Mind Clutter

When you find yourself losing enthusiasm for a project or a goal, always simplify. Most of the time, especially in the information deluge of the internet, losing enthusiasm is caused by studying and thinking things too much. The availability of useful information often leads to mind-clutter with conflicting ideas being thrown from all sides of any subject.

Boil down your objectives into its most basic. That’s where clarity usually happens.

For example, say you want to sell an ebook you wrote online. You purchase an ebook-selling guide which you’ve seen received good reviews in Amazon. You follow the instructions. You register a memorable domain, find a good webhost, write your 25,000-word sales copy, register with a list management website, etc.

You launch the site and no sales.

So you scour the web and find tons of information. Maybe you venture into the Warrior Forum or read some e-commerce blogs. Everything you read makes sense and excite you. You try one tip, then another, then another. Soon, you find yourself lost in all sorts of complexities trying different things yet you barely make a sale. Your excitement begins to wane.

You get so caught up in the tiny details and miss the big picture.

Clutter is an undesirable sight. Mind-clutter is the same. You can’t think for shit. Anytime you find yourself deep in it, your mind will instantly try to extract you away from the mess. This is how most people give up their original intentions. It’s just the easiest way out.

I was looking for updates to one of my favorite programs today, Keynote, and I found a post from the developer that pretty much summed up how mind-clutter can develop and kill you passion.

Anytime this happens, it’s a signal that it’s time to pull back from the information and get back to the basics. It’s time to ask yourself the basic questions once again:

• What do you want to accomplish?
• Why do you want to accomplish it?
• And why do you believe it can be done?

I’ve seen it many times in the different forums I’ve frequented. People find them with a specific goal in mind - to get a girlfriend, to be a better speaker, to get better grades - yet, they read different posts from all sorts of people, each with a goal different than theirs, and they try apply it to themselves. They end up going around in circles because while one idea brings them closer to their original intentions, the next one just pulls them away from it. Eventually, it feels like endlessly practicing a dance number but never doing the show.

In these times when information is readily available 24/7, choices become more important than ever. Choose one path that excites you and embrace it temporarily. Give it time. Steve Pavlina advises 30-days. You can set your own time-frame that you will stick to. I like to give things three months but it’s because I’m not a very fast-learner. It takes me some time before things stick in.

Choose the path based on your answers to the three questions above. In fact, I suggest you answer those three questions 15 minutes every morning just to remind you of what you originally set out for, why you want it and why you believe it is possible.