Solitude: How to achieve mental clarity

We've cultivated a society where we all live in a state of constant distraction. Jumping from one distraction to another builds a sense of underlying anxiety.  In-decision, overwhelm and what-ifs cloud our judgment leading to the existential dread that we're not doing enough. That we're not enough.

So few of us have the mental clarity we need to make an impact. We have the talent, enthusiasm, and determination but we don't know what we want out of life.

What is it we're trying to do? Why are we trying to do it?

Without clear answers to these questions, everything else becomes more difficult.

Instead of making consistent progress in one direction, we jump from one thing to the next in the hope that we stumble upon the right thing for us.

The first step to making meaningful progress requires you to know what you want. Without that, you will always be second-guessing your decisions. You'll lack the motivation to consistently work at something and never benefit from long-term compounding interest.

Gaining the mental clarity you need isn't just something that happens. There's no on-off switch, it's a continuous process. Something that you work at and refine over time.

You need to cultivate the right environment to gain mental clarity through learning, executing, and reflecting. Each area is essential to reaching a stage where you have a clear and focused state of mind. Where you know exactly what you want and how to get it.

What's needed to find mental clarity?

There are three main aspects to gaining clarity. They are not overly complex but often overlooked.

To have a clear, focused state of mind you need to find a balance between each area. They create a feedback loop for you to learn from. Without all three it's difficult to gain real focus and clarity.

Learning

You need to expose yourself to options. Reading, learning, and taking courses is the best way to broaden your horizons and see what's possible.

Without exploration, you may never know something is even possible to achieve. There are no set rules for learning, follow your interests and see where it takes you.

Focus on developing skills that are interesting to you and valuable to others.

Executing

You may enjoy learning about a topic but actually doing it is completely different. Finding mental clarity is a process of exploration, there is no endpoint.

Try plenty of things and see what stands out.

Reflecting

Often the most overlooked area is reflection. We all know that we need to learn new skills, explore our interests and apply them but few of us spend the time to reflect.

Reflection is easily pushed to the side by the constant distractions we use to fill our time.

But without examining our thoughts and feelings mental clarity becomes unachievable.

Mental Clarity requires solitude. We need plenty of time with our thoughts to gain perspective. Solitude lets us step outside of ourselves, viewing our lives and emotion objectively.

Solitude Deprivation

"A crowded world thinks that aloneness is always loneliness and that to seek it is perversion." - John Graves

Most of us are deprived of solitude. Sure we may spend time by ourselves but that time is usually filled with distractions. Work, podcasts, music, and Netflix all fill up our time helping us to avoid that uncomfortable feeling of being alone with our thoughts.

When you seek out solitude you're forced to question your own thinking. You have to answer difficult questions. Answering those questions is the only way to gain the clarity needed to make a meaningful impact.

Getting stuck in the cycle of learning, doing then distracting yourself is common. Sure this cycle is better than doing nothing but without the time to reflect you don't have the direction and purpose to make real progress.

Socrates once said that "The unexamined life is not worth living". Through solitude and reflection, you're able to examine your own life.

Learning and executing become useless without first examining what you really want. Because it doesn't matter how fast you move if it's in a pointless direction.

Seeking out solitude

Achieving this state of reflection is unique to everyone. There is no one activity or correct amount of time needed.

Activities like journaling, meditation, and walking are all useful tools in seeking out the solitude we need.

But as with all improvement in life things won't magically fall into place through doing something once. You have to carve out the time consistently. Tune into how things make you feel and uncover what it is you actually want.

Only when you make the time to think and reflect are you able to go deeper, strip back the inconsequential and highlight what's important to you.