Is your mental hard drive corrupt or free’d up? 5 tips for keeping your head on straight

Have you ever woken up before the alarm and found yourself in a panic or anxiety for no apparent reason? A majority of days start as if I’m starting out of the gate at a horse race: A bolt of lightning and moving. For years I thought something was wrong with me. I thought something must be off or my spirit wasn’t quiet for some reason. Later did I realize this is one of my greatest gifts. I’m wired as a type-a leader and my mind is awake before I am. However, I have learned a few great techniques to keep myself from obsessing and carrying mental baggage throughout my day.

As parents, employees, entrepreneurs and people, our goal is to be productive, efficient and “in the moment” as much as possible. This is a form of joy and living in the sweet spot. What would your day feel like without the clutter and pre-occupations of anxiety and stress?

Our brains are similar to computer hard drives. We can be running efficiently or parts can be corrupt. These corruptions keep us from being in the present, loving our families, loving our friends and blocked from efficiency in our work. I call this interference baggage.

Here are five strategies I use to keep the baggage from piling up:

1. You are what you eat – I have noticed that when I start my day feeding on truth and scripture that I start the day in confidence, excitement and I’m reminded of my goal. If you take in truth and eat a mental healthy diet of wisdom you can learn from others what “not” to do.

2. Affirmation blanket – In my Evernote program I have a list of truths/affirmations that I will read out loud. I don’t read them, I say them. Speaking truth over yourself replaces lies and negative thoughts.

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” 2 Tim 1:7 KJV

3. Renew your mind – Based on affirmations that you can speak over yourself, the discipline of coming back to the well is super important. You don’t get an oil change once on your car and then leave it. It takes maintenance on yourself to show up daily to feed on truth and reminders. Life is extremely noisy and crowds out the quiet time with yourself. Fight for time with yourself. If you don’t fill your cup you won’t be able to pour into anyone else.

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2

4. Purge and get it out – One of the greatest tools I use for getting thoughts out of my head is getting it on paper. Journaling is hands down one of the most personal ways to take care of yourself and heart. It allows you to build thoughts, list, goals and experiments on the fly. More important, you have a spiritual sandbox to play in. I love the fact these thoughts and ideas don’t get lost. Get it out of your head, set time aside in the morning and purge. My greatest ideas and paintings came from emotionally vomiting on the page.

5. Have a strategy – If you fail to plan you plan to fail. It’s that simple. If you find yourself painted into a corner, stressed out and frustrated you can save yourself with the strategy above.

This strategy above I call “disarming the bomb”. It’s a strategy you can have in place that you can use to purge, renew and grow into authority of your true identity and get back on track when things hit the fan. You can go through your day being “present” and not in a state of survival or “management”. Even if you fall off the horse you can mount back up quick and continue. This strategy helps me weekly pivot the minefield of leadership, career challenges and the mastery of family and career.

Question: What thought process do you find as a reoccurring theme that sidelines your dreams and goals? what thoughts get in the way? I’d love to hear from you with a comment below.

Do me a favor, can you share this post with your tribe and social feeds? This will help others get the strategy.

If you’re interested in more strategies for improving your personal and professional life, please check out my Creative Success Book Bundle.

I’m glad you’re here!