A brain dump is a simple technique to help you declutter your mind and thoughts. It enables you to gain focus on things that need doing and also helps you organize your time and efforts. Meaning you usually are much more productive and motivated too.
I think we all felt overwhelmed or stressed with all the tasks and projects and to do’s we deal with every day at some point in our lives. Where should you start? What is the most important thing to do right now? What should you prioritize? Did you forget something important?
Do not lose your sleep over this – there is a solution to escape this frustrating situation: Do a brain dump on a regular basis!
What is a brain dump?
A brain dump is a simple technique to get all the ideas and thoughts out of your mind and put them into your personal organization system.
Everyone can do a brain dump, regardless if you organize your things in a paper planner, bullet journal or in a digital system or application. If you do not already use some tool (analog or digital) to organize yourself – here is your starting point for less stress and more productivity!
What is the purpose?
The main purpose of a brain dump is to get your mind free of all the thoughts that are not important at this moment so you can focus on the important things.
You have those thoughts and ideas for a reason so the best thing to make sure nothing is overseen or forgotten is to store this information in your trusted organization system. For me personally, it is my trusted paper planner system but it will work for you digital people either.
After I have completed a brain dump, I start organizing the information that I have just gathered in my planners. Everything is written into the correlating section of my planners. This is important – now I know that everything is in the proper planner section where I pull them from during my weekly planning routine.