Mind clearing  

Mind clearing exercises help you learn to put irrelevant thoughts aside. The exercise below uses an approach close to meditation.

Relax This exercise works best at first if you are undisturbed and physically relaxed; sitting or lying down. You can very easily use this exercise immediately following a run through of a basic relaxation exercise.
Drift Without 'forcing', let your mind drift. What will probably happen is that odd thoughts just surface. When they do....
Examine the thought Without reacting unduly, watch your thoughts; when they occur, consider them as if they are something external to you ("Hmm... that's a thought about my credit card bill..... and here's one about the next shoot... " and so on)
Let thoughts go Once you've looked at each thought, just put it aside - 'let it go'. All that means is that you consciously decide not to follow up the thought.
Persist Keep at it for a while; five or ten minute to start with, and maybe 15 or more if it works for you.
When this works - as it tends to, with practice - you will find that it gets easier to ignore unwanted thoughts, and often your thoughts settle down and stop pestering you - you genuinely end up with your mind undisturbed by unwanted thoughts.
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When it works

Mind clearing, like many 'meditative' approaches, is more likely to work well in practice if you tend to introspection and to thought rather than activity - it's something of an introvert's game.

With practice, it can be included in a mental warm-up to calm your thoughts, as well as helping you recognise and put aside irrelevant thoughts at short notice.

 
When it doesn't

Some people react well to this sort of 'passive resistance' approach, some don't. If it doesn't work well, try one of the more active thought stopping approaches.