Have a clear mind policy

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I hope this finds you well and looking forward to your working week. I hope you noticed that I didn't bother you on the weekend, I thought you deserved some time off. But it's back to work time, so here's todays thought to ponder.

Do you have a clear mind policy?
When you get to the end of your working day, do you leave your desk tidy? Or does it look like the roof has caved in and deposited the contents of the rest of the building over your floor and working space?

It is so easy to hide behind clutter, so that when we get into work we have no idea what we were doing, or where we got up to yesterday. It means that we spend a fair bit of every day going back over old ground playing catch up with ourselves.

Now I could ask you to clean your desk before you leave for the day, but that's not what the message from today is really about. I feel that we hide behind clutter because it reflects what's going on in our minds.

If your mind is crammed with too many things to do, you will not be able to focus on what needs to be done now. So you have bits of paper relating to everything you need to think about within hands reach - you do don't you. And I would say, that because you are not able to focus on one thing you have trouble locating what you were supposed to be working on next....so you rifle through the stacks of paper looking for inspiration.

Whilst goal lists and to-do lists are all very well, it doesn't help if there is other stuff running through your mind now does it. So what I would recommend is doing what I term a brain dump. The best time for this is now. Actually first thing in the morning is a good time to clear the decks, along with a couple of minutes at the end of your working day and again at the end of your actual day. But once is better than not doing it at all.

A brain dump is exactly as it sounds. Getting everything that is running through your head out and onto paper. It doesn't matter whether you've been humming the tune from that movie, or you've got shopping to do at lunch time. If it's running through your mind you are focussing your time and energy on it, and it's taking up valuable space for other more (let's face it) important things.

So grab a piece of paper, notebook and a pen and start writing. Get it out of your mind and onto the paper. I've found that once I've released it, I can get on with what I should be thinking about.

Then if you want to carry this through - keep a notebook with you and as you think of things during the day – write them down. Don’t rely on your memory, if it’s anything like mine, it will have more holes than swiss cheese. Things can and do fall through the cracks. So write it all down.

Now the first time you do this exercise, it may take you a while. But if you stick to the discipline for a while, you will refine the process. But it also depends what you are thinking about I suppose.

Once you have written it all down, review it. Cross out anything that doesn't need action on (which will be most of it). Transfer anything that does need action to your "to do" list. And any ideas and projects for future reference should be added to another notebook. I use the same book - just back and front to cut down on carrying two books, but whatever works for you.

In it I have questions that I need to answer, great business ideas, plot lines for the best seller i've always wanted to write. But whatever you want to remind yourself about later, write it in your future plans book.

Why is it important to get it out of your head and onto paper? Well not only does it free up the mind to then focus on what needs to be focused on now. There is a second more important aspect to this. Once these things are committed to paper, you actually stand more chance of achieving them.

The reasons why are complicated, but it has to do with the reticular activating system in your brain. It is the bit that filters every thought, sound, sight and smell that you receive and allows things to pass from the non-conscious part of your brain to the conscious part of your brain. The more you focus your thoughts on something the more likely the RAS will remember and work with you to create that which you say you want.

Imagine that you were thinking about buying a new car. You want a brand new mini cooper S in bright red. You check out the car magazines and car yards, you know exactly what it looks like, right down to the number of fluffy dice you are going to have dangling from the rear view mirror. And then what happens is you start to see Red mini coopers everywhere.  Your RAS has realized that you are focusing your attention on something, so it now has a reference point and as if by magic, they start appearing.

Whilst this is a rather simplistic explanation of the power you have over your mind, you can control what you are thinking about, and you can control what you are able to achieve and receive, if you focus on something long enough. So don’t waste this precious and amazing tool on the mundane and unimportant. Don’t focus on the negative, focus on what you want. And you can start this process, by writing it down and committing it to paper.

A goal that is not written down is merely a dream. So get writing.
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