We all know, “THE CHAIR.” That spooky chair looks like a person at 3 A.M., where you just pile up the clothes that never go back to the wardrobe. Ah! You do remember that mess, right?
Do you know the same mess piles up in your stressed and anxious Brain? You’ve got 45,689 things you KNOW you need to address — some personal, some you’ve been avoiding for months (maybe even years?!), and then there’s the list for work. Right?! And it is so overwhelming that sometimes it gets paralyzing to the point where you don’t do anything at all. Know what I mean?
But, unlike the chair mess, the unwanted brain mess needs to be dumped! Yes, you can totally do that with an effortless technique! Ah, the brain dump! Never heard of it before? Stick with me, kid, because this is going to change things for you.
But what is a Brain Dump?
According to good ol’ Wikipedia, a brain dump is “the transfer of a large quantity of information from one person to another or a storage and retrieval medium.”
Let me make it simple for you, a brain dump is an act of getting all of your thoughts out of your head, so you can focus on one idea at a time and not worry about forgetting the other stuff.
Start. Start dumping it now! But how?
· Write down everything you’re thinking. Pull out a pen and a paper (yes, analog is better than digital in this case) and write down everything on your mind. No matter how silly you think, it is. No matter how stupid it sounds. No matter how much you believe, it doesn’t matter.
JUST WRITE IT DOWN
DISCLAIMER: Do Not Judge the thoughts. Do not fall down the rabbit hole of analyzing every thought
· Once you’ve dumped everything onto the page, ask yourself two or three times: Is there anything else on my mind?
On the first ask, your Brain will likely dredge up a handful of items. Get those on the page too. But by the second or third time, your thoughts will be definitively “tapped out.”
Congratulate yourself. You’ve officially reached the stopping point for the “dump” portion of the brain dump.
· Now, take a short break.
The break is essential. You need enough time to step away from your thoughts, especially if your brain dumping session has been emotionally charged. After the break, return to your brain dumping materials. Skim your list of thoughts first. See if any patterns jump out at you on the initial read-through. Are certain thoughts related to each other? Is a specific topic on your mind more than anything else? Decide on a system of marking these related thoughts (underlining, starring, and circling all work well). Then, use the patterns as headings to reorganize everything else on the second sheet of paper. Some items might sound worrisome in your head but seem much less critical when down on paper.
· Once you are done sorting out the things, consider the smallest next step, you could take to move forward on the item. Think as little as you can. The goal is to create a small task that helps ease the overwhelm and concern rather than increase it. Once you’ve determined the short action, add it to your “to-do” list.
Here you are clearing up that spooky chair mess from your Brain and all set to just get started! Yaaaay!! Seem like you already feel the energy boost inside the head. This FANTASTIC tool will clear out all the mental clutter and clean out some mental space. Go! This is the time to get it out on the paper
-Urmi Joiser
