How I'm Learning To Think Clearly

Summary

The speaker candidly shares their struggle with mental clarity and the perpetual brain fog caused by the modern era's information overload. They identify the culprits, including the consumption of bite-sized media, hastily adopted opinions, and the disproportionate input-output of information. The script offers solutions like engaging in more output, consuming thoughtful content, reducing short-form content, and dietary adjustments to enhance cognitive abilities, emphasizing the importance of mental discipline and intentional consumption for clear thinking.

Takeaways

• 🤯 The speaker struggled with brain fog, feeling unable to think sharply or communicate clearly, often resulting in unfocused and chaotic thoughts.
• 🔄 The constant cycle of consuming bite-sized media has conditioned people to have short attention spans, affecting their ability to process information deeply.
• 📉 The adoption of opinions without understanding can hinder the ability to think critically, communicate effectively, and defend one's stance in discussions.
• 📚 Engaging in meaningful output, such as writing or speaking, helps clarify thoughts and improve mental clarity by training the mind to focus and articulate ideas.
• 📈 Reading full articles, listening to entire conversations, and understanding the process behind conclusions can enhance the depth of thought and reasoning.
• 📝 Keeping a food log and adjusting diet can have a significant impact on cognitive abilities, with the speaker finding that avoiding carbs in the morning improved mental clarity.
• 📉 The prevalence of short-form content can lead to an overload of information without depth, causing mental strain and reducing the capacity for deep thought.
• 🧠 The importance of reducing the intake of short-form content and focusing on a few key ideas to develop a deeper understanding and better mental models.
• 👂 Listening to experts and seasoned thinkers can provide frameworks and patterns for processing thoughts and information more effectively.
• 📝 The value of revisiting written content on the same topic to achieve a higher level of clarity and understanding, serving as a reference for future discussions.
• 🌟 The speaker emphasizes the importance of being mindful of what is input into the brain and body, as both processed food and opinions can impact mental clarity.

Q & A

What was the main issue the speaker faced in their thought process and communication?

The speaker struggled with a lack of mental clarity and sharpness, which made their thoughts feel like a blender on a perpetual mixing cycle, and they had difficulty communicating their ideas clearly and concisely.

Why did the speaker feel frustrated when trying to communicate their ideas?

The speaker felt frustrated because they could not effectively convey their ideas in a single, clear sentence and often followed up with rough, choppy sentences that only added partial clarity.

What is the 'Mind curse of bite-sized media' mentioned in the script?

The 'Mind curse of bite-sized media' refers to the trend of consuming content in short, easily digestible formats like TikTok, YouTube shorts, and social media reels, which conditions the brain to engage for short periods and recalibrate frequently, leading to difficulty in maintaining focus and processing information deeply.

How does the consumption of bite-sized media affect one's ability to think clearly?

Consuming bite-sized media can condition the brain to only process information in small quantities and for short durations, making it difficult to maintain extended moments of concentration and engage in deep, independent thought.

What is the problem with hastily adopting opinions without evaluating them?

Hastily adopting opinions without evaluating them leads to a superficial understanding of those ideas, making it difficult to think through, communicate, and defend them effectively because the understanding is limited to the basic summation of the argument without the foundational knowledge or steps that led to that conclusion.

Why is it important to understand the steps that lead to a conclusion when forming an opinion?

Understanding the steps that lead to a conclusion is important because it provides a solid foundation for an opinion, allowing one to think through, communicate, and defend it effectively. Without this understanding, opinions are often superficial and lack depth.

What is the issue with the current state of info input versus info output in society?

The issue is that the input of information has increased dramatically, especially with the prevalence of social media, while the ability to organize thoughts through output has not kept pace, leading to an overload of information and a lack of clarity in thought processes.

How can engaging in more output help improve mental clarity?

Engaging in more output, such as writing, speaking, or teaching, helps to clarify thoughts and ideas by forcing the mind to organize and articulate them in a coherent manner, which can then serve as a reference for future conversations or thought processes.

What is the benefit of reading full articles or listening to entire conversations on a singular topic?

Reading full articles or listening to entire conversations on a singular topic allows for a comprehensive understanding of the subject, providing insight into how conclusions are reached and supporting information is evaluated, which in turn enhances one's ability to think clearly and form well-founded opinions.

How does reducing the consumption of short-form content help with mental clarity?

