How to let go
I have a mind like a steel trap.
Not in the sense that it catches everything, because it certainly doesn’t.
Instead in the sense that, once my mind seizes on something, it doesn’t…let…it…go. Not until the itch has been scratched, the curiosity indulged, or the mystery solved.
For the most part, this obsessiveness serves me well. It helps me focus with a single-minded intensity that can drive the wife crazy.
But every so often, my mind will seize upon something I’d rather not dwell on. And that’s when it gets tricky. Because I can’t push it aside. I can’t not think about it. It’s always there, a low-level buzz in the background. And when I try to push it down, it pushes right back.
I’ve been caught in one of these thought traps for the past couple of days. Dwelling over something I can’t set aside.
Perhaps it was fortuitous, then, that Trizle posted this quick article on How to Clear Your Mind yesterday.
The basic gist?
To become fully-focused at what you do, you must clear your mind such that the only thing that bothers you is that motherbuffkin task in front of you.
To clear your mind, recommends productivity guru David Allen, simply do this:
Write down what you’re thinking to stop thinking about it.
Call me suspicious. I know full well how stubborn my mind can be, and I don’t think writing down my latest obsessive thoughts will somehow magically let me stop obsessing over them. But what the hey, I’ll give it a shot and report back…
