5 Strategies for Clearer Thinking This Year
How to boost your focus and be more productive and efficient in 2024.
“The devil’s greatest weapon to a disciplined person is distraction not sin. He gets you to do things you are not supposed to do even though they might be good things.” Myles Munroe
In the current world full of distractions and information overload, how do you stay productive? The ability to think clearly is one of the best ways to do so. If you can minimize distractions, and improve your focus, it will boost your efficiency and make you a highly prolific individual.
So how do I suggest you do this?
1. Schedule quiet time.
1. Have some quiet time to sit and think about your life. Schedule sometime weekly if you can’t do it daily. This is the time to plan for a week, a day, or even a month. To make it more productive, you should have a notebook and a pen to jot down the ideas you come up with.
I do it every Monday morning. Before going about my day, I sit down with my journal and a pen and set a timer for at least ten minutes. During that time, I think about the priorities I want to handle which will make that week productive. I note down anything significant that comes to mind.
2. Embrace boredom.
People do a lot of things to keep boredom at bay, whether it’s scrolling aimlessly on social media or binge-watching, it’s very easy to keep ourselves distracted nowadays.
So why do we do it?
Being bored gives us a chance to evaluate our lives objectively. This is one of the reasons why most people don’t like it since it means they have to come to terms with all their thoughts which most of the time are not pleasant. No one likes to think of their failures. But only by becoming aware of our failures and understanding them can we improve and progress in life.
Secondly, boredom is a chance to bring the subconscious thoughts to the conscious which sounds pretty good when phrased this way but really isn’t.
Think about it, all the things you procrastinated about pop back out like confetti: the phone call you have been dreading to make or the tough conversation you are supposed to hold with a loved one… It’s a harrowing experience.
However, facing it is the best option since all these are looming crises that need handling, and pushing them out of your purview does not make them go away.
Boredom gives you a chance to actively think about them and hence sort them out. This is like emptying your subconscious to-do list which gives you more space to handle pressing issues, and as a bonus, you get to enjoy some peace of mind.
So how do you embrace boredom?
Identify your distractor and limit it. Mine was YouTube, I had it playing in the background all through the day even when I was busy working. Nowadays I only switch it on when I’m actively watching, and in doing this, I find that my head is clear and solutions to some issues just keep popping into my head from time to time. It’s almost as if, by eliminating the distraction, I created space in my mind for the ideas. Moreover, I feel more aware of my surroundings and more in control of my thoughts.
The next time you feel the need to go into Instagram and just scroll through, try not to for ten or fifteen minutes and see what happens as you increasingly free up your time.
3. Reflect (On your priorities).
Reflect on your daily, weekly, and monthly goals. Review your performance and document your progress regularly. To be honest, daily to me just doesn’t cut it. I rarely find time to review what I have done in a day. I find weekly reflections to be more plausible and beneficial. By then, I usually have sufficient data to draw trends and review progress.
During this period, be objective about the things you were successful in doing as well as those that you didn’t achieve, then append reasons for both the successes and failures. Finally, charter a way forward with the new insights. Plan for your upcoming week and put it in writing. If you failed to work out during the week because you were over-ambitious with the timelines, then review them. Make them more realistic, it’s better to plan for 50% success and achieve it all, rather than plan for 500% success and achieve none of it. Plus, these small tasks will build your resilience and confidence to set bigger and more ambitious goals.
4. Put it in writing.
Note down ideas. One of the easiest and most surprising ways of clearing my head is writing. I find that when I have an idea, it comes in snippets. I realized that I tend to stagnate on a certain idea until I write it down. Only then can my thoughts progress beyond the initial idea.
Create a habit of writing down good ideas. Whether in the shower, in the gym or during meditation, they usually come at random. I tend to have more ideas and solutions coming to me as I wind down to sleep, hence, I always have a notebook and a pen on my nightstand. I advise you to do the same. Be it a physical book, or an app on your phone. Just have a way of clearing your head by writing things down.
5. Organize your surroundings.
Organize your surroundings, and clean out that closet that you have been putting off doing for the longest time ever. You don’t have to organize your whole house to a T, just start small. Organize your home office desk. The simple act of organizing your immediate environment somehow clears your mind and organizes your thoughts.
Tip: Start small and focus on the things you do every day that seem mundane.
The beauty of this last piece is that you can start now. As soon as you are done reading this article, you can go into any room in your house and ask yourself, for the next 10,15, or 30 minutes, how can I make this room better?
Then act.
It could be as simple as stacking a pile of documents well or discarding some old sticky notes that are still on your wall, whatever it is, just start. Start small and do it regularly. Make it a weekly habit and soon you’ll start reaping the benefits.