Reducing the consumption of short-form content helps prevent the mind from being overwhelmed by a flood of disparate ideas and allows for a more focused engagement with fewer, more meaningful topics, thus improving mental clarity and the ability to process information deeply.

Why did the speaker suggest adjusting diet as a solution to improve cognitive abilities?

The speaker found that certain dietary habits, such as consuming carbohydrates in the morning, negatively impacted their mental clarity. By adjusting their diet and tracking the effects of certain foods, they were able to identify and mitigate potential mental clarity blockers.

Outlines

00:00

🤯 Overcoming Brain Fog Through Mindful Consumption

The speaker begins by sharing their struggle with brain fog, characterized by an inability to think sharply and communicate clearly. They describe their thought process as chaotic and unfocused, often failing to convey their ideas effectively. The speaker then identifies the root causes of this issue, starting with the impact of 'bite-sized media' on our attention spans. They explain how the consumption of short-form content like TikTok, YouTube shorts, and social media reels conditions our brains to focus for brief periods, leading to a lack of sustained concentration in other areas of life. This habit of consuming easily digestible information without depth hinders our ability to think critically and independently.

05:01

📚 The Impact of Instant Information on Critical Thinking

The speaker discusses the second side effect of instant information consumption: a superficial understanding of ideas without the ability to defend them effectively. They argue that the lack of exposure to the process of reaching conclusions leads to a population that knows many ideas but lacks depth in understanding. This results in hastily adopted opinions without personal evaluation. The speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding the steps involved in forming thoughts and the need to move beyond mere adoption of others' conclusions to develop a comprehensive grasp of the subjects that interest us.

10:03

🧠 Addressing the Disproportion Between Information Input and Output

The speaker highlights the issue of information overload and the need for a system to organize and process the influx of data. They compare the mind to a closet that needs spring cleaning, emphasizing the necessity of outputting information to clarify thoughts and ideas. The speaker points out that most people struggle with internal dialogue and require external output methods such as conversation, journaling, or teaching to bring order to their thoughts. They also discuss the societal dilemma of too much information input compared to meaningful output, suggesting that this imbalance contributes to brain fog and confusion.

15:04

📈 Strategies for Enhancing Cognitive Clarity and Focus

The speaker shares personal strategies they've adopted to improve their cognitive clarity, including engaging in more output activities like mock presentations and writing. They describe the process of creating a 'mock audience' to practice articulating thoughts and the benefits of writing for clarity. The speaker also talks about the importance of consuming content that provides comprehensive understanding, such as full articles and focused conversations on singular topics, as opposed to fragmented information. They stress the value of revisiting written content to refine understanding and the role of experts in providing mental clarity through their structured thought patterns.

20:05

🍽️ Dietary Changes as a Catalyst for Cognitive Improvement

In the final paragraph, the speaker discusses the connection between diet and brain fog, sharing personal dietary changes that have improved their cognitive abilities. They mention the practice of avoiding carbohydrates until noon to prevent a drop in mental clarity in the mornings. The speaker suggests that tracking food intake and its effects on cognitive function can help identify potential clarity blockers. They conclude by emphasizing the importance of being mindful of what we consume, both mentally and physically, to enhance mental clarity and reduce the overload that short-form content and processed opinions can create.

Keywords

💡Brain fog

Brain fog refers to a state of mental confusion or lack of clarity, where one struggles to think sharply or process information effectively. In the video, the speaker describes their personal experience with brain fog, feeling like their thoughts were in a perpetual mixing cycle that they couldn't control. This concept is central to the video's theme of improving mental clarity and the challenges faced in an era of information overload.

💡Information overload

Information overload is a condition where an individual is exposed to more information than they can process, manage, or effectively use. The video discusses how the current digital age has led to an increase in information overload, which contributes to the problem of brain fog and the difficulty in thinking clearly and sharply. The speaker suggests that this is an increasingly common issue due to the vast amount of content available online.

💡Short-form content

Short-form content refers to media that is brief and easily consumable, such as social media posts, short videos, and quick reads. The video script mentions that the consumption of short-form content conditions people to engage their brains for short periods, which can lead to a lack of focus and difficulty in maintaining concentration on more complex or lengthy subjects.

💡Mental models

Mental models are the internal representations individuals use to understand and predict the world around them. In the context of the video, the speaker talks about developing better mental models as a way to improve clarity of thought and the ability to process complex ideas. By engaging in output, such as writing or speaking, one can refine these mental models and gain a clearer understanding of their thoughts.

