It took me 10 long years to stop my monkey mind from jumping task-to-task, often leaving a lot unaccomplished and even more messy. Here are my three habits and mantras that changed chaos to calm and sharper focus.
Published: February 10, 2026 • Updated: September 11, 2026
Working independently since 2011, I’ve often been overwhelmed by the number of things that demand my attention. As a full-time employee, one has many advantages. There are teams, departments and multiple options. But for self-employed people, the options dwindle. Life becomes chaotic, as you wade through multiple dimensions of the work on your own.
Over the last few years, I’ve spent days learning new media, failing, falling, and trying to force digital routines that didn’t always stick. I was living moment-by-moment, rather than thinking long-term. To reclaim my focus and make my goals—both professional and personal—livelier and rejuvenating, I committed to changing my habits and style of working. It took time, but here are my three pillars of finding calm, clarity and productivity:
Habit #1: Using Checklists to Beat Overwhelm
The Mantra: “Clear the head, capture the task.”
Given the chaos of trying to finish everything in one go, I decided to make a content calendar. All to no success. That was when I decided that I needed to shift my strategy and pivot to a step-by-step approach.
To prioritise my steps, I began to make checklists. My checklists started with simple things: daily, weekly, monthly tasks.
Eventually, work began to roll out smoothly. My daily chores became lighter, leaving me enough time for leisure and then all this became a habit to manage my time better.
Checklists clarified my steps. I developed the habit of making wiser choices, sticking to them, being consistent and disciplined, and not collapsing during challenging times.
Why this works: The Monkey Mind loves to loop on “What’s next?” A checklist acts as an external hard drive, allowing your brain to stop remembering and start doing.
Habit #2: Mapping Success with Vision Board
The Mantra: “Look past the chaos toward the North Star.”
My journey with vision boards began in 2025 and to my surprise, I found it very powerful. Now, I make vision boards for all my goals.
Reviewing my #Vision2025 and saw that I had ticked off all the boxes, except one.
Mentally, thanking myself for the newfound discipline, I made #Vision2026. I’ve kept my goals small, things that I can focus on and accomplish within a few months or one year.
The idea is to keep it a clear sight, you must see it daily.
Achievable Goals to keep me charged:
Writing: Add more humour and expression to my work, letting go of emotional weight.
Health: Learn a new form of exercise and lose 5 kg.
Environment: Shift to a greener location and revive my Nature Journal.
Travel: Explore Nagaland, Tripura, Manipur, and Mizoram, and all the places that I am invited to.
Skills: Upgrade my videography and relaunch my podcasts. Learn a new language.
Organization: Catalogue my photography and create a light, achievable content calendar.
Why this works: When you’re caught in the daily grind, the Monkey Mind focuses on the immediate “fire.” A vision board is your visual anchor, reminding you why you’re working so hard in the first place.
Habit #3: Rewiring the Brain Through Journaling
The Mantra: “Evict the noise to find the signal.”
I used to write a diary during my schooldays, but unfortunately had to let those go to scrap. The habit began again in 2012, when I learned Shamanism. I began to record my journeys. Those also saw a catastrophic end.
But last year, something changed. I began to pen daily. And at the end of the year, I realised that all that I had written made sense. It was my life unfolding before me, the way I perceived things, the things I really wanted and the path to achieve them.
Initially, I used a ball pen to write. But lately, I have transitioned to an ink pen. I found it so much better for my handwriting, slow and clean, more aesthetically appealing.
Also, pen-to-paper has neuro advantages. Neuroscience says that penning your thoughts, from brain to hand, helps in rewiring your brain. By slowing my handwriting to accommodate the ink’s flow, I am literally rewiring my Default Mode Network (DMN).
Writing is not just “storing data”; it is Neuro-Architectural. Research into the Encoding Hypothesis suggests that the brain processes information with deeper complexity when written by hand.
Why this works: If the Monkey Mind is a tangled ball of yarn, journaling is the act of straightening the threads. It’s not just writing; it’s a mental detox that turns vague anxiety into actionable insight.
Progress Over Perfection
Nothing is achieved overnight. But with the right productivity habits, you can turn a chaotic mind into a disciplined one. By prioritizing my day with a checklist and visualizing my future, I’ve finally moved into a routine that brings the results I used to only dream of.
Alongside changing habits, remember to be kind to yourself. Replace panic with discipline. And at the end of the day, pat yourself on the back, knowing that you are making a change that comes with practice.
And do let me know what is one habit you’re starting now?
Ambica Gulati wears many hats: independent journalist, editor, multimedia storyteller, author and fiction writer. Her work moves between global affairs, conscious travel, the environment, culture and the intuitive arts, while her fiction explores the territories where nature, memory, mystery and imagination converge.
Beyond the laptop, she nourishes her creative practice through meditation, birding, reading, journaling, oracle cards, and yoga.
I also facilitate workshops exploring the art of journaling, understanding intuition, and cultivating our intuitive and creative faculties through reflective writing, creative exercises and simple practices for greater self-awareness.
