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Future Mindset Future Performance Goal Setting & Achievement Thoughts

How A Minimalist Mindset For Goal-Achieving Helps Avoid Distraction

How A Minimalist Mindset For Goal-Achieving Helps Avoid Distraction

Have you ever created a to-do list for your day that’s so long you never do it or planned multiple goals that pull you in all different directions? If you responded yes. Then this is the article for you.

When it comes to goal-achieving understanding the human brain is important. When the mind is at its best is when it’s singularly focused on one task. So when you have to focus on multiple goals you can end up falling short. Plus when you understand simple maths that when you concentrate on multiple goals you can only give a percentage of energy and time to it.

I too was this person having all the ideas and plans but never amounted to anything significant. The reason why is because I was overcrowding my mind with too much energy. Whist watching minimalist expert Matt De’Avella. It came to me that if I can make my goals and everyday tasks I do each day more minimalist. I could give it my full energy. Like anything in life when you keep it to its simplest form it normally has far-reaching results.

By the end of this article, you should be able to get all of the goals and things you want to do written down and then create a minimalist mindset for goal setting.

Why Minimalism Is Important For The Mind

The minimalist movement first started in the 1950s within the art world. It then expanded to homes and lifestyles. Where now it has become very popular with many youtube channels discussing the benefits of habits and productivity.

Studies have shown that when a human mind is cluttered full of thoughts and emotions it’s not very effective. That’s why journaling, forgiveness and gratitude exercises can be so effective at decluttering the mind.

For me when I have an untidy home or workspace I feel less likely to be productive but when I tidy up my mind feels focused and clear.

That’s why utilising the minimalist strategy to goal setting can help you become more productive and start to achieve your goals.

The most famous investor in the world Warren Buffet understands this approach. He uses the 5/25 rule. Where he writes down 25 goals he wants to achieve but then picks only 5 to focus on. This shows the importance of minimising your goals so you have enough mental capacity to focus on achieving your goals.

How To Create A Minimalist Mindset For Goal Achieving

Write Down Everything. The first task to find what goals and tasks you need to focus on are to have them all written down in front of you. I would get a fresh writing book and write down all your goals.

  • Bucket list
  • Career goals
  • Self-care goals
  • Skills you want to learn
  • Health goals
  • Relationship goals
  • Travel goals
  • Business ideas
  • Wealth goals

This is a great process to understand what you truly want out of life.

Create Your Headings. Once I have all my goals on paper I create the headings from the list above. This helps me to understand the areas of my life I want to focus on.

Pick 1 Goal For Each Heading. Now you have to ask your two questions.

  • What goal do I truly want to achieve?
  • What’s the timeframe to achieve this goal?

Both are important because one finds what you want to do and the other gives you focus and discipline to actually achieve the goal.

Get To work In Your Mind. Studies have shown that performing an action in real-time vs performing in my mind offers up similar results. By entering a meditation state of visualisation you can start to imagine the goal you want to achieve as already being done. As long as you believe it and feel it to be true your goal will be achieved.

This has worked countless times and you can see it in sport all the time. Richard Williams instilled this into his daughter’s mindset from an early age. His daughters were Venus and Serena Williams.

Daily To-Do List. When you’re setting up the daily goals you want to achieve all you have to is pick 1 goal that will help you achieve the overall goal you want to achive. Again just one. One is manageable, one is doable, one is motivating.

Minimalism Creates Productivity & Focus

By following the plan above. Achieving your goals will become the norm. The days of procrastination over what goal to do or perfectionism of not starting at all over the fear of not achieving any goal will start to decline rapidly.

You will have your mind back clear and focussed and back in the driving seat of goal achieving.

Final Note – When you achieve your main goals from your headings. Go back to your notebook and write all the other goals that you can add to your list and start the whole process again.

Thanks for reading. You can get more actionable ideas in my Mindset Monday email newsletter. Each week, I share amazing content that will develop your mindset into the best version you can be. Let’s build an amazing community Enter your email now and join us.

Categories
Habits Mindset Toolkit Strategies For Success

How To Win Your Day By Morning Journaling

How To Win Your Day By Morning Journaling

Recently I’ve expanded my journalling to morning journaling. It has helped to sharpen my focus and avoid the procrastination pitfalls that can sometimes happen when you are not conscious of your actions.

I want to share this with you so you can start every morning with a bang and reap the momentum benefits throughout your day.

The best part? It’s a simple strategy that couldn’t be easier to implement.

Here’s what you need to know…

Why You Should Journal?

There is plenty of science-backed research that details the benefits of journaling on a person’s physical and mental health but also your emotional intelligence.

Simply put journalling is essential to overall health. The best thing about it’s accessible to anyone.

I have championed men, especially why taking up journaling is important for developing a healthy but productive mindset. But journaling is for everyone and morning journaling is an underused tool to kick-start your day.

How To Implement Morning Journaling

Here are some of my favourite strategies for making morning journalling a consistent habit.

Make it super easy to start. When you wake up in the morning the last thing you want to do is something challenging. By making morning journalling appealing and easy to start. I download a writing app (Writing by hand is good too) and put the head title “Today’s going to be a great day” followed by when starting my main content “Today’s intention is…”. I do this the previous night so when I start my morning journal I’m ready to go straight away.

Finding a quiet place is essential. Being able to connect your mind to paper in an effective way. Can only be done through alone time without distraction. For me, I have to wake up before my family. Whatever strategy you pick to find alone time. Make it a priority. Your thoughts will be able to flow and get into a zone of peace and focus so much easier.

Make it unique to you. At this moment in time, all I want my morning journal to be is about productivity and focus. But this might change in the future. So when you create your morning journaling habit. Ask yourself what do you want out of it? By asking this question it will lead you to find what will help and make it a practice you enjoy. Omar Itani has some great ideas you can check out here.

Create a time limit. When writing I can easily get carried away and write for a long time. By creating a time limit for yourself is important. You could be doing a school run, having to go to work or other self-care habits in the morning. The sweet spot for me is 15 minutes. This allows me to write for 10 minutes and then have 5 minutes to feel the plan for the day. Pick a time that works for you. Whatever time it is. You will gain something in return.

What Do You Write About?

When I evening journal I tend to focus on;

  • The feelings of the day
  • What I failed at
  • What I achieved
  • Who and what to forgive
  • What I’m grateful for
  • Thoughtful questions I ask myself

I do this until I’ve shed all the unwanting feelings, built my confidence up and have a clear plan for the next day.

When it comes to morning journalling for me it’s like starting an engine. The fuel is already in the tank, it’s being serviced and cleaned. Now it’s time to put it in first gear and get on the road for a productive and enjoyable day.

So I focus on two things;

  • My intention for the day
  • Feeling and believing it’s already done

This allows me to have a clear focus of what I need to do but also makes it a done deal. By the end it’s like I’ve just created a movie and when I finish my morning journaling. It’s time to live the movie I’ve watched before.

Morning journaling should definitely have its place in anyone’s morning routine. The benefits far out way the inconvenience of doing it. See if you can give it a go tomorrow. Then come back and leave a comment about your experience. I would love to know.

Want more on journaling? Read this article about the benefits journalling has on the mind.

Thanks for reading. You can get more actionable ideas in my Mindset Monday email newsletter. Each week, I share amazing content that will develop your mindset into the best version you can be. Let’s build an amazing community Enter your email now and join us.