If your brain feels like it’s running a million miles an hour, brain-dumping might be the system reset for you.
Sometimes all of the thoughts going round leave me paralysed and stuck on what my next step is. Brain-dumping has been a game changer for me since I started using it 5 years ago.
What I love about brain-dumping is it’s not about getting everything perfectly in order right away; it’s about getting it all out of your head and onto the page. That alone can make you feel like a load has been lifted.
Writing things down can have such a profound effect on the chaos you feel in your mind, and it’s something I love to stop an oncoming spiral or feeling of overwhelm. When you write it all down, it feels a whole lot more manageable.
I didn’t realise at the time but by naturally following this approach, I was actually following the Getting Things Done method by David Allen. If anyone struggles with having a million thoughts a minute like me, I would recommend trying this out:
1. Capture: Write down everything! A notebook and pen is grounding, but a list on your phone does just as good a job.
2. Clarify: Get clear on what the action is associated with this task. It’s ok if there’s more than one action, create a mini-project to encapsulate all the actions. If it’s not actionable, archive or delete it - never to be thought of again.
3. Organise: Arrange your actions into categories. This is totally personal to you, whether you want to organise by category or by priority.
4. Reflect: Don’t set your list and forget about it. Take 5 - 10 minutes every week or month, whatever works for you, to review your actions and make sure they are still relevant or necessary.
5. Engage: Actions have been logged, categorised, and reviewed - time to take action, with clarity, not chaos!
You’re not meant to hold it all in your head! Let your systems do that so you’re free to do the work you love doing.