Continue Your Journey to Calm
If you enjoyed these tips for mental clarity, explore these related reflections:
Queen of Treasures 
Currently being in a monkey state of mind, I find this post very helpful and inspiring. I’m trying to wake up earlier and get more done. Shadow writing sounds interesting. I’m not quite sure what it is.
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Shadow self is the part that we hide, neglect or ignore, things we refuse to accept about ourselves. But these have layers of our best parts, so we can transform anger into positive use of energy or say picking up a cause.
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My monkey mind could definitely use your helpful pointers, Ambica. I make grocery, shopping, travel and other checklists etc regularly so making one for work sounds doable. It’s great that celebrating your accomplishments and keeping focus through vision boards and journaling have helped you.
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happy to be of help! I have realised writing brings clarity.
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This was such an amazingl read… I loved how you didn’t just talk about quieting the monkey mind, but gave gentle habits which are pratical and we can all start with today…
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this is such an inspiring post with clarity from experience at its core. I’ve tried doing the habits you mention but have failed. And I think I know why. I chose perfection over progress. That tip, I believe, is the key to your success. Excellent and a much needed post.
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just take it with ease, you have to go slowly and steadily, no rush, no pressure.
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What you talked about in this post we call it repetitive pattern which reprograms the subconscious mind and aligns the Chakras within us. It works and its working for me as well as my clients and all that is important is trust and following the process with positivity and results are must to show.
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My monkey mind helps me multitask and get things done!
However you’ve shared some wonderful tips for those who would like to tame theirs.
Very helpful post, as always, Ambica.
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My monkey mind helps me multitask and get things done!
However you’ve shared some wonderful tips for those who would like to tame theirs.
Very helpful post, as always, Ambica.
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My monkey mind helps me multitask and get things done!
However you’ve shared some wonderful tips for those who would like to tame theirs.
Very helpful post, as always, Ambica.
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My monkey mind helps me multi-task and get things done.
However this post some very helpful tips for those who would want to learn to tame theirs.
Very helpful post, as always, Ambica.
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My monkey mind helps me multi-task and get things done.
However this post some very helpful tips for those who would want to learn to tame theirs.
Very helpful post, as always, Ambica.
LikeLike
My monkey mind helps me multi-task and get things done.
However this post some very helpful tips for those who would want to learn to tame theirs.
Very helpful post, as always, Ambica.
LikeLike
My monkey mind helps me multi-task and get things done.
However this post some very helpful tips for those who would want to learn to tame theirs.
Very helpful post, as always, Ambica.
LikeLike
My monkey mind helps me multi-task and get things done.
However this post some very helpful tips for those who would want to learn to tame theirs.
Very helpful post, as always, Ambica.
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I sometimes envy my husband’s ability to focus, because my always active monkey mind jumps from one task to another, on a blink of an eye. I am reading it just on time.
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This is such a grounding post, Ambica. Mind is born with monkeyness. We have to channel it onto the right path. You have shared such good detailed ways to do that. After my son, I didnt know where my life was headed and by chance I stumbled on the law of attraction and someone saying..Heaven or hell lies right in your mind. It is upto you to make it heaven or hell and thats what brought me back to the living.
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we have to adapt and flow, for living joyfully.
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Oh this was so relatable. The monkey mind is real 😅Loved the checklist idea, external hard drive.. is exactly what it feels like. Simple, practical, and actually doable.
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This is amazing . My monkey mind does an energetic dance all the time. This is a must -try for me
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Hope it benefits you, though it takes years of practice.
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The idea of the ‘monkey mind’ is so relatable. I liked how you kept the solutions simple- checklists, vision boards, and journaling. Small habits, but they really can bring a lot of clarity
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To-do/check lists works wonder for me. I haven’t tried working with vision board yet. I would like to give it a go. It sounds intersting. I also don’t know how to journal. I am always at loss how and what to write when one is journaling.
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vision boards are good for clearing the cobwebs. Journaling is simple, just begin writing what you feel like, then it starts taking a shape without you realising how you’ve penned your thoughts. Eventually, it becomes a book worth going back to.
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Your mantras are spot on, but unfortunately, I’ve become more and more chaotic recently. It leaves me with a lot of anxiety, and I’m unable to finish tasks until the very last minute. I’ve tried journaling, and no, it doesn’t work for me! And I really admire people like you who are so organized!
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very good tips these are! i found that writing my to do list by hand, that simple act has changed my productivity. I love that you have shifted over to inks – that is such a lovely world of its own.
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I so relate to the monkey mind struggle! These habits feel doable and real. Exactly the gentle reset I needed today. Loved this.
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This is a very much needed post for me. My monkey mins can make use of these pointers from your post
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I use checklists too – though mainly for my office work. Vision board is something I have been thinking about and perhaps it is a good time to make one 2026 before the year moves on – especially since I have been trying to manifest some things.
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In this world of cheap dopamine and instant gratification, focus is elusive. Especially when your job involves scrolling for motivation.
i love the points you have elaborated. I also used to write diary, which got lost during my college years and initial years of marriage. Now I take journaling very seriously, and it’s therapy for me.
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We are in the same boat. I’ve actually found a new companion in journaling.
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Does journaling help you & would you like to know where you write i mean, any particular app or in a diary kind of thing
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Good mantras to follow.
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