💡Output

Output in the video refers to the process of expressing or communicating one's thoughts, ideas, or information externally, such as through writing, speaking, or teaching. The speaker emphasizes the importance of output as a mechanism to clarify and organize thoughts, which is crucial for overcoming brain fog and improving mental clarity.

💡Diet and cognitive function

The video script discusses the impact of diet on cognitive function, suggesting that certain foods or eating habits can affect one's mental clarity. The speaker shares their personal experience of reducing carbohydrate intake in the morning to improve their ability to think clearly, highlighting the potential connection between diet and brain function.

💡Mock presentations

Mock presentations are a technique the speaker invented for practicing communication and organizing thoughts. In the video, the speaker describes using a projector to simulate an audience and delivering speeches on topics they wish to clarify. This method helps in training the mind to focus and articulate thoughts more effectively, contributing to the overall theme of enhancing mental clarity.

💡Internal dialogue

Internal dialogue refers to the process of thinking through ideas and arguments within one's own mind. The video mentions that some people are naturally adept at having internal dialogues to clarify their thoughts. However, for many, including the speaker, externalizing thoughts through output is necessary to achieve the same level of clarity.

💡Bite-sized media

Bite-sized media is a term used in the script to describe content that is easily digestible and brief, often found on social media platforms. The speaker argues that the prevalence of bite-sized media has conditioned people to process information in small quantities, which can hinder the ability to focus and think deeply about more complex subjects.

💡Adopting opinions

Adopting opinions in the video refers to the act of accepting ideas or viewpoints without fully understanding or evaluating them. The speaker criticizes this behavior, stating that it leads to a superficial understanding of concepts and an inability to defend or communicate those ideas effectively, which is detrimental to clear thinking and communication.

💡Info input vs. info output

The concept of info input vs. info output highlights the imbalance between the amount of information people consume (input) and their ability to process and articulate that information (output). The video script suggests that this imbalance contributes to brain fog and a lack of mental clarity, advocating for more output to help organize and clarify thoughts.

Highlights

The speaker's struggle with mental clarity and inability to communicate thoughts effectively.

The 'mind curse of bite-sized media' and its impact on attention span and thought processing.

The prevalence of short-form content and its conditioning effect on our brains for short bursts of engagement.

The challenge of adopting opinions without understanding the thought process behind them.

The importance of internalizing and researching ideas beyond initial exposure.

The issue of info overload and its detrimental effects on decision-making and motivation.

The need for a balance between information input and output to maintain mental clarity.

The benefits of engaging in output activities like mock presentations and writing for mental organization.

The method of using a projector and audience footage for mock presentations to simulate real-world speaking.

The effectiveness of writing as a tool for clarifying thoughts and ideas.

The recommendation to read full articles and listen to complete conversations on a single topic.

The practice of rehearsing information out loud after reading to enhance understanding and retention.

The influence of expert discussions and frameworks on internalizing thought processes.

The reduction of short-form content consumption to prevent mental overload.

The impact of diet on cognitive abilities and the experiment with delaying carbohydrate intake.

The importance of being intentional with the information we consume for mental clarity.

The suggestion to keep a food log to identify potential mental clarity blockers.

The overarching theme of the importance of managing both information and physical intake for improved mental function.

