4 Daily Habits For Deep Focus & Mental Clarity

A cluttered mind is a distracted mind. If you have a lot on your mind — stress, worries, things you shouldn’t forget — it will be difficult to focus deeply on your task at hand.

This is why it’s not just important to minimize external distractions from your smartphone, email, or social media, but also to minimize internal distractions.

Even when all notifications are silent, your thoughts and internal dialogue can still take your focus away and keep you out of a ‘flow state.’

A clear and calm mind, on the other hand, can more easily focus with greater intensity for a longer timeframe than a busy, scattered mind.

That’s why, in this article, I’ll share four daily habits to create mental clarity, so you have a calm and focused mind.

Capture ‘Mental Pop-Ups’

We all know about the annoying pop-ups we receive on apps or websites. However, we also receive these types of pop-ups in our minds. I call them ‘mental pop-ups.’

You see, each time you suddenly remember something (e.g. I still have to pick up a birthday card for mom), that’s a mental pop-up distracting you from your work.

These pop-ups need to be captured. If not, we will try to hold on to them, which occupies valuable mental resources and takes attention away from our work.

The solution is simple; Keep a pen and notepad near you when you work and, each time a mental pop-up arrives (a new idea, to-do you forgot, etc.), quickly write it down so your mind can let it go and focus on your work again.

By doing so, your brain won’t have to spend any cognitive resources anymore to help you remember this mental pop-up. When it’s onto paper, it can go out of your mind.

One important note, however. I don’t recommend using your phone to capture these pop-ups, since it’s filled with dozens of tempting distractions — all just one swipe or click away. Instead, simply use a pen and piece of paper so you won’t get tempted by any distractions.

Practice Journaling

As Eckhart Tolle, the author of The Power of Now, said, “Be at least as interested in what goes on inside you as what happens outside. If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place.”

To me, journaling is one of the most effective ways of ‘getting the inside right’, as Eckhart Tolle would say.

Writing out my thoughts, mood, and experiences of the day helps to clear my mind. I notice it decreases mind-racing thoughts and puts my life in perspective. My mind is simply less busy whenever I journal consistently.

Journaling doesn’t have to be time-consuming either. A simple practice can already produce a lot of mental clarity. Merely jotting down your thoughts and experiences of the day can help your mind be at ease.

As a side-effect, it also helps me sleep better since I don’t lie awake for an hour pondering over my day. Once my thoughts are on paper, they are out of my mind.

Meditate

In our fast-paced, information overload world, it’s critical to protect your mind. More than ever before, our brain is being overloaded with information, to-dos, opinions, and news.

In fact, studies have shown that each year, our brain has to process about 5% more information than the year before.

Nowadays, an average person processes roughly 74 gigabytes of information per day, whereas 500 years ago, that would be the total amount of information consumed in a lifetime.

This is why meditation is essential. It helps to clear your mind, be less stressed, and put things in perspective. It helps you focus better on what’s truly important, tune out the noise, and be less prone to distractions.

“Meditation is turning off society and listening to yourself.” — Naval Ravikant

When you start the day with a meditation session — whether five minutes or half an hour—it will be much easier to stay focused on your work. Your mind will be less busy, less stressed, and more present to the moment.

Exercise

There’s something about exercise that helps to clear the mind. Whenever I find myself having a busy mind and racing thoughts, it’s usually on a day where I didn’t exercise.

But on those days when I hit the gym, my mind seems clear, calm, and focused. As a result, I’m more productive and experience less stress.

“Nurturing your energy levels will ultimately save you time, because you’ll be able to bring more energy and focus to your work, and get the same amount accomplished in less time.” — Chris Bailey

Aside from external distractions (such as social media and notifications), lack of focus is caused by brain fog, fatigue, and stress. And exercise is the perfect antidote to all of these productivity drainers.

For example, exercise increases blood flow to the brain, which sharpens your mental alertness and clears brain fog. A protein called BDNF is triggered by exercise, and BDNF boosts your cognitive abilities, according to the American Council on Exercise.

As John Ratey, author of Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, said, “Exercise is the single most powerful tool you have to optimize your brain function.”

Furthermore, exercise has been proven to decrease stress and boost energy— all contributing to a happier and more productive version of yourself.

No wonder that research shows people reported a 72% increase in time-management and workload completed on days when they exercised.

Honestly, exercise is the closest thing to a magic pill there is.