Write (or learn to write)
I read somewhere that writing is a sophisticated way of thinking.
In brief, that means writing improves the quality of your thinking.
But why should you care about improving the quality of your thinking?
That’s easy. If you think well, you will act well. The quality of your decisions and actions depends on the quality of your thinking.
So, improving your writing will improve the quality of your decisions and actions.
On the other hand, writing is one of the powerful ways to untie the emotional knots you have. It’s how you make sense of problems and process them. It’s how you understand your pain and take away its power.
As a writer, I can second that.
I wouldn’t have survived my childhood and teenage years without writing.
It was (and still is) how I organize my thoughts.
When I organize my thoughts, I can understand what I’m thinking about on a logical and emotional level. I can reach a conclusion, get an “aha! moment”, or understand the lesson.
And that helps me overcome painful situations and think better through complicated ones.
You have no idea how disorganized your thoughts are when they’re just flying all over your head.
Conversations with people who are wise and trustworthy and who understand you help organize that chaos.
And so does writing. I also believe writing is more powerful as we can write about anything we want to write about.
Talking truthfully to someone who cares about you and who is willing to listen and speak truthfully is therapeutic.
Writing, too, is therapeutic for similar reasons.
You can’t make sense of many complicated things in your life by playing them over in your head. Write them down. Carefully. Truthfully. And thoroughly.
I can write an article about how writing can improve your mental health in so many ways. Do let me know if you’re interested in reading something like that.
Sit alone in boredom without distractions
I bet you’re reading this in a distracted mode where you’re skimming through the article.
Your attention span is so short because of the amount of distraction you have in your life. All the stimulation from social media has screwed up your focus abilities.
Distraction is a finger away. And it’s the norm nowadays.
Instagram. Twitter. WhatsApp. Facebook. Tiktok. YouTube. You name it!
Boredom, on the other hand, is a useful emotion. If you can tolerate it enough, your brain will generate useful, creative, and strong ideas.
But if you distract yourself because you’re bored, not only do you become addicted to stimuli but you also damage your ability to focus and generate ideas.
And that’s dangerous in today’s world.
Today’s world is designed where those who can focus for long periods have an unfair advantage.
They can work more efficiently and produce high-quality work. So, they are more likely to be successful as high-quality work is demanded.
The person who can produce the highest quality of work wins. To produce that type of quality, one needs many things. But the ability to focus is one of the top requirements.
Don’t waste your ability to focus. Learn to sit alone in a room while feeling bored. Put your phone away. Watch what happens.
Clean your room every day/week/month
There are two important reasons you need to do this.
One of them is simple and direct.
When you declutter your surroundings, it affects your mood and mental clarity.
Just try it. For 15 minutes, try to make your room cleaner and better looking. Your mood will improve and you will gain clarity and become calmer.
There’s this idea that your room is your mind! If it’s cluttered and chaotic, so is your mind and way of thinking.
As crazy as it sounds, it has some truth. Watch the way you feel after you make your surroundings beautiful. Don’t underestimate the effects of a beautiful environment on your mental health.
And don’t underestimate the power of fixing small things in your life.
This leads us to the other reason why you should regularly clean your room.
Cleaning your room is a demonstration of personal responsibility. And it’s a humble act.
It’s humble because it’s something you actually can do. And it’s a responsible act in the sense that it makes things better.
It’s a small thing that you can do.
Once you do it, you will realize there are many other small things that you can do.
They may seem trivial. But if you fix enough things you can fix, you will be in a better place faster than you think.
That’s called the compound effect.
You do a small thing that you actually can do. Like cleaning your room. Then you do another small thing. And another. And another. Soon, those small things will compound and spiral you up.
But let’s go deeper. What difference will cleaning your room make?
Think about it this way.
Your room is your life.
You sit there and think about how you can clean it (fix it). You find something you can pick and fix but you’ve been avoiding. You pick it. You see things more clearly as a result of cleaning something.
And you notice some dust over there that you can actually clean. You go and clean it.
That piece of cloth has been there forever. You pick it up.
You start by noticing the smallest things you can fix and then move your way up as you gain momentum.
Eventually, your efforts will compound and the room will be much cleaner. It will be cleaner to the point where it’s easier to clean from now on.
I won’t explain further. Your life is the same. Doing this and subconsciously picking up that message and then implementing it in your life is the aim. Do it consciously. And consistently.
Read about solutions for your problems
I won’t state the obvious and tell you that you need to read.
I will tell you a small story.
I once found a Rubik’s cube and it was interesting. I love challenges and it was a perfect one.
My attempts to solve it, however, were in vain.
Maybe with enough effort, I could’ve figured it out on my own. Who knows how much time it would have taken me? A lot, I am sure.
I eventually solved it and now I can solve it quite quickly.
What I did was simple and obvious. I found a clear tutorial on YouTube and followed it. And I solved the cube quicker than I ever thought I would.
The same is true for your problems.
I’m not saying that every problem can be googled. But there are people out there who have answers to your questions.
The guy who did the video knew what he was doing and offered us a quick way to solve a problem. The same is true for many problems.
The idea is that you need to focus on solutions for your problems. If you cannot figure out those solutions because the problems are complicated, good!
It means you have a problem that will force you to grow.
If you cannot figure out the solutions, be humble enough to read books that can solve your problems. Article. Videos. Courses. Whatever it takes!
When I am suffering from relationships, I read books about them. When I suffer with marketing and business, I also read books about that.
If you love videos, go and watch. It’s not just about reading. It’s about becoming better at solving your problems. It’s about learning.
Learn to solve your problems.
And then implement solutions.
You will fail.
But that’s the second phase of learning where you have to learn from your experience and mix it with the knowledge you gained. Maybe you have to go back and read again to get better information. And maybe you have to take action and learn from them.
Aim at learning and improving. And start by searching for solutions to your problems.
—
This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.
***
You may also like these posts on The Good Men Project:
Escape the Act Like a Man Box | What We Talk About When We Talk About Men | Why I Don’t Want to Talk About Race | The First Myth of the Patriarchy: The Acorn on the Pillow |
Join The Good Men Project as a Premium Member today.
All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS.
A $50 annual membership gives you an all access pass. You can be a part of every call, group, class and community.
A $25 annual membership gives you access to one class, one Social Interest group and our online communities.
A $12 annual membership gives you access to our Friday calls with the publisher, our online community.
Register New Account
Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.
—
Photo credit: Shutterstock