If you are feeling overwhelmed, welcome to the club. I have found something that is really helping me a bunch right now. I am writing this to tell you about how amazing an information cleanse has been for me, and how you can do one for yourself.
Anxiety is rampant these days, and I believe one of the primary sources of this anxiety is the information that we are consuming. Whether it be the news, or social media, both are exposing us to negativity, and things to stress about.
It isn’t just the negativity either, it is the sheer volume of random bits of information we pound our minds with every waking moment. Waking up and immediately checking Facebook, the news, or anything else on your phone or tv first thing may be destroying your ability to focus alone.
I was allowing myself to fall victim to this not too long ago. I knew that like everything, if I want it to change… I am going to have to change it. So I decided to go on an information detox. This article will explain what I did, learned, and how you can apply the same kind of behavioral change in your own life.
Yeah I know… Before you read any further you want to know if it was worth it. In a word: Yes.
This has been one of the more productive periods of time for me in a long time. What is really profound is not just the productivity levels increasing, but my happiness level has increased as well.
An information cleanse is defined by severely limiting negative, or irrelevant information from entering into their mind. The information cleanse could also be called an information purge or detox is completed by purging out the negativity by ingesting positive and relevant content to take you where you want to go in life.
Just how you would cleanse your body from sugar, or toxins, and cleanse it with green vegetable juice, wheat grass, apple cider vinegar, or water, you use the same principle to cleanse your mind.
The simple way of explaining it is the worst way to hear it I think. No one wants to admit that their attention is limited, but it is a limitation that we all have.
Most of us bombard our minds with a bunch of garbage, and wonder why we can’t pay focus on important tasks in key moments.
It starts with an evaluation. You probably wouldn’t have read this far unless you were wanting to increase your performance and experience more happiness. That means that there is obviously a gap between where you are and where you want to be. That is where to begin.
Identify the primary sources of your stress in your life by asking the following questions and answering them.
1. What is causing me stress right now in my life? (Make a list)
2. What is the information source that has me focused on those things?
3. How can I stop receiving information from that source for 30 days?
So many of us are looking outside to try to find happiness, not realizing that it is our natural state of being. More often than not, the art of being happy doesn’t have so much to do with more.
Happiness is a subtraction game. Most people think that they need more more more to be happy… This simply isn’t the case. All adding more information, or even excessive physical possessions gives us is more to stress about.
I have found that I can be far more happy by taking a bag lunch somewhere nice and watching the sunset than watching Netflix can ever give me. The ability to focus on my work is also delivering the types of results that I can truly be happy about!
I have one more question I suggest answering to supercharge your amount of happiness in your life. Think on this question for a couple of days. The question goes deeper and deeper the more you think about it. A pro tip here would be subscribing to my YouTube channel so I can deliver the RIGHT KIND of food for your mind on a consistent basis.
What is it that makes me happy?
How can I apply more of that, and less of what makes me miserable on a daily basis?
Step 1: Stop watching the news, and stop scrolling the scroll feed, and dare I say it… Leave your phone at home. Bring a book with you instead.
Step 2: Start reading, watching, and listening to material that will teach you how to get where you want to go in life.
Step 3: You are going to want to relapse to your previous behavior, don’t do that. A good resource for avoiding relapse can be found in Chapter 2 of my book Stop Procrastinating, Start Living. You can download the full chapter free by filling out this form. Or you can buy the book on Kindle or Paperback at this link.
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