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Your mind is an amazing organ, capable of thinking up fantastic images and solving tricky problems. However, more often than not, it's cluttered with junk. When your mind becomes full of unneeded thoughts, your ideas start to feel groggy, and you have a hard time organising your thoughts.
When you want to clarify your thoughts and straighten out everything you're thinking, there are three different techniques you can try. Next time you're having trouble getting your thoughts organised, try one of the techniques. If that doesn't work, try another technique. You're bound to have clearer thoughts sooner or later.
Tip #1 - Talk to yourself:
People have this misconception that if you talk to yourself, there must be something mentally wrong with you. Not always! Talking to yourself allows you to actively hear and listen to what you're thinking, which often leads to brainstorming to yourself out loud. As a result, you get a broader picture and better grasp of what you're thinking.
There are two ways of talking to yourself:
- Talk to an imaginary audience. Pretend your overlooking a crowd of 5,000 people who are dying to hear every word that comes out of your mouth. What would you say to them? How would you accurately describe what you're thinking? Don't worry about how many times you retread the same topic. They love every word you're saying!
- Talk to the mirror, as if you're giving an interview. Pretend you're being interviewed, and the interviewer is asking you specific questions regarding the topic you're thinking about. How would you respond to his or her questions? Stand in front of a mirror, and pretend you're looking into a TV camera while answering the questions. Give clear answers to the questions you ask yourself.
Tip #2 - Talk to somebody else:
Take a friend out for coffee, and unload everything you're thinking on them. Make what you're saying as organised as you possibly can. By explaining all of your thoughts to another real person, you'll make attempts to make whatever you are thinking the first time it comes out of your mouth. You end up putting everything you're thinking into "compartments" - you essentially organise everything in one swoop.
The downside to talking to another person? People can be judgmental. They aren't exactly impartial when it comes to their opinions and beliefs, so if what you're wrestling with is a red button issue, talking to others may not be recommended. Also, you might end up getting unwanted feedback - people also love to tell you what they're thinking, even if you don't want to hear it.
Tip #3 - Get it all on paper:
Throwing everything from your mind on paper works wonders. It clears up your mind, forces you to connect ideas in new ways, and lets you see your see your thoughts in new perspectives.
- Mind mapping and concept mapping - You make "maps" of ideas, connecting your ideas and thoughts in various ways. Work best for ideas whose relationships you want to explore, connect together or brainstorm.
- Mind dumping - You literally "dump" all of your thoughts onto paper, making a running list of bulleted points on whatever you are thinking. Works best for concepts you have a lot of thoughts and ideas for that you want to get out of your head.
Clarifying your thoughts might be irritating at first - it can get rather
time consuming - but in the end, you'll get rid of all of your mental
clutter and have some solid, tangible ideas to work with. Happy mental organising!
Lee David
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