There is a change in the air. The weather still feels like summer, but the shift is undeniable. We are leaving the slower summer days behind and heading into the more structured, disciplined focus of fall. One of the primary reasons for this shift is the academic calendar. Multitudes of children and adults are back in school or will be shortly. Even if you are not a student or teacher, you cannot help but feel the change, and it is an excellent time to evaluate our lives in this new season.
I have always appreciated the point made by C.S. Lewis. We need both change and consistency, and God gave us both in the seasons of nature. These natural seasons also bring societal shifts. There are times to slow down and refocus, and the start of a new academic year is a perfect time to recommit and reengage, even if we are not returning to school. Some aspects of every season can be put to good use, and this is one of them.
If you are going back to school, it is time to discipline your mind. It is time to pick up books or other training materials and mentally push yourself. As much as many people either tout or disparage the diploma, that is not your ultimate goal. We engage in this rigor for growth. If you are not returning to school, you are still likely experiencing increased demands and obligations. It is likely time for you to sharpen your focus as well. The goal of all of this is to become a person of greater strength and character. We will rarely ever increase in wisdom and virtue without improving the life of the mind. To help us do this, here are seven tips to make this season of the mind more productive.
Tame Your Phone
I was tempted to make this initial point about social media, but though social media is a primary culprit, the problem is bigger than that. We need to tame our phones and other useful devices that monopolize our hearts and minds—those good technological gifts initially designed to be our servants but have since seized control.
Many people have so conditioned themselves to pull out their phones at every spare moment that their minds are constantly hopping from one thing to the next with never a moment to stop and think. We have lost the ability to process thoughts and synthesize input because we do not give ourselves the time to do it. The other reason we cannot process thoughts is because we have few quality thoughts to process. We have replaced quality reading, insight, and wisdom with the trivialities of social media, clickbait newsfeeds, and other apps. It is like asking your stomach to digest without giving it any food or the time to do it. This behavior of constantly looking at your phone can make you feel like you have been busy all day when you have not accomplished much. It can create a phantom sense of being overwhelmed or accomplishment.
Because many young people have never lived without a phone in their hands, they do not realize that learning to put it away will reward them with countless benefits. It won’t be easy; you will likely need to delete apps and put other limiting software in place to pull it off, but your mental health will thank you for it.
Set a Consistent Bedtime and Waketime
This tip is more crucial than you think. When you are young, you have more resilience to disrupted patterns, but it is wise to think of your academic life or the life of the mind as an athlete thinks about their physical performance. Your mental abilities are greatly hindered when your body is not at its peak, and regular sleep patterns go a long way to help you be at your best.
Don’t Store all your To-Dos in your Head; Schedule them on the Calendar
Part of feeling overwhelmed is trying to keep everything organized in your mind. If you have not written it down somewhere, your mind will keep looping it over and over to avoid forgetting. Do not keep your to-do’s in your head; schedule them. That will relieve 50% of the pressure you feel, which makes you feel overwhelmed. You will not be as worried about getting something done if you have scheduled a time to do it.
Schedule Work Based on the Mental Rigor Required
A secondary consideration to the tip above is scheduling your work based on its difficulty. You know the time of day when you are at your best mentally. If possible, that is the time to schedule your most challenging knowledge work. Contrary to popular belief, you can only handle about 3-5 hours of mental rigor daily. You are only human. Try to do that work when you are at your peak. Save the more routine projects and tasks for other parts of the day.
Exercise Daily
In the same way your body needs sleep, it needs physical activity. We tend to be a sedentary culture, but we were not created to be. Do something other than knowledge work that requires you to move your body daily. I take a 15-minute break every morning and afternoon and walk 3/4 mile each time. In the evening, I plan to work around the shop or the house or go to the gym before I return to my studies and writing.
Plan Downtime
Just as you schedule your workload, be sure to schedule downtime. For example, I work Monday through Friday 9-5. Monday-Wednesday evenings, I study from 7-9 pm. On Thursday nights, I teach. But I leave Friday evenings open for recreation. I also designate Sunday afternoon as free time.
Keep Your Eye on the Prize
By “prize,” I do not mean earning the degree or successfully completing a busy season of life or work. Those goals serve a greater end. Richard Sibbs says, “We must fix our eyes on the glory of God and the excellency of Christ. A moving, roving eye sees nothing.” When we talk about distractions and hindrances, this is the reason we remove them. We are to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and it will all be for naught if we discipline our minds and bodies but do not use them for this end.
I am sure you could share many other tips with me, and I would love to hear them in the comments. These tips aim not to put anyone in a productivity box but to spur on some ideas you might put into practice that work well for your situation and to prioritize the most important goal—the glory of God.
-D. Eaton
The Fight of Faith 