One of my favorite morning rituals is doing a “brain dump”. When I have a lot of to-dos, thoughts and ideas swirling around in my mind, it can feel overwhelming. When I get them out of my head and transfer them to paper, I realize what felt like hundreds of items, is really only about five. No longer feeling overwhelmed, I’m comforted knowing my list has been recorded, and can now be prioritized and added to my task list. Most importantly, I can now fully commit my focus and attention to the task in front of me.
This practice allows you to:
- untangle the web of thoughts spinning around in your mind
- clear your mind and make room for new information
- feel more in control and less overwhelmed
- achieve greater focus on the task at hand
- organize your thoughts
- create a prioritized task list for your day & week ahead
- not have to rely on your memory
This is an especially good practice if you are a visual learner. Actually seeing all of your thoughts in writing instead of just hearing them buzzing around in your head makes them more tangible and actionable.
We preach to our clients that in order to achieve maximum productivity they need to remove or ignore distractions. However, if an important thought comes to mind when you’re intently focused on a task and it just won’t leave you alone, pause what you’re doing, make note of it and then get back to the task at hand. Otherwise the thought might keep taunting you – or worse, disappear forever.
Although I use good old-fashioned paper to record many of my mental ramblings, there are plenty of apps that will serve you digital lovers just as well. Here are a few of them:
- Google Docs
- Evernote
- Mindmeister
- Workflowy
- Bear (IPhone, IPad, Mac)
- The Notes App on your phone
Add this practice to your daily routine and reap the benefits of a clear mind, optimal focus, and maximized productivity!
Comment below to let us know what practice you use to clear your mind, and how it helps you achieve greater productivity.
