Have you ever thought that what is the most important instrument that plays a crucial role in your preparation for competitive examinations? No, it’s not books that you choose, nor notes you prepare, nor strategy you devise. It is your mind. Yes, your mind. Whatever you are doing in order to prepare for exam, every activity of yours is actually taking place in your mind. Human mind is the sum-total of various mental processes such as observing, knowing, thinking, reasoning, feeling, wishing, imagining, remembering, judging and all others. Therefore, mind is another name for those mental processes and activities put together.
And human mind is a complex entity. It keeps on absorbing
lots of things that you may not require it to absorb. Suppose,
for a year or two while preparing for exams, you wish that it does not distract from what you want it to focus on.
But it is not known to be an obedient servant. It gets distracted by slightest of provocation, be an unsolicited message, a fading memory of past, even a fly on the wall. This is how it gets cluttered. It becomes a warehouse of all kinds of ideas, thoughts, feelings and impressions that you gather in the course of your life. If you can see it somehow, it would look like a house of an aged couple, full of many old, obsolete and irrelevant things, not being used or touched for many years!
When your mind is cluttered, it wastes your time and mental energy, creating confusion, distraction and disorganisation that prevent you from creating clear priorities, making decisions, having focus and being productive. A 2011 study by the Princeton University Neuroscience Institute found that clutter actually affects your ability to focus and process information. Clutter depletes your energy and impacts your mood and self-esteem. German-origin spiritual teacher and famous author
Mr. Eckhart Tolle sums up the power of your mind when he says: “The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive. To put it more accurately, it is not so much that you use your mind wrongly—you usually do not use it at all. It uses you.” So, it is time to not let your mind use you, instead use it rightly towards fulfilling the goals of your life.
Having clutter in your surroundings occupies a part of your mind and blocks your ability to think and act clearly. If you want to improve your mental power, you need to organise and clear out physical clutter. Understanding the meaning behind the clutter is an imperative first step in reducing the amount of stuff you choose to keep around you. Does your clutter cause you to have a physical or emotional reaction when you think about it? That’s the perfect starting point. Dig into the feelings associated with the clutter. The more you can befriend, understand and welcome the emotions that arise, the less scary they will be. Here are some more steps that can help you to declutter your mind. First of all, transfer your thoughts to paper. Writing them down takes them out of your head. Getting them on paper on a regular basis, a process called journaling, can also be therapeutic. Now, set your priorities. From your long to-do list, identify items that are urgent while ticking off those that can wait for a while. Prioritisng will help you get clear and organised. Then, reduce multi-tasking. Humans are not multitaskers by nature. Studies have shown that multi-tasking actually reduces your productivity and fills your mind with too much activity. It is always better to focus on one task at a time. Next, practise being decisive. Life is basically a series of choices. Some decisions are simple while others can stir an uproar of emotions. It is equally important to challenge negativity. Be conscious of any negative self-talk within you and try to change your mindset.
Some simple things, too, can help you to have an uncluttered mind. Get proper sleep, meditate, enjoy time in nature, limit your social media intake, and exercise. Last but not least, take a break. Whenever you find your mind so much cluttered that it does not let you focus on your studies, take a break and give yourself some space to unwind. Spending 15 minutes with your feet up or doing something that makes you happy is all you need to hit the reset button. So, learn to develop an uncluttered mind to power yourself towards greater success. Remember that the goal is to help you simplify your life and build new mental habits that increase your productivity, clarity, awareness, organisation and well-being.
With best of wishes for all of your endeavours.