Transcripts

for the longest time I was convinced

that I was stupid

because I could not think sharply and I

could not for the life of me figure out

how to communicate clearly my brain felt

like it was this blender full of thought

stuck in some sort of Perpetual mixing

cycle that I couldn't shut off or even

make sense of what ingredients were

being thrashed around inside and because

I wasn't able to order my thoughts

when I communicated it was very

unfocused it was very chaotic and I sort

of just spat opinions out there there

wasn't really any meaningful substance

behind my words oftentimes when I would

have a golden idea that I would want to

contribute to a dialogue whenever I

spoke I always felt like I could never

get

that idea across I might say something

and feel that only 25 of the idea was

communicated and then I would follow

that up with a bunch of rough choppy

janky sentences and that might add an

extra 10 of clarity to the idea and it

always frustrated me because I knew that

there was a precise arrangement of words

that could get my idea across in a

single sentence what was that

combination I wanted to figure that out

and even outside of social situations I

was so frustrated by my inability to

order my thoughts why is it that I can't

seem to follow a line of thought for

more than 15 seconds without my brain

derailing and pursuing a rabbit hole and

going down some other vein of thought

and why is it that each new piece of

information added

feels like it's another dirty sock added

on to a pile of unfolded laundry like

nothing is getting done here because

when your brain is in a fog

it's incredibly hard to make decisions

and it absolutely kills motivation for

me I wasn't able to trust my own

decisions and could never fully think

through a problem to try to come up with

Solutions so I began to rely on other

people's cerebral horsepower to validate

my decisions as either good or bad and

what I slowly began to realize as I

share this frustration with other people

and as I interact with others is that

what I was experiencing is actually

quite a common problem and more

importantly it's an increasingly common

problem because in this era of

information overload that we live in

very few people know how to think

sharply clearly or to think for

themselves in general and I want to

share with you how I've learned and am

learning to solve this problem for

myself and so to that effect I want to

start by addressing the culprits the

root causes behind this sensation of

brain fog that people are dealing with

and when I really spent some time about

a year ago reflecting on each of these

four things that we'll talk about I was

surprised at how unaware people are of

how much of a negative effect they

actually have on your ability to process

information and think and how integrated

they've become into our routines and how

heavily impactful they were to me for

the better when I was able to reduce

these significantly so let's talk about

number one and that is the Mind curse of

bite-sized media so particularly amongst

Millennials in Generation Z the formats

that we Now consume content in are

progressively becoming shorter and

shorter right that's kind of a

no-brainer the language of the internet

in 2022 is short form videos and

condensed ideas Tick Tock YouTube shorts

Twitter and Instagram reels

that entire social ecosystem thrives on

providing digestible information that's

often watered down to make it palatable

to as many people as possible now I'm

not saying that the content is void of

value here we're not critiquing the

substance but the behavior that the

consumption of this content at scale

conditions within us is that of engaging

our brain for a very short period of

time and then recalibrating for example

let's play through a common

browsing pattern in a lot of people on

social media they pull open Tick Tock

for example they play through a video

that maybe is at a duration of a minute

they might even browse the comment

section and maybe they even contribute

to the dialogue and leave some two cents

of their own they leave a comment and

then very quickly they're watching

something new they're scrolling to the

next video in the black hole of the

scroll as they call it and they're

recalibrating and their brain is forced

to restart its focus and they're

training their brain in that way and to

be fair this idea of people having short

attention spans is nothing new Joe's not

getting a Nobel Prize for some

revolutionary Discovery here but what I

had realized is that I'd condition

myself to only being able to process

information in small quantities my brain

muscles were being trained to being

activated for short durations and that

carried over to my conversations and my

independent thought when I was alone

thinking through ideas I wasn't used to

Extended moments of concentration

because I was used to always filling the

boring moments when they arose with

something that was still emulating and

most of that was short form content in

whatever form it took whether it was

tweets inspirational quotes very short

stories or answers on Reddit they were

all short form bite-sized media forms

and as our brains began to adapt to

these short bursts of Engagement and

that conditions this pattern in us and

humans adopt incredibly fast

this also brings another side effect to

the surface and one that I noticed also

stunted my inability or my ability

rather to process information and that

is since most of what we consume online

are the end conclusions of someone

else's own thoughts life or experiences

we are not guided through the steps that

they had to go through to arrive at

those conclusions and to be able to

defend them it's like trying to be a

chef but only ever getting to work with

the meal that's already been prepared

ready to serve to people like you don't

know what the individual ingredients are

how did you get to the point of having

this meal that is ready to be served the

impact of this is that it's led to a

population that knows of a lot of great

recipes AKA ideas thoughts or arguments

whatever

but they're not able to understand them

well they don't understand them well

they take up dead weight dead space in

their mind and

