WHY DO YOU NEED MENTAL CLARITY?

It was during the counselling session of a young adult that proved to me, once again, the importance of mental clarity. The guy was having a 6-hour permanent job and had set a goal of earning X amount out of part-time jobs in 12 months. He had a successful coach who had prepared a monthly action plan for his consistent growth. Six months have passed and his problem was that his income has not increasing even by 10 % of X and he was feeling that the next 6 months will go same with no hope. He was willing to quit and wanted to know where he has gone wrong.

On close examination it became clear why he has not been able to achieve his goals:

• During the first 3 months, there were several occasions where he took small breaks assuming that he will recover the lost time. But he couldn’t make up for the lost days and he was behind his goals every month.
• He was working hard during the first 10 to 15 days of every month but with shaking confidence, instead of increasing efforts in the latter half, he used to slip into his comfort zone. During this time he performed tasks which could be easily postponed for a few months.
• In the 4th month, he faced some health challenges and lost 10 days.
• In the middle of the 5th month, he decided to go for some renovation work in the house which was long pending and therefore he had to take a break of almost a month affecting the 5th and 6th months equally.
• Whenever he observed that his goal is slipping, he avoided contacting his coach for guidance.
• He was not prepared to postpone some irrelevant activities and use that time for his income goal.
• His overall feeling was that he has put best possible efforts which wasn’t the case.

All the above points were communicated to me by him only when I asked him questions.
This means that he knew how he had performed and what was required to be done. Still, he could not do what was required. Why so?
The reason simply was the clutter in his mind. When there are a lot of things in the mind and one does not know how to prioritise, the focus is lost. Without focus, one is not clear what to hit and when? Under such situations, mental clarity is lost and achieving a goal becomes impractical.

HOW THE MIND GETS CONFUSED?

Mental clarity is derived when our mind is as clear as the mind of Arjun when he was hitting the eyeball of a bird. This happens when the goal is clear and the focus is strong. The focus becomes strong only when there is no clutter in the mind, no confusion.

FOCUS ON GOALS: From My Memoirs, Part 2

Due to the present-day internet, the knowledge bank of individuals has become unlimited. A young mind is always curious. It needs a lot of information. What, why, when and how of everything that comes to its mind. As the smartphone is now within the reach of most youngsters, it is easy for them to deposit huge but irrelevant information in their minds.
When you are young, you need to focus your energy more on those tasks which will lead you to your goals. But quite often some of the younger generation today is not clear about their goals because the data available to them is enormous and confusing. For example, consider a youth who is willing to become a Data Analyst. He can find on the internet how he will be benefitted from this profession. At the same time, he can also find out the negatives in this profession. This type of data available on the internet is good enough to create confusion in his mind.

Well! The Internet is not the only source that blurs your mind. There are others like your relatives, friends, teachers and colleagues etc. They, too, are intelligent enough to give you free opinions on every subject even when they do not have any knowledge.

Media is another strong source of misinformation in many cases. TV, Youtube channels, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter etc. all can give you good knowledge but quite often can mislead you completely. Ours is a democratic society and people have the right to say anything that they like whether it is true or false. The unprotected younger generation falls into this trap very soon and starts believing what is shown there without checking the facts.

HOW LACK OF MENTAL CLARITY AFFECTS OUR LIFE?

If you are standing at a crossroad with several exits without signboards, which exit will you select? If your destination is not clear to you, you may choose any exit which may look attractive. But after travelling for some distance, you may realize that this will not lead you to the place where you want to reach.

In short, if your mind is not clear, if you don’t know where and why you want to go, you will be lost.

Let us see how your life is affected if you do not have clarity of mind:

• In the absence of mental clarity, life becomes like an aeroplane without a trained pilot. Your journey will be quite threatening.
• You fail to recognize the opportunities when they knock on your door. It is like you keep thinking about whether to board the train or not and in the meanwhile, the train passes away.
• You select a profession in which at a later stage you realize that you don’t love it. After reaching the top of the ladder you may realize that this is not the ladder you wanted to ride. Finding a way out at this stage may be difficult.
• You focus on immediate, materialistic gains and ignore long term goals. This way you fail to prepare yourself for the challenges of the future.
• Your financial status may become poor due to your uncontrolled spending habits created by a cluttered mind.
• Your family and social relationship may get affected as your ideas about nurturing friendship are confused.

These are only a few examples. When you are not clear about what you want in your life, your life is at the mercy of circumstances. But, with clarity in mind, you architect your own life, your future. Let us, therefore, explore the ways to avoid the cluttered mind.

HOW TO AVOID THE CLUTTERED IN MIND?

Here are a few points that can be followed to keep your mind focused:

• Set some short, medium and long term goals in life. Dreams with a date to achieve the same are the goals.
• Create focus on your goals by:

1. Having a friendship with people who have similar goals or achieved similar goals.
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2. Reading books which can guide you to move on your focused path.
3. When you talk with your spouse, children and close friends, the main topic should be related to your goals.
4. Have a strong non-flexible plan of action to achieve your goals.

• Avoid the entry of any data into your brain that is not related to what you want in life. For this, you need to have control over what you watch, listen or read on social media and newspapers etc.
• Avoid responding to unrelated (to your dream life) discussions with your family members or friends etc.
• Your maximum time in a day should be spent on activities related to your goals. Keep a daily record for this so that you can increase this time.
• Finally, have a mentor coach who is successful in that area and is ready to coach you on daily basis.
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TAKE AWAY

If I know where I am today, where I want to go and what is the shortest ethical path to reach there, my journey may be smooth and speedy. But if I am not clear about any of these things, my condition may be like Israelites whose journey to Promised Land took 40 years which could have otherwise been completed in practically no time. So, by not allowing the unwanted clutter in my mind, I can move fast on the path to reaching my goals.

Dr. Lokesh N Rai

P.S.: Did you find something useful in this post? Please offer your comments in the comment box. Send your email id for a free consultation.