5 Steps to Get Mental Clarity

This is part of?LinkedIn's new Newsletter Series . To get weekly exclusive CEO interviews, and insights on leadership, the future of work, and employee experience?hit the "subscribe" button here.

With all of the craziness in the world right now you may find that it is easier to get overwhelmed, frustrated, tired, and unfocused. We have so much on our plates now as we figure out how to work from home, how to keep our families safe, how to help our kids start school, how to keep in touch with friends and family around the world when we can’t travel, etc...

All of these issues are bombarding our brains. As entrepreneurs, though, running our own businesses it is so important to have mental clarity. Without it our brains can’t function to full capacity, we can’t solve problems, we can get bogged down with negativity, and we don’t have the focus needed to effectively run our businesses.?

So how can we get mental clarity during these challenging times when we have all of these extra issues weighing us down? Today we are sharing five strategies you can use to get mental clarity. It takes work to get your mind clear, especially these days, but as an entrepreneur this is so crucial.?

Before we go into the five steps to mental clarity, it is important that you first recognize that there is a problem. What does not having mental clarity look like? You may feel burnout, tired, depressed, down, frustrated. Your brain is your best tool that you use in your business and when it is not at full capacity it makes everything so much harder. These steps are what you need to do before you can get yourself unstuck.?

Blake and I made a video about?this which you can see below. If you want more content like this then make sure to?subscribe to the Be Your Own Boss Podcast Youtube Channel ?where Blake and I teach you how you can be your own boss.

Do a pulse check on yourself

The first thing you need to do is to evaluate how you are feeling. This requires self awareness. You need to be able to recognize when you are feeling out of sorts, when you are not really yourself. There are four questions you should ask yourself to do this pulse check:

• How are you feeling?
• Do you like the way you feel?
• What made you feel that way and why?
• If something made you feel not good, can you avoid it in the future?

Do a mental walk through of your day

If you are not in a good mood and you are feeling out of sorts, do a mental walk through of your day. Look for patterns that make you feel bad or cause your brain to clog up. Did you go to bed too late the night before? Did you have a bad start to the day? Did you skip your workout that morning? Did something happen at home or at work that was stressful or frustrating??

Look for patterns like when I do x I feel y, when I experience x I feel y. By doing this you will be able to figure out how to better plan your days and figure out how to solve the underlying issues that make you feel out of sorts. You may also find it helpful to take time at the end of each day to walk through your next day to figure out how you need to prepare. Is the day structured the way you want it to be? Do you have too many meetings lined up? Is there a big call you need to prepare for.

We frequently get asked things like: What do we use for courses and email marketing? What platform do we use to find people to join our team? What tools do we use for project and task management? Where do we host and publish podcasts and how do we transcribe them? And More. Well, we just put together the?Entrepreneurs’ Online Business Toolkit PDF? which will give you a complete breakdown of the tools we use to run our 7-figure businesses and how we use them.?Click here ?to grab a copy, it will be an invaluable resource in your entrepreneurial journey!

Set rules and boundaries

Once you have pinpointed some patterns that lead to feeling poorly, you can then address those problem areas. Do you find that you feel bad on days you don’t workout? Maybe you can block off some time on your calendar so nothing else gets scheduled during that time to make sure you can work out. Do you end up in a bad mood on days when you have too much on your plate? Set limits to fix that. Maybe you can limit yourself to a certain number of calls a day. Maybe you can let people know you don’t want to have back to back meetings.?

Here are some examples of rules and boundaries we have set up:

• We don’t check our phones, the news, or social media in the morning
• Jacob doesn’t do calls before 11am so he can workout
• Blake sets time aside every morning to meditate before she starts her day
• We limit phone time and make sure we are present when we are with family
• Jacob doesn’t check email and social media until 4pm

The key is to know yourself and know what works for you. Identify things that put you in a bad mood or that throw you off your game and do what you can to fix them.?

Get outside perspective

Sometimes we can get caught up in our own thoughts and negativity and it is hard to see reality. It is important to have someone who you can talk to that can help give an outside perspective on things. You may not be doing as poorly as you think. So make sure you have someone to talk to regularly whether it is a friend, family member, a coach, a mentor, a therapist, etc…

Get into a relaxed state

In order to get your mind into a state of flow and clarity you need to take time to get your mind into a relaxed state. This may mean you change your surroundings. Go outside, go for a walk, go to a place where you feel relaxed. Maybe for you moving and working out clears your head. Go swimming, go for a run, workout in your home gym.?

Do whatever you need to do to get away from whatever is bogging you down. You can listen to music, meditate, hang out with friends or family, cook, watch TV--whatever allows you to clear your head and makes you feel relaxed.?

A lot of times we end up solving problems or coming up with great new ideas when we aren’t actively thinking about work and obsessing over something. Don’t just sit in one spot staring at a screen trying to come up with solutions.

We frequently get asked things like: What do we use for courses and email marketing? What platform do we use to find people to join our team? What tools do we use for project and task management? Where do we host and publish podcasts and how do we transcribe them? And More. Well, we just put together the?Entrepreneurs’ Online Business Toolkit PDF? which will give you a complete breakdown of the tools we use to run our 7-figure businesses and how we use them.?Click here ?to grab a copy, it will be an invaluable resource in your entrepreneurial journey!

_________________________________________________________________________

If you enjoyed the article and want more content like this here’s what you can do:

1. Subscribe to?The BYOB Podcast Newsletter ?to get notified when a new episode comes out (once a week).
2. Subscribe to our Youtube channel ?where we talk about these things in much more detail including sharing our personal stories.
3. You can also connect with us on Facebook , Instagram , Twitter , Youtube , and Linkedin .
4. If you’re interested in sponsoring or have suggestions for the show, you can send us an email at?[email protected].