that's because of one of two reasons

number one a because they've never

explored or researched them beyond the

person that they heard them from how

often does that happen to us or B more

importantly

they haven't been exposed to the nested

steps that it took for the person that

they heard that conclusion from to be

able to reach that conclusion because

those conversations that discussion is

boring or oftentimes because it's simply

cut for time which leads us to the

second problem and that is we hastily

adopt opinions instead of evaluating

them here's why this affects your

ability to process information and think

clearly

because if we merely adopt a thought

without understanding how someone else

had to step through information to get

to that

thought to arrive at that conclusion

becomes incredibly difficult to think

through it to communicate it to defend

it effectively because your

understanding is only ever going to be

limited to the basic summation of that

argument the one that you've adopted

from someone else

and we do this with so much that

comprises the convictions that we have

as individuals

we can't defend it because we simply

adopted it because it sounds good people

there are many different uh Concepts to

describe this sentiment some people call

it confirmation bias where we sort of

just blindly upvote things that that we

agree with not because it's it's it's

rooted in any sort of fact but because

it aligns with the previous beliefs that

we had even though the the fact of it is

potentially wrong but the amount of

times that I've been in dialogues with

people where they've introduced high

level Concepts into the conversation and

I've offered maybe just a little bit of

pushback and they cannot even begin to

remotely defend their position because

their understanding of that high level

concept is limited to what they heard

from someone else and they're just

parroting those opinions and to be clear

I'm not some masterful debater poking

the perfect holes and arguments I've

just begun to realize that Society is

full of people who have a very surface

level understanding of oftentimes very

strong opinions and I noticed this

Within Myself and it always frustrated

me that I can never think through these

opinions myself or communicate them

effectively because my exposure to them

was I either always short Limited in

some way or a copy of someone else's and

I didn't realize it until I really had

to confront myself with that behavior

and so I started asking myself these

questions all these ideas that I have in

my head

have I ever really thought through them

how do I know if they're true what does

the opposition say

because there's a huge difference

between merely adopting a thought

because it sounds good

and then really internalizing it through

your own due diligence and research

and having a vast Foundation of

knowledge on a subject and there's a

confidence that comes with that and I

think that's what I was missing because

when I had an unstable Foundation I

found it incredibly hard to think and

speak from a position of clarity and

that was so frustrating because I didn't

have a comprehensive understanding on

really anything because my exposure to

those ideas at best was a 10 minute long

YouTube video that took a high

resolution idea blurted down diluted it

watered down and watered it down and

make it palatable to the masses

and I'm not bagging on any particular

channel here or a format of content the

issue lies in the fact that organization

of thought and Clarity on any particular

subject

is a long-term discipline there are no

shortage of individuals out there who

can tell you a lot of fascinating ideas

thoughts and opinions

but where is the individual who has the

who's exercised the mental discipline to

study a topic in depth to explore the

different experts in the industry and

who's been able to step outside and look

beyond what I call the processed version

of the idea you know the the fast food

version the one that's there to hook you

it's simple it's sugar coated to appeal

to our short attention spans and this

leads us to the third problem I want to

highlight and that is info input is

massively disproportionate to info

output we live in this era of

information overload where we're all

forced to pay attention to this Mosaic

of information we all have these

different information diets and all the

input requires a system of order

in order for us to sort through the

information to process it or else our

mind becomes overloaded and we humans

are incredibly incompetent at sorting

things in our own heads now some people

are incredibly gifted and they're able

to have real internal dialogues with

themselves to clarify murky thoughts but

most of us including myself

need to Output information in order to

clarify thoughts arguments and sort

through the ideas that are just

scattered in our brains it's like we've

been stuffing things into a closet and

spring cleaning is here we need to take

everything out put it into the open and

only then can we sort through it and

discard the Amazon boxes that are just

taking up dead space in our closet we

need a process to bring order to our

thoughts and ideas

and this is often why conversation is so

valuable when we dialogue with another

person it forces us to Channel all these

unfocused ideas into a particular

selection of words that we communicate

to another person that allows us often

to modify our stance on our ideas you

receive feedback

and oftentimes it alternates your

thoughts based off the reactions that

others give us we're able to gauge the

impact of our thoughts sometimes we're

met with validation and acknowledgment

other times pushback in disagreement

both are healthy responses because both

modify our understanding and bring

Clarity to what our stance is on these

thoughts to be able to better defend

them in conversation by the way is just

one form of output there's also

journaling writing video audio teaching

is another one as well but the Dilemma

in society is the fact that people are

engaged very little with any meaningful

form of output at least on the thoughts

that overwhelm them the most the ones

that are just screaming and begging for

clarity

