Life is complex, stressful, and tough sometimes (okay, most of the time). Often we don’t even know what’s wrong, because there are so many possible culprits. The stress that builds up is often released in unproductive and often harmful ways.

Often, you need to quiet your mind so that you can get to the bottom of what may be causing you stress. Once you don’t have a million things running through your brain, you can figure out what is the largest source of your stress.

There are many different techniques that you can use to quiet your mind.

Mantric meditation. Meditating by repeating a mantra (such as “om”) is a good way to quiet your mind, especially if you have problems simply meditating. A simple mantra focuses your thoughts on something that isn’t really a thought, and takes your attention off of all the other things running through your mind.

Listen to white noise. White noise can be a great way to relax and clear your mind. You can get a white noise generator or you can purchase CD’s or MP3 files to listen to. Make sure that you’re not doing anything else while listening.

Go for a drive. Taking a drive can be relaxing for some people, and you tend to let your mind wander while doing so. Try to focus on what’s around you instead of your own thoughts.

Take a shower or bath. The sound of running water can have a similar effect to white noise. And sitting in a tub full of water helps to calm some of your senses and reduces physical input. These can both be key to clearing your mind.

TopTen.org has a list of nine other ways (mantric meditation was on their list) to quiet your mind.

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I came across a very interesting essay the other day written in 1949 by Robert Benchley entitled How to Get Things Done. The essay basically focuses on the art of structured procrastination.

The breakdown of this technique is pretty simple.

1. Make a list on Monday morning of the things you need to get done during the week. Put the most important things at the bottom of the list. Put the least important on top.

2. Start at the top of your list. If the first thing on your list is to write some cornerstone content for your blog (or Mr. Benchley’s case, to write a newspaper article) sit down at your computer and start.

3. Here’s the brilliant part. As you’re sitting there staring at your blank screen, you’ll inevitably get distracted by something lower down on your list (like responding to all those emails in your inbox), and complete that task instead.

4. When you’ve finished the distraction, then you need to go back to writing your cornerstone content. Again, you’ll probably end up distracted and go on to something else and finish that instead.

I’m guessing at this point you’ve probably gotten the point of the essay. When you finish everything but the cornerstone content, you just need to add something above that on your list, and that will get done too.

The original essay is a really interesting read!

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A lot is said nowadays about setting goals. You have to have goals in order to get ahead in life, and if you don’t have goals you’ll never amount to anything.

But, are goals really necessary? If you don’t set specific goals, will your life simply stagnate where it is now? Will you ever get ahead?

The short answer is ‘yes’. Not having specific goals does not mean that you’ll never do anything. In fact, having loosely structured goals, or no goals at all can actually make it easier to get more out of life. If you aren’t constantly making decisions with your long-term goals in mind, you have the freedom to do things you want to do. If you simply do the things that make you happy, at the very least your quality of life will improve, and in a best-case scenario, you’ll be incredibly successful on top of being happy.

If you do feel that you need to set goals (I generally do), try to set goals that are somewhat loose for the long-term. If you insist that you have to have specific goals, limit them to one or two weeks in the future, and anything beyond that should be more loosely defined.

Let’s say that you’re unhappy at your current job, and decide you want a new one. If you know that your long-term goal is loosely defined as being “get a new job”, then you can simply set a goal for the current week of “apply for three new jobs”. The biggest advantage to this is that if you don’t have an entire plan set out, you can easily change your strategy at any time without feeling like you’re abandoning your plan.

Being able to change your strategy quickly is important in any project that you’re working on. By not having a complete structured plan, but instead just a general direction of where you’re going, you can adapt as new challenges crop up (which, face it, they always do), and you can better react to new opportunities.

Learn to set goals that enable you to get more from your life. Don’t set goals just for the sake of having goals. When you do set goals, only make them as specific as they need to be. You don’t have to have a plan for your entire life, and you’ll probably have a lot more fun if you take things as they come!

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