Simple Strategies How I Improve My Mental Clarity
By: Anastasia Clinton
Tags: Beyourself, Strategy Planning, Simple, Improvement, Mental Health

Would I like to start each day with a clear focus on what I want to accomplish? Would I like to know that what I accomplish today will be accomplishments that meet my needs, desires, and life goals? If I am honest, I would all like to be in that state with mental clarity.

Unfortunately, whether I am conscious of it or not, I tend to allow the increasingly busy world in. This creates a tremendous distraction that pulls us away from being focused on what we want. I allow negative news and social media to make us angry, depressed, and upset, and those emotions cause us to become indecisive and lack focus.

I allow ourselves to live in the past — where mistakes I made and injustices towards us cause us to feel angry and overwhelmed. All these distractions, external events I have no control over, and past negative life experiences cloud my mental focus.

It pushes us towards focusing on negatives that disrupt my mental clarity and the fantastic future I could have if I only focus on what I want to accomplish, the steps I need to take to achieve them, and the life I want for ourselves.

To help me gain some mental clarity and know what I want out of each day, here are 12 simple strategies that will lead me in the right direction.

1. I Go for a Walk

Any form of exercise will clear my mind, but one of the most effective ways is to walk in nature. Even just twenty to thirty minutes of walking around my neighborhood will have the same effect if I do not live near nature. The very act of moving will put my mind into a more positive state, which will help me think things through more effectively.

2. I Drink Lemon Water in the Morning

I began drinking lemon water every morning about two years ago and was surprised how I felt healthier, mentally more transparent, and awake within twenty minutes.

Many healthcare professionals recommend drinking a glass of lemon water (half a lemon squeezed into a glass of water) for the physical health benefits it gives me. But when I feel healthy physically, I also feel mentally healthy.

My mind and bodywork together. If I am physically ill, I don’t feel good mentally, and vice versa. When I feel energetic and alive, I feel fantastic, and my emotional feelings lift. This means a slight lift in the morning by drinking lemon water will raise my physical health and directly improve my mental health.

3. I Plan my Day the Night Before

When I plan the day the night before, I begin the day knowing what I want to accomplish. Most people never think about what they want to achieve. Instead, they allow events to dictate what they do. Events rarely work in my favor as they are often the crises of others, and I end up working on other people’s plans and doing nothing for my goals.

If I know what I want to accomplish before I start the day, I am much clearer on what I want and am likely to make sure it happens.

4. I Look at the Big Picture

Another way I can achieve mental clarity is by looking at the big picture. Too often, I get caught up in trivialities and lose sight of the big picture of what and why I am doing something. Have I ever felt like I was ticking boxes? That’s what happens when I get caught up in the process and lose sight of the reasons why I am doing something.

When I remind myself of what I want and why I am doing it, I remain much clearer on what and why I am doing something.

5. I Clear About my Outcomes

Linked to the previous point, never lose sight of what I am trying to accomplish. A process is often set out before a project starts, and nobody ever pauses to ask if what I am doing every day is moving me in the right direction.

It’s often a case of “shut up, we’re making progress.” Yet, if that progress is taking me further and further away from what I am trying to accomplish, it will just be wasted effort.

Review my outcomes frequently. For example, if I want to lose weight, the process is simple — eat less, move more. But if I am eating less and moving more and my weight is not going down, I need to review my outcome and decide what needs to change to achieve the result I want.

6. I Identify What Is Important to me

If I don’t know where I am going, how will I ever know when I get there? Human beings are amazing creatures. I am also unique because I am the only living beings who can make choices, which is the cause of many of my problems.

If I plant a tree, all a tree can grow to its maximum potential given its environment. All living beings except humans have no choice — they grow to their full potential.

On the other hand, humans can choose, and most people choose not to live to their maximum potential. We’d rather lounge around on the sofa doom, scrolling my social media feeds instead of working on ourselves to make us better.

If I want to live my life to its maximum potential, decide what is important to me and do everything in my power to make it happen. When I know what I want and why I want it, I am 80% of the way there. The remaining 20% is the effort I put in to achieve it.

7. I Aware of the 5 Key Self-Care Areas

There are five areas of life I need to make sure I am working on every day. These are sleep, food, water, exercise, and planning.

• Sleep:

If I do not get enough sleep, my brain function will drop significantly. There will be a drop in my ability to remember, concentrate, fight illness, and many more. I will not have much mental clarity if I am not getting enough sleep.

• Food:

What I put in my body nourishes me. If what I put into my body is high in refined carbs, sugar, and unhealthy fat, my body has to work much harder to maintain my body’s equilibrium, and it does that by using blood and enzymes.

Basically, the worse the food (and drink) I put into my body, the less oxygenated blood I will have for brain function. This is why I get the afternoon slump — too much carbohydrate causes a reaction in my body where I get an insulin spike in my blood, and that is why I feel drowsy (better quality food = better quality brain function).

• Water:

One of the first things to do when I begin to dehydrate is my ability to concentrate. In extreme dehydration cases, I will experience confusion and other debilitating symptoms.

Still, even a slight drop in my hydration will result in me not focusing or having clarity. Make sure I am drinking plenty of water throughout the day.

• Exercise:

Exercise is one of the best ways to regain clarity. My brains function at their best when I am moving. I was the hunted rather than the hunter for most human existence, which meant I was on the menus of many predators.

This led to my brain developing as a survival mechanism that works best when I am in flight.

Of course, today, I am unlikely to be on the menu of a predator, but my brain does not know that. This is why when I feel stressed, I want to move. So, if I want more clarity, go for a walk or run or go to the gym.

• Planning:

If I want to be clearer on what I am doing each day, then have a plan. It does not have to be a plan that micromanages my day.

All I need is a list of things that I know must be made today. When I begin the day knowing what must be accomplished, I’ll be surprised how focused I will be.

8. I Careful What I Allow Through the Gates of my Mind

Jim Rohn taught: “Every day, stand guard at the door of my mind, and I alone decide what thoughts and beliefs I let into my life. For they will shape whether I feel rich or poor, cursed or blessed.”

If I start my day reading the news or scrolling through social media feeds, I allow negativity into my mind. Once that negativity gets into my mind, it will affect my whole day.

Protect what gets into my head. Begin my day with nature. If I can, look outside, enjoy the rain, the snow, or the sunshine. Bask in aI that is the world around me.

9. Have a Healthy Morning Routine

One of the most potent ways to bring greater mental clarity into my life is to practice a consistent positive morning routine that focuses on my day. This does not need to be complicated — just a few minutes of stretching while drinking my morning lemon water or perhaps ten minutes of meditation or journaling and a few minutes reviewing my plan for the day.

If I can allow myself thirty minutes each morning to spend on myself, practice some self-care and reflection, I will realize that clarity comes to me rather than seeking clarity.

10. Unplug

Doomscrolling is a thing, and it does untold damage to my mental well-being. Looking through endless negative news about this leader or that leader, about death and destruction, about how unfair the world is, and people portraying fictional perfect lives that make me feel inadequate will never make me feel better.

Instead, read a book. Learn something new or meditate. Turn off my devices, relax, and be grateful about what I have rather than being disappointed about what I don’t have. When I feel happy and relaxed, I will be much more explicit about my life and where I want to be.

I will enjoy the journey of self-improvement — focusing on what is right about my world rather than what is wrong.

• 11. Journal

Journaling is one of the best ways to get mental clarity. It allows ME to stream my thoughts onto a page, and when I see those thoughts and ideas on a page, I gain much more clarity on what they mean to me and what I can do — if there’s any — about them.

Journaling allows me space to measure where I am and where I want to be without distraction and noise from the outside world. It is my space. When I build a journaling habit in my morning routine, I add a powerful mindfulness tool to my repertoire to help my ability gain mental clarity.

• 12. Get Rid of the Toxic People in my life

Finally, remove the toxic people from my life. I do not need them. Toxic people fill my world with negativity, confusion, and emotions that do not help me clarify my life. Instead, they fill my life with doubt and confusion, and none of these will help me gain greater mental clarity.

• Key Takeaways

In a world dominated by 24-my negative news cycles, where everyone seems to be fighting to show off their “perfect lives,” and where I am bombarded by marketing messages, regaining my mental clarity may be difficult. But these 12 simple strategies can help me do just that.

Focus on my life and try to become a beacon of hope and positivity in this world, and I will feel so much happier about myself. I will be relaxed, focused, and ready for any obstacle that comes my way.