Ever experienced those days when you’re blessed with a bit of extra time and a clear agenda for some productive activities, only to find yourself unable to gather your thoughts and produce any meaningful outputs?
Conversely, there are those golden days when creativity flows effortlessly, and everything seems to fall into place. Too bad these ‘super days’ often don’t align with our plans. Sounds familiar?
As I write this, I find myself in one of those moments when I’m eager to be productive and creative, yet inspiration seems to avoid me. Ironically, this led me to reflect on what contributes to a ‘clear’ mind and thinking process. (So, I guess in the end I still had some creativity left. :D)
In this article, I’ll delve into my observations and share my best practices for achieving mental clarity, leading to better decisions and outputs. Not in terms of strategic thinking frameworks or anything complex, but in terms of the habits that have personally helped me reach my highest levels of focus and performance. In all its simplicity, it’s about recognizing when to push forward and when to grant yourself the grace of a pause.
The “When Everything is Easy” Mood; The Ideal State of Mind
When I talk about “thinking better,” I’m referring to that elusive state of mind where creativity flows effortlessly, focus comes naturally, and overall, your mind feels clear and calm. While it’s unrealistic to expect to feel this way all the time, I’ve found through my own experience and exploration of various tips and tricks that achieving this ideal state is largely within our control, thanks to a combination of habits and small adjustments.
What follows is a list of my best practices to take into account when I really want to optimise my thought process and performance throughout the day, without the afternoon crash.
What contributes to a ”clear” thought process
Often, we try to force focus and great ideas when we most need them, resorting to cognitive energy-boosting substances like coffee. While these may provide temporary relief, they often leave us feeling exhausted and depleted when their effects wear off.
Assuming you already maintain a healthy lifestyle with adequate sleep, exercise, and nutrition etc., you’re already laying the foundation for clear thinking. However, deliberate planning and habits are sometimes necessary to elevate your mental clarity to the next level.
The following are my best tricks for maintaining the ‘strong mind game’ throughout the day:
Forget the sweets
It may not be music to your ears, but cutting out foods with refined white sugar can make a significant difference. While I’m no way a nutritionist, I’ve personally found that eliminating added, refined sugars not only boosts energy but also enhances mental clarity and reduces afternoon fatigue. Plus, your skin will thank you!
The coffee trap
The one that is definitely the hardest for me is limiting the coffee consumption. I mean, yes it does give that extra layer of focus and good feelings but only up to a point. The biggest advantage I get from coffee is if I avoid it in the morning and just drink one cup during the early afternoon or around the lunchtime. Anything beyond that is just me not being disciplined but just drinking it for the sake of pleasure. I mean, nothing wrong with that, but often more than one cup is just working against you and giving you that anxious feeling and brain fog in the afternoon. (Actually, even better are the days when I switch coffee for matcha.)
However, I have to say it is pretty damn difficult in our society to avoid the ”coffee trap” which makes you believe that you kind of need a cup of coffee next to you whenever you are working or doing something productive + it is nearly always there when you want to meet someone or are going out (to be honest, right now at the time of writing, I am sitting in a cafe in Dubai just because of the minimalistic productive atmosphere + the good matcha so..).
Physical environment
Another thing that has a significant effect on your thinking process, even if you think it doesn’t, is the physical environment around you.
You want to optimize your environment in a way that it is as free as possible from distractions and reflects the state of mind that you are trying to achieve. What I mean is that if you want to feel calm and laser-focused, it might be easier to reach that level when you are in a naturally colored, clean environment without loud noises. Conversely, I often find cafes and places like that pretty much optimal when I am doing more like brainstorming or creative thinking type of work or projects (like writing right now).
Give yourself a deadline
A significant thing to know about typical human behaviour is the Parkinson’s Law, which states that work expands to fill the time available for its completion. In other words, if you give yourself a certain amount of time to complete a task, you’re likely to use up all that time even if the task could have been completed in less time.
What this highlights is the tendency for work to become stretched out or prolonged when there’s no strict deadline or time constraint imposed, and this is particularly dangerous when you are working on your own goals and projects for which you are solely accountable.
For instance, I have so many times postponed writing here, not because I don’t like it or I have nothing to say, but rather because I feel there is no urgency with it as I just do this purely for my own interest. Clearly, that makes sense, but if you want to think better, you need to keep this in mind, particularly when you start procrastinating and filling your mind with all kinds of distracting and unnecessary thoughts.
Schedule the un-schedulable
Finally, one of the simplest reasons for feeling uninspired and overwhelmed is the lack of planning and scheduling. I know this might sound a bit controlling, but you need to schedule slots in your week when you aim to achieve top performance outcomes, even if they involve projects that don’t directly contribute tangible value to your life (yet).
Having a clear schedule makes it easier to adopt the right attitude and mindset for whatever you are trying to accomplish. It’s a form of “fake it until you make it” situation. Otherwise, you might let your comfort dictate your actions, and your biggest breakthrough thought might end up being the desire to spend the day binge-watching Netflix on the sofa.
Give yourself a break
It depends a bit on the kind of person you are, but for me, this is a tough one.
As much as we would like to, we cannot perform at our peak 24/7, and sometimes you just need a break. A break to start again with a fresh mind and new ideas. And if you don’t, ultimately the break will come without asking for your schedule. Better to be smart from the get-go.
The funny thing and the paradox is that to think better, you often need to stop thinking, stop trying, and completely switch off for a moment, and getting the basics of your life in order.
Can you think better about this?
