Simply put in order to think more clearly you need to remove as many distractions as possible. This is the single most important thing you can do. We live in a day and age with an infinite amount of stimuli including television, music, movies, video games, social media, and internet media. It is very difficult to be able to think clearly with all these things going on. You need to minimize or better yet eliminate anything that deals with news or current events. I know, many will cringe at the idea of being without the evening news or being without their favorite radio talk show or YouTube personality. However you need to ask yourself, what are you really missing? Are the personalities you are listening to really of benefit to you?
Among the best ways to escape the continuous distraction of media is to break the normal routine of things and get out of your house. Home can be the source of so much in the way of distractions and repetitive routines. You should take a trip to the state parks, wilderness area, or somewhere isolated and camp there for a few days. When you are out there don’t access social media or the latest news from your phone. Don’t even listen to podcasts. The purpose of the trip is to escape from all that. When you get back home I guarantee you will start to think in ways you never thought before. Even better yet, if you have the time and are adventurous, travel overseas for a few weeks or a few months. Again when you get back home you will definitely think in ways that you never have thought before. You will also be more observant on things that you haven’t noticed before.
Minimizing exposure to the media should become a habit like exercising and eating healthy. You should schedule an extended period of time where you completely eliminate all exposure to media and sources of information. Two to three full days would be ideal. The longer you are without it the better. The whole point of eliminating these types of distractions is to get you to be able to think more independently and to get you to pay more attention to your actual surroundings. If you do not minimize your exposure to the media you are going to lose the ability to think clearly. You are going to let the programming dictate how you think. And if you cannot think clearly you will not be able to figure out how this world really works and what role you play in this world. The habit of tuning in to the news, watching sports, and watching movies and television shows is an addiction that is probably even more harmful than smoking and doing drugs.