the input of information is skewed to be

far greater than our ability to organize

those thoughts through output and I

don't know what like the happy medium is

whether we should engage in one hour of

output for every hour of consumption but

I do know that input has increased

dramatically over this last decade

especially with the prevalence of social

media and we all know the internet can

be this fire hose of information and

people get overwhelmed very quickly when

they're not able to digest and make

sense of that flood of information I

would honestly encourage you to ask

yourself this question

let me see if I can phrase this right

what chances are you giving yourself

to process

the different levels of input that

you're engaging with

because I can tell you my answer when my

brain fog was added Zenith even just a

few months ago

my answer was none

there was no output I did not allow

myself extended moments of concentration

one thing I've learned about recently

actually is many of the Great

philosophers the mathematicians the

Romans the the Greeks like the really

big names in those domains of knowledge

whenever they would be engaged in some

sort of Senate debate or any moral

dialogue

they would always spend a few days

afterwards retired in their quarters

writing down their thoughts giving

speeches giving very short mock

operations about these ideas so that

they can clarify them in their minds

that ability

to process something and have the best

thought in the world in the moment after

you hear a fresh new idea is rare it's a

superpower that only you select few in

the history of humanity have ever been

endowed with

and it takes time to process information

and so this actually leads us into one

of the four solutions that I want to

share with you that are not necessarily

in uh combat to the four problems that

we address but they will indirectly

check some of those boxes the first

solution I want to share with you that

has massively helped me is to engage in

outputting more now speaking from my own

clunky attempts at trying to organize my

scatter thoughts your first try at

trying to make sense of what is up here

is going to be difficult it was for me

writing doesn't come naturally don't

expect it to be easy because I don't

think people realize how often we really

just parrot points that we hear from

others and when you're forced to

communicate through output you're

training your mind muscles to clarify

what you mean and the beauty of it is

that you're using your own words to do

so one method of output that I take some

level of personal pride in inventing for

myself is what I call mock presentations

in front of a fake audience what I would

do is I found an old projector you can

easily get one off of Amazon for

relatively an inexpensive fee and I

found some old footage of a live

audience from YouTube and I would

project that onto the wall and then I

would deliver have a one-way

conversation with that audience on a

topic that I wanted to sort through in

my mind and the purpose of the audience

was just to simulate that stage

environment to give myself multiple

touch points of focus I.E the different

people that I had to make eye contact

with and it's actually uncanny how

nervous I got in preparing to do these

mock presentations I would keep the

speeches maybe three to five minutes

just speak on something that I wanted to

clarify and work through and figure out

how I would deliver this if I had to

communicate this to another person and I

really do enjoy those I actually still

do them to this day and those mock

presentations is a great form of output

I also tried writing as well which is

actually considered to be more Focus

intensive than conversation itself

writing I actually found to be more

effective than speaking and Performing

the mock presentations to the fake

audience because writing allowed me to

gauge the effectiveness of each sentence

in order to in relation to the whole

point that I was making and I could

revise and change the order as I wanted

in order to bring further Clarity to the

thought that I was trying to put on

paper I would also often revisit writing

about the same topic multiple times I

would pull up in a blank document again

from scratch and write about shipping

containers for the second time which is

actually just a book that I finished

reading through and that round two would

allow me to bring a further level of

clarity to that thought and the best

part of all this is here's the beauty is

that

those ordered thoughts now serve as a

reference for when you engage in

speaking or dialoguing with someone

you're not forced in real time to piece

together all these unfocused thoughts in

a conversation you have a reference and

that is your your written output that

you've engaged in the second thing that

made a huge difference was I made an

effort to read full articles and listen

to entire conversations on a singular

topic I know this sounds trivial but it

made a huge difference in my ability to

think through an idea because the goal

here is to understand how people step

through information to come to a

conclusion or a conclusion that you

might hold as true or valid

what is supporting that instead of

merely just adopting someone else's and

argument or conclusion whatever it is

because it sounds right or because it's

aligned with your convictions podcasts

can be really helpful for finding these

kinds of conversations but I would

encourage you to try to find podcasts

that focus on a singular topic that

you're interested in a lot of podcasts

can get derailed in conversation really

really quickly and it's like

constantly getting split in a New

Direction every five seconds which

doesn't make it much different from

short form content like we talked about

the issues with earlier I've actually

become an Avid Reader of books

particularly in this last year for this

reason because books provide a very

comprehensive overview of usually a

singular topic and as someone who's

always struggled with digesting

information from books in particular one

little exercise that I found to be super

helpful was after each chapter of a book

I would rehearse out loud the

information that I've just read if I'm

not able to make sense of what I just

