Stagnate? How to Navigating & Getting out of the Mental Fog!

After speaking with various colleagues, I recently noticed a trend of my friends experiencing and expressing common sentiments: the feeling overexerted and drained by the “day to day.” Not making the progress you would expect from your efforts. I have been where they are, stagnate, and I hate that feeling! Which brings to me to writing my thoughts on “Getting Out of the Fog.”

There is so much content out there on success, whether its making $1MM, or becoming an influencer! There is a saying: "there are a million ways to make a million dollars.” Well, I bet there are one million videos for each of those millions of ways to make a million dollars.  As consumers, we are constantly bombarded and overwhelmed with information from radio, television, social media ads and email marketing. Our brains begin to fog from the attempts to process this information.  We KNOW we can do more, and the information on how to do more is in front of us, but it’s a LOT to process, thus the FOG is created!

Let us jump into the four tips on getting out of this fog:

 Tip #1: Seclusion - Seek it, Prioritize it!

Your first step in getting out of the fog and resetting your clarity is to go into seclusion mode!

Secluding yourself could be in one or more of these methods:

1) Location

Physically getting out of your normal environment. Go to a coffee shop, your local park, or in extreme cases, a cabin in the woods!

2) Technology

I know this is a hard one, but for a set time, unplug from all technology and media! This includes your phone, computers, music, tv, books, etc. Yes, even books! No one’s thoughts are more important than yours at this moment! The only “technology” you need is paper and pen. If you must write using a computer, then stay disciplined by keeping your Wi-Fi off.

3) People

Remove yourself from interactions with other people. Again, your own thoughts are the most important in this moment.  There are a lot of positive people that can feed you great information, but in this phase of your journey, hearing YOUR voice is key. 

If in a utopic world, you could do all methods listed above and truly seclude yourself from all life’s distractions. However, we do not and most times only one of the three is feasible. If you had to choose one seclusion method, my suggestion would be technology. Seclusion from technology should be your top priority; The reason why you should prioritize Technology seclusion is because it has the potential to introduce the most noise in your life, so CUT IT OUT! The other methods would add to your effectiveness.

While in seclusion, your inner thoughts are of premium value. This is the time to focus on you. If you do not have a certain topic or theme to reflect on, then let the default theme be: "What's important to ME?" Although it may feel weird at first, after the first few hours of seclusion, the noise of the world will start to die down and you will be able to hear your own thoughts. At this point, we move on to tip #2: writing your thoughts.

Tip #2: Writing Your Thoughts - Brainstorming Style

In Tip #1, we secluded ourselves and stopped the flow of new and/or latest information. Now it is time for our brain to “process” the information that is currently inside.

Let us start with the example of the broader theme: “What is important to me?” From there, list out additional sub-themes, for example:

·       Family

·       Career

·       Health & Fitness

·       Entrepreneurship, side hustle, etc.

Your list of themes and sub-themes need to be achievable; think S.M.A.R.T. Goals. SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable (or actionable), relevant, and time bound. You can find examples of SMART goals and templates using Google or LinkedIn. Although your theme should not be goals per se, your theme will consist of items that are S.M.A.R.T.

Organize your list in the old-school style of brainstorming with bubbles or circles. It does not have to be nice and pretty. Take time to get ALL your thoughts on paper. No matter if it takes hours, multiple sessions, or days. The more you put on paper, the less you will feel “mentally obligated” to keep them within your head.

Lastly and most importantly, keep all your notes in ONE dedicated place. Having random notes in various locations creates a level of fogginess, in which you want to avoid. Again, centralize your notes and it does not have to be neat. Next… Tip #3 Picking a Theme.

Tip #3: Pick and Focus on One Theme

From Tip #2, you have brainstormed and placed all thoughts out of your head and onto paper. You see your mental world from a bird’s eye view …which is great! Now the goal is to review your list of thoughts, identify and create another list of common themes. From that list of common themes, you want to search for ONE theme that significantly touches you. By “touches you” I mean you believe that it will change your life or elevate you to that next level.

To aid you in identifying ONE common theme from your list of themes, use a ranking system categorizing your themes in order from most significant to least significant. For example:

1.     Career Growth

2.     Involvement in Kids Sports (Coaching)

3.     Writing a Novel

4.     Toastmasters (Improved Public Speaking)

Once you have picked a theme, lock in, and commit to it!

This is where I may lose you but hear me out! You have entered this journey in a fog, a state of stagnation, and a bit of confusion (perhaps). Our first goal was to get out of the fog, and we achieved that. Naturally, the second goal is to not get back into the fog, right? Locking in on one theme will give you a hearty, short-term mission. From here, you are ready and able to tailor your intake of information for that one mission (or theme). For instance, if “career growth” is your theme, you will be more inclined to listen career-oriented podcasts, follow more thought leaders in your career field on social media (like how I did not say influencers…ha!), and filter out your various newsletters that are more applicable to your career. You can now delete the “How to become a football coach” emails!

You have locked in on a theme and you can focus on growth. In your growth plan, keep in mind what success looks like in that area and become LASER FOCUSED on it. Heavily evaluate anything stopping you from achieving this goal. Dedicate any free time, focus, and center your content intake around this theme 100%. We are combating fogginess with the tactic of “CLARITY.”

Scenario: Without any outside influences, you have chosen and locked in on your theme. Although focused and in your deepest thoughts, you see a post from someone saying you can make $50K now by investing in bitcoin because it is exploding tomorrow… SO WHAT! That is a distraction, and it is an ENEMY to what you really want. Stay focused!

We have made it to the last tip: Seeing it through and moving on.

 Tip #4: See it Through and Move On

To recap, you have secluded yourself, you brainstormed, you picked your theme, and became focused! You are doing the right things and keeping a clear head!  Now it is time to drive it home. Your mental picture of what success looks like is important here. Watch out for these three pitfalls:

1) I didn’t hit my goal…but I got close enough! It is ok.

NO, IT IS NOT OK!  Hold yourself accountable and see it through. The best way to build confidence is to follow through with your own words. Every time you do not, it becomes a hit to your self-confidence.

2) I hit my goal! That was way too easy, let me dig deeper.

You may be wondering, “What is wrong with increasing or building on my success?” Again, in your moment of clarity, what you achieved, regardless of the effort, was important to you.  By "moving the goal post" on yourself it is signaling that your achievements are never good enough.  Honestly think about it; when will it stop? This will become a slippery slope that you need want to avoid. Once you reach that success point, it is time to go to the next theme or goal on your list or have another brainstorming session to realign on what's important.

3) This is too hard, too ambitious. Time to abort!

No, you cannot give up now! You have found a theme that will change your life and the items that make up the theme are S.M.A.R.T. Therefore, it is achievable!  You can do this!  Believe in yourself. 

 If you come across setbacks and failure, just know this is common and it confirms this temporary discomfort is 100% worth it. It will set you apart and make you a better person. 

Once you have achieved success, it’s time to celebrate! Do something to recognize the awesomeness that is YOU!  Take some time to cool the jets. After the brief reset, look at your list and keep the momentum going! I would even recommend that after every celebration point, use it as a trigger for you to have another seclusion retreat. 

With this cycle of clarity, you are well on your way to leading a fog free, meaningful, and successful life! 

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