufman conducted the shower experiment together with Hansgrohe, which proves that we get amazing ideas under the shower with no distractions. In fact, 72% of people have experienced new ideas in the shower according to the study.
Make “thinking” part of your schedule.
There is evidence all over the place that we need to let our mind wander. We need to give it space to organise itself. Because that’s what happens. You don't even need to do much work. You just need to observe and reflect on the thoughts that arise.
The hardest part of it all is escaping from technology, people and kids to do this. Well, nothing worth it comes easy, right? Find a way.
Book an appointment with yourself and put it in your calendar.
If it feels right, take pen and paper and note down whats going on if you feel like you can’t make sense of it. This might speed up the process of decluttering your mind.
I think the point is pretty clear by now. So there is no need to give you more examples or anecdotes or elements of persuasion. Practising the art of thinking in the morning before the day starts has improved my day and by generating clarity and helping me focus.
I would like you to do one thing for me. Write down all the brilliant ideas and insights you have gained while thinking, and I mean only thinking. Then post them in the comments ;)
