Over the next few weeks, we will look at creating a space for quiet thinking in a few minutes a day. Nothing is more important than being able to thinking clearly. It affects every part of our lives: habits, priorities, values, jobs, entertainment and education all owe their influence to thinking. By improving your thinking, you are making the choice to improve your mind, habits, and life, as well as the lives of those you care for. It’s important, impactful work, and worth the effort.
The purpose of this series is to provide reasoning, research, instruction, and tips to bring more opportunity for calm and clear thinking to your daily life. Clarity doesn’t have to be a far-off dream or something we only find on vacation. We can incorporate it into our daily rhythms by using the power of environment and habit, and not rely on sheer willpower or remembering to do some strange thing. Part of the process of thinking more clearly is blocking off time and creating an environment in which to do that.
“Men seek retreats for themselves, houses in the country, sea-shores, and mountains; and thou too art wont to desire such things very much. But this is altogether a mark of the most common sort of men, for it is in thy power whenever thou shalt choose to retire into thyself.”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
This series will include my tips for how I went from spending hours a day on social media, reading less than one hour daily, and often having a reactive stance to spending less than one hour on social media and reading over two hours daily. I think more clearly because I’ve built calm, clarity, and space to think into my routine. I am able to focus on my priorities, and use my time effectively instead of simply reacting to to whatever comes my way. I’ll share in depth over the next six weeks. The remainder of today’s post is an outline of the topics we will cover.
We’ll begin with choosing a quiet alone time, for less than fifteen minutes each day. This can be first thing in the morning, during your lunch break, just before bed, or a part of any other pocket of time. We’ll look at why and how we need just a few routine moments to get our minds into an optimal state of flow to work during the day. Along the way, we will build the habit of quiet reflection, journaling, or meditation. This time can be whatever you want it to be. The purpose is taking a few minutes apart from obligations to reflect and think clearly about our past, present, and goals for the future.
We will focus on building habits that take us in the direction we want to go. By building a healthy habit of calm and reflection into your daily routine, you’ll find you have more time for your priorities, you’ll let go of habits which no longer serve you, and you’ll find your mental clarity improving. We will answer questions as to why doesn’t willpower work, why tackling many different areas can backfire, and how we form habits, anyway.
Thirdly, we will fill this time with a practice which helps you identify your goals and priorities. Journaling is my strong recommendation, as it serves as written log of your thoughts and progress, and is easy to refer back to at a moment’s notice. We’ll also look at the benefits reading and meditation or prayer can provide for our mental outlook.
The fourth installment will take a critical look at how smartphones affect our time, mental health, clarity, and social habits. I am no Luddite, and this will not be a campaign against using smart devices or the internet. Rather, we will look at what research says about how our habits are changing around smartphone use and the best ways to make your phone work for your goals and not against them. So many people wish they could break the habit of using their phones so often, when all it takes is making a few thoughtful modifications and using analog options when they serve your goals. This is the most exciting part of the series for me, as I used to think smartphones simply needed to be put away and dealt with by willpower. Now, I know that having strict uses for smart devices is the best way to work with our natural habits and technology. I’ll share the changes I and others have made to ensure that technology remains a help and not a hindrance to my goals or values.
Next, we will look at why creating a calming environment is the greatest aid to forming and sustaining any habit. More than paint colors or fabric, we are talking about making your environment work for you and your goals. Similar to how we will overhaul the devices in our lives, we will look at how our surroundings can help or hinder our goals. Think small changes you can bring to your current environment to make your habits even more friction-free.
Finally, we’ll look at the most powerful word in the English language, “No.” We will explore why it often comes with such heavy guilty feelings for the speaker, look at why declining invitations can be an excellent choice, talk about how to decline politely and effectively, and ideally, remove the guilt from the word.