read then I would revisit and reread the

chapter I would even oftentimes take my

phone record a voice memo of me relaying

the information out loud and then listen

through that the benefit of all this is

it helps to create multiple touch points

for absorbing information you have

reading you have speaking you have

listening and I found a retained

information infinitely better that way

when I engaged in all those three just

as a side note if you do decide to

listen to people talk about a topic that

is of interest to you do try to find

people to listen to who you want to

think like this is why great oratores

are often so revered by the public is

because they're able to make sense of

the unresolved thoughts in our mind they

provide order for us they're able to

voice feelings that we can express for

ourselves and make sense of all the

chaos around us and that's actually a

very dangerous superpower if you really

consider it and keep in mind too that

these these experts that you listen to

and that we see surfaced all over the

Internet they've given years and years

and massive cognitive energy to

researching and understanding these

topics so it's expected that they would

speak very very clearly on it which is

why it is good to listen to these these

false-fledged discussions and the reason

why these discussions are are so

valuable is oftentimes when people speak

especially if they're very seasoned in

their respective domain of knowledge

they speak in Frameworks and they speak

in patterns and we subconsciously pick

up on those and can internalize those as

a way of working through thoughts and

processing information you might notice

that this particular person place

Devil's Advocate a lot and maybe that's

something that you can apply to your own

thoughts that you're trying to work

through so pay attention to those

processing tools that a lot of these

black belt level thinkers use the third

thing that I did is I reduced the amount

of short form content that I consumed

now short form content isn't a bad thing

but in today's social media climate it

is terribly easy to become overwhelmed

by too much information and max out our

mental hard drives it's just far too

easy to do that the quickest way to

overwhelm yourself and to reduce your

mental capacity is to try to upload a

thousand different ideas at once it's

better to have a few select ideas that

you really really understand at high

resolution rather than 50 ideas that

sound great but you don't really are

able to you aren't able to defend them

or you can't execute on them in any

meaningful way I don't think people

realize that we only have a certain

amount of mental energy that we can

devote towards the things that we

interact with and if that is split

between 25 by 50 100 different ideas

that we come across because of short

form content and we do that every single

day we're constantly fracturing our

minds capacity in a thousand different

directions and this is often the

inherent problem with a lot of social

media feeds is that they present us

ideas that are often unnecessary or not

worth our time but nonetheless they take

up mental space they live rent free in

our brains sometimes it's like trying to

build I guess a brick wall but instead

of building vertically with ideas that

you really understand you're building

laterally and so you have this wide

breadth of knowledge of a bunch of

different things but that knowledge is

very shallow and so the best course of

action that I was able to take action on

myself was to reduce the amount of

external stimuli particularly short form

content that I expose myself to and

start to be more intentional with the

information that I sought out number

four adjusting my diet and tracking the

effects of certain foods I realize you

may think this to be trivial

and it might not sound as much of a

solution as some of the other ideas we

talked about but I promise you it

significantly reduced the brain fog that

I used to deal with one of the dietary

changes that I made to improve my

cognitive abilities was to actually not

eat carbohydrates carbs until about noon

so I would not eat them in the morning

whatsoever because when I was trying to

troubleshoot why I could not think

clearly I actually kept the food log for

about two weeks where I would write down

each hour of the day how I felt how my

mental Clarity was and what foods that I

was eating and a pattern started to

develop where every single time that I

would eat carbs in the morning within

half an hour my mental Clarity would

just tank significantly I actually asked

a doctor about this and the simple

explanation that he gave is that my body

would go into processing overload trying

to digest all that food the carbs and

that would take energy away from my

brain which made it very difficult to

process any sort of information in the

mornings and so not eating carbs until

early afternoon has made a huge

difference for me but I realized that it

may be different for every single person

and I'm not not here to suggest a

blanket Solution Diet wise but my

recommendation would be as I did to keep

a food log track the different Islands

throughout the day and note down the

foods that you'll be consuming because

they may be potential mental Clarity

blockers so just recapping trying to

think clearly and sharply has been this

massive undertaking that I've tried to

spearhead for myself over this past year

and I hope these thoughts have helped I

really can't stress enough how important

it is to Be watchful of what we input

into our brains and our bodies as well

because whether it's processed food or

gosh process opinions

mental Clarity can often be increased

simply by decreasing the things that

only serve to overload us but we justify

consuming because it's convenient in the

moment so keep that in mind and also

engaging in some form of output because

output is a mechanism that helps us

clarify and sort through the information

that we have GM packed in our mental

brain closets and when we output that it

helps us develop better mental models

for the ideas and the thoughts that we

have and that's something that can

improve mental Clarity for each person

so on that note thanks for watching