3 Productive And Creative Tools For Mental Fitness

In this article, I want to share three therapeutic productivity tools that made a substantial contribution to my mental fitness at a personal and professional level. These techniques are simple, natural, and effective to become more creative and productive.

Photo by Jessica Burnett on Unsplash

1- Self-Conversation

We constantly and internally communicate with ourselves.

I don't know about your perception now, but I believe you are surprised by this statement. I enjoy talking to myself about a specific point that requires some personal insights. Self-talk is a therapeutic and creative activity for me. This technique helped me to become an inventor and a thought leader in my field. No, I am not crazy, as Sheldon in Big Bang Theory says.

Sometimes I record my conversations using a smartphone or laptop. Google Documents is a free tool I sometimes use for this purpose on my PC. In addition, as an added value, this free word processing software converts my recorded voice to text. Then I can insert the converted text into my daily journal.

Listening to my recorded conversations later gives me clues about my mood and the overall psychological situation at the recording times. This unique information allows me to recognize the essential patterns in my feelings and thoughts.

By recording my self-conversations and analysing them, I act like my own therapist. I can monitor my mood and make the necessary therapeutic adjustment as required. The last time I saw a shrink was over a decade ago. In my opinion, being in control of one's mental and emotional health is a crucial privilege in this life.

I had the tremendous benefit of improving my conversational English by using this voice recording method. It has been fascinating to listen to my own voice. I detect my own mistakes based on my grammar knowledge. I correct them for better usage. My conversational fluency on specific topics increased.

This linguistic and therapeutic activity also contributes to my cognitive reserves which is a topic close to my heart.

2- Journaling

In my leadership workshops, new participants always ask me how journaling affects the brain. I tell them it is one of the best tools to keep their memory and attention sharp.

Keeping a diary and journaling every day has been one of the best-established habits for me. Writing about my thoughts became an extension of my brain and retention capability.

I jot down anything important in my electronic journal instantly. Writing my thoughts gives me instant and significant relief. It is therapeutic, hence reduces stress.

Keeping an electronic journal nowadays is easy and common. Smartphones, tablets and laptops offer free text editors. We can simply jot down our thoughts, ideas, and plans as they surface in our mind.

We don't have to worry about grammar, structure, or editing in a diary. It can be an informal way of writing our thoughts. Journaling is essential and a viable option for everyone. If we don't have an electronic device, we can journal in a notebook. In fact, handwriting on a piece of paper, maybe even more therapeutic.

Journaling allows me to clarify my thoughts and feelings. It is a unique tool for addressing problematic situations. Through journaling, I gain valuable self-knowledge and confidence.

In addition, I use journaling as a problem-solving and creativity tool. Interestingly, when I start using my keyboard on my laptop, my thoughts get more explicit, and solutions to my problems come to the tips of my touch-typing fingers. It is almost like a spiritual act. I feel like my higher self is talking to me via my fingertips.

Blogging can be a kind of journaling. However, since blogging is shared publicly, we cannot write private matters in a blog. It can be helpful to share general ideas and thoughts which are appropriate to share. However, in personal journaling, we can write about everything in detail without the risk of offending anyone except ourselves.

3- Uplifting Music and Dance

Like many people, I find music as a tool to instantly boost my mood. For many years, when I was studying, background instrumental music was my concentration tool. It was mainly baroque music that facilitated my learning. I still listen to baroque music for relaxation and motivation in my creative work.

When I am in a low mood for any reason, I listen to uplifting music from my selected best pieces in an extensive collection. It doesn't take too long to lift my mood to a positive state when I listen to those selected pieces. As potent reminders, they immediately send convincing signals to my brain to move from a negative to a positive zone.

The use of uplifting music in challenging times has allowed me to transform from a pessimistic to an optimistic state. We are hard-wired to be pessimistic and suspicious as the default. Unless we make a special effort to move it to an optimistic state, the brain will always default to a pessimistic state.

Another tool that I discovered was dancing, and I combine dancing with my uplifting music when I feel lethargic.

During my hourly breaks, just five to ten minutes of dancing with selected uplifting music provides an additional cognitive boost. Both my brain and body always crave dancing with uplifting music.

My body loves to dance, and my brain loves to listen to music and responds with favourable hormonal and neural reactions. I love the choreography. For example, have you come across Kerry Muzzey's "Architect of the Mind" with Christopher Scott's choreography on YouTube? This piece has a special meaning for me. It artistically reflects how the brain works.

Using these three simple and therapeutic techniques made me more creative and productive in my personal and professional life.

Thank you for reading my perspectives.

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