16 Simple Ways to Clear Your Mind

mindtreeWritten by Everett Bogue | Follow me on Twitter

Mind-clutter is one of the biggest obstacles that I encounter daily on the path to my goals. I imagine you know what I’m talking about, the constant chatterbox that is our human brain.

Brains are useful things, they help you do a lot of incredibly cool stuff. But sometimes they just won’t shut up. There’s a lot going on most of the time, so who can really blame our minds for wanting to over-analyze everything? Except a lot of brain-clutter can be a problem when you’re trying to accomplish anything.

A cluttered mind can keep you from achieving your potential in most situations.

Sometimes brains get stuck on problems. They get into a pattern where they’re constantly trying to imagine what’s going to happen to you next, or worse, they second guess all of your actions.

A healthy mind will help you accomplish goals when you need it to, an unhealthy mind will sabotage you before you even start working.

If you haven’t noticed, I’m a minimalist, and in my opinion excessive thinking is just as problematic as having an excessive amount of things. This is one of the many reasons why I find it important to employ a number of de-cluttering activities with my mind. I try to engage in at least one of these activities a day.

If my mind clutter is too much at any one moment, I will acknowledge that my mind is overwhelmed. When this happens, I immediately turn off whatever I’m doing and begin one of these activities below.

Sometimes I will dedicate an entire day to clearing my mind. I will mark a day off my calendar and simply spend it meditating and rejuvenating my mind. I’ve done this many times, and it can increase my mind’s effectiveness two-fold when I return to normal activities.

A mind is most effective at zero.

The purpose of all of these exercises is to reset your mind to zero. This is a place where there is no conversation.

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How Being Less Productive Can Generate Big Ideas

Written by Everett Bogue | Follow me on Twitter.

productivecityProductivity is such a popular concept. Everyone is trying to streamline their lives so they can get more and more done during their 40-60 hour workweek.

Funny, that, because being productive is the exact opposite of what everyone needs to be doing to get ahead in the modern workplace.

Productivity is a trap.

You’ve bought into this idea of a safe productive workplace, where everyone does their part and the company gets ahead, and so you get a raise, right?

Doing 60 hours a week of mundane productive work is useful, if you’re a cubicle-bound widget pusher. Large industrialized corporations reward workers for how many ticks they tock in the collective board every day.

I know, I’ve been to cubicle-nation. It ain’t pretty.

If you work in a cubicle, take a moment and think about the last person who got a promotion at your company. Was it a widget pushing productivity master? Probably not. I bet it was someone who either:

  1. Had a big idea.
  2. Brought in a lot of money because of a big idea.

I bet you want to know what the secret to having big ideas is… it’s simple really.

Let me propose a minimalist way of working: be less productive.

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5 Simple Reasons to be Thankful for Being Minimalist

minimalisttreesWritten by Everett Bogue | Follow me on Twitter

There are a lot of reasons to be thankful for living a simple minimalist life. Here are the five that came to my mind just now.

I’m thankful for…

  1. Having peace of mind. I love that all of my important stuff fits in a bag that I can carry anywhere with me. I can be anywhere, and not have to worry about anything bad happening to my stuff. There’s no need to worry about overdue project deadlines, as I have the time to do them immediately. Peace of mind is beautiful. How being minimalist can lead to peace of mind.
  2. Being able to focus on the important. To me, being minimalist is about time management. The world is overflowing with distractions, and it’s easy to get sucked into doing things that you’re not really interested in. Being able to opt out of that chaos, and focus on what you really want to achieve is incredibly important. How to stop doing the unimportant.
  3. That there is no clutter in my life. Once in awhile someone will ask me ‘should I keep this tiny bit of broken plastic in a drawer somewhere?’ and I say ‘no, recycle it, you don’t need it.’ and they think I’m crazy and save it anyway. Isn’t saving broken things in drawers silly? A lot of people will think you’re weird for being minimalist, but the funny thing is, the joke is on them. Minimalists are going on vacation five times a year (or working from a beach all year), and the clutterers are spending all of that time sorting through drawers full of broken crap. How to unclutter your life.
  4. Having the time to focus on eating right. I always have time to prepare meals for myself that are made out of healthy ingredients that come from real food (like vegetables!) Processed foods are so bad for you, especially corn in a can. High fructose corn syrup is just insane, why do so many people drink refined grains? The ability to eat food that’s made out of food is definitely worth being thankful for. How to eat real food.
  5. Attaining freedom from location. I’m incredibly thankful for being able to actually be in Chicago for thanksgiving this year. In previous years I was always tied to a job that would only give me Thursday off, so it was impossible to fly home. In a week I’ll be working from my girlfriend’s apartment back in Brooklyn, then I’ll fly back to Chicago and spend New Years at a lodge in Wisconsin. Achieving freedom from location is not easy, but the benefits are endless. How to achieve location independence.

What are you thankful for?





An Interview with Colin Wright: The Freedom of Working From Anywhere in Sexy Shoes

Interview by Everett Bogue | Follow me on Twitter.

Every Wednesday on Far Beyond The Stars I interview an important person on the subject of being minimalist.

Last week we visited with David Damron of A Minimalist Path, he spoke about plastic bag usage in the US and how to make your life more minimal.

Next week I’m excited to speak with Leo Babauta of Zen Habits and Mnmlist. Be sure to sign up for free updates so you don’t miss the interview!

colinFor today’s interview, I spoke with Colin Wright of Exile Lifestyle. Colin writes about location independent lifestyle design, and just published an outstanding free e-book on How to be Remarkable.

We talked about the challenge of moving to new countries every four months, minimizing possessions, working exclusively online, and his sexy shoes.

Check out the interview below!

Everett Bogue: You’ve set a goal of moving every four months to another country, which I imagine means that you’ve had to really streamline your possessions. What are the essential possessions that you take on on the road for a project like yours?

Colin Wright: Oh man, did I ever streamline. I went from having a two-story townhouse full of stuff (5 computers, a room-sized closet full of clothing, a car AND a scooter AND a bike, etc) to owning only what will fit in a single carry-on bag.

It’s been a major shift, but a really liberating one.

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It’s a Minimalist Christmas! How to Give (what matters) This Holiday Season

chicagoWritten by Everett Bogue | Follow me on Twitter

Uh oh, it’s almost Black Friday.

Hopefully the idea of running out to consume, after you’ve consumed all of that turkey, gives the shudders. It certainly gives them to me. The idea of people cramming half-off things into shopping cards actually makes me want to lock myself in the cellar and reemerge after the holidays are over.

Nothing is sadder than running around a store frantically trying to buy useless things at a discount, then pawning them off on some poor friend or family member who has to deal with that object until they can safely throw it away without you noticing.

Stop buying stupid stuff, especially for other people. Please!

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