The Mindful analyst

We live in an age of information overload. Did you know the average person in the UK checks their phone nearly 80 times a day? Life bombards us with information; emails, notifications, news, conversations and annoyingly random thoughts like “did I lock the front door?” 20 miles into the daily commute.

It’s impossible to notice and recall everything. Analysts don’t try to take in the whole picture. Instead, they focus on what’s different. That small shift in mindset – tuning into change rather than volume – is one of the most practical skills you can borrow from intelligence work.

Why Change Matters

Imagine a calm lake. You don’t sit and stare at every inch of water. But the moment a ripple appears, your eyes go straight to it. Analysts are trained to spot those ripples. A sudden small change can tell you more than the big things that consistently stay the same. A channel going silent in intelligence work can mean more than one that’s buzzing with activity. It’s no different in daily life.

Spotting Change in Everyday Life

• At work: If your usually vocal colleague falls quiet in meetings, that’s worth noticing. It could be stress, disengagement, personal issues or maybe they’re planning something new.
• Commuting: If your regular morning train carriage starts regularly filling up ten minutes earlier than usual, that’s not random – it’s a new pattern you can look to plan around.
• Friendships: If your mate who messages daily suddenly drops off the radar, that’s a pattern break. It doesn’t automatically mean something’s wrong but it’s worth checking in.

Any change – big or small – is often the first sign of something developing.

How to Train Yourself to Notice Change

1. Daily scan: At the end of each day, take a moment to ask yourself: What was different today compared to yesterday? It doesn’t require a detailed log – just a habit of pausing and noticing. Over time, this sharpens your awareness and helps you pick up on subtle shifts you might otherwise miss.

• Notice silences: It’s not just what’s present that matters; what’s missing can be just as revealing. Maybe your favourite food isn’t on the supermarket shelf. Maybe your dog doesn’t meet you at the door. Maybe a friend who messages every day doesn’t reach out. These absences are data points – small signals that something has changed.

• Distinguish blips from patterns: One-off events happen – a delayed train, a cancelled plan, a missed e-mail. These are blips. But when a change repeats – three late trains in a row, a recurring quiet streak from someone, a habit that keeps shifting – it becomes a pattern worth noting.

• Make use of what you find: In analysis, we call this the “so what” factor. Once you’ve spotted these shifts, ask: What does this mean for me? Not every change requires action but every observation offers insight. On a practical level, you can adapt – leave earlier if trains are consistently late, check in with a quiet friend or adjust your own routine if you’re no longer aligned with your habits. On a personal level, noticing patterns helps you understand yourself better. Are you stressed, distracted or evolving in a new direction? By combining awareness of your environment with insight into your own responses you can turn small observations into smarter decisions and maintain a stronger control over your day.

When you focus on noticing change, you shift from reacting to everything as it happens to anticipating what might come next. You become better prepared for whatever life throws at you. It creates early warning signs rather than nasty surprises. It also sharpens your perspective – life feels more like something you’re actively tuned into and less like something that’s happening to you.

For this week’s exercise, forget trying to remember everything and have a go at focussing on difference. At the end of each day, write down everything that was different from the day before. At the end of the week, review your notes. Do any of those changes link together? Have you caught the early signs of a bigger shift? If you have, what does that mean for you?

Also note how you feel at the end of the week – hopefully you’ll feel more aware of what’s going on, more present or maybe more in control of what’s going on around you..

That’s how analysts do it: it’s not magic – we’ve just been taught to spot the ripples.

Until next time,

Think sharper, live smarter.

Natalie, The Mindful Analyst x