A Simple 7-Step Process for Unlocking The Powerful Computer Inside Your Head

“Just let me figure it out!”

My brain was practically screaming at me to hand over the reins and let it do what it does best. 

I was writing a book, but didn’t know where I wanted to go with it. Charging forward wasn’t working. I wasn’t making any measurable progress because I didn’t have a clear roadmap in my head. 

Writing is like life; you can’t get where you’re going if you don’t know where you’re going.  

It wasn’t until halfway through the two hours that I had a breakthrough. 

Discomfort assaulted me. I stretched and rotated through a set of positions, but struggled to discover Zen mode, or whatever that might look like. 

I’ve practiced meditation for the last several years now, but only for a max of 60 minutes. I didn’t have the patience to go deeper. 

Turns out, it takes time to clear your mind of daily distractions and clear the cobwebs. Strike that, it takes a TON OF TIME. Makes sense, but it’s still annoying when you’re laying on a yoga mat just waiting for your head to clear. 🧘

There wasn’t a magical moment of clairvoyance. There were no stars in my vision or unicorns flying circles around my room. 

I just felt… Clear. I felt like I could see problems from all angles instead of the typical linear problem-to-solution train line. 

It wasn’t euphoric, but it was game changing. 

When I finally emerged, I turned to my wife and said, “I figured it out. I know where I am going with this book now!”

Writing a full-length book is hard. But it’s what I do, and I love it. 

This isn’t a post on writing. You might never want to write a book and that’s okay. Meditation is a way to supercharge the incredibly powerful tool inside your head no matter what kind of problem you’re trying to solve.

Thinking time is now my go-to method for solving problems. Time is money, but meditation is a luxury we can’t ignore.

We know the power of our minds, yet we still handicap ourselves daily. I am guilty of these “solutions” for increased productivity:

• Setting reminders to get stuff done instead of just remembering to pay the electric bill. 
• Setting an alarm on our phone to wake up in the morning, when we could learn to wake up naturally. 
• Making to-do lists but still ending up missing items and feeling bad.
• Forcing ourselves to work on the problem until an answer is found, no matter how painful it is. 

These solutions can work, but there’s a better way. 

I’ve been away from the US the last few years, but I’ll forever have the die-hard American drive planted deep within my soul. 

The very thought of locking myself in a room for two hours and doing “nothing” hurts me at a higher level than I will ever understand. Yet I do it. You should too. 

Try it out for yourself:

1. Make time for meditation. Schedule it into your rest day, or if you have the luxury of being a creative worker, build it into your daily schedule. 
2. Set your intention for the session. What problems do you need to work out? Think about your top priorities and what you want to do better. 
3. Start slow. Set a timer, turn on some music, and start stretching. 
4. Move and shift positions frequently. The goal isn’t numb legs from sitting in the lotus position for two hours. 
5. Journal. Bring a journal to write thoughts as needed. However, practice using your memory to make a plan. Think strongly and deeply about what you’d like to do next in life.
6. Enjoy the time. Too often we add too much pressure to these sessions. Enjoy the time of rest. 
7. Quit when you’re good. When you’re done, you’re done. If you can’t go two hours (or don’t need to!) call it quits. 

For the Meditative Doubter

In 2014, Japanese researchers tried to match the processing power of one second using one percent of the brain. It took the computer forty minutes to match. 

Apps, online tools, and various devices have changed our way of life, mostly for the better. We have access to ways of getting things done that humans 100 years ago never dreamed of. 

There is ZERO part of me that wants to go back to simpler times. I’ll keep my Charmin and Uber Eats. Thank you very much. 

But we’ve come too far. The pendulum has swung off its pivot point and crashed to the floor. We use these tools and forget to exercise our most important muscle… 🧠

Meditation has powerful effects on the mind and your ability to come up with creative solutions. Studies have shown it to:

• Enhance attention. 
• Increase the ability to manage stress. 
• Reduce fatigue, anxiety, and increased mindfulness even during brief sessions. 
• Give a boost to working memory capacity. 

Our brain sits idly in our head, locked in skull and bones. Sometimes, if you listen hard enough, you can hear it calling to you, begging you to let it do what it does best. 

Your brain is jealous. It doesn’t need answers from Google, a reminder from Alexa, or a gentle nudge from Siri to pick up your kid from soccer. 

Your brain is a SpaceX rocket ready to break through the confines of the Earth. It’s ready to go. It just wants you to use it. 

If you ignore your brain and instead try to power through, the best that happens is you sort of unlock the problem. You come up with a solution that might act as only a bandaid instead of a solution that changes everything. 

You might not have two hours to work on a problem. It might feel like a giant waste of time. But it’s not, I assure you. 

Meditation is a major part of my creative process. Without it, I wouldn’t have the crystal clear organization I need to get started. Every time I start a new project or need to work out an incredibly complex problem, I take time to think. It makes all the difference. 

When are you going to try out the power of meditation?

-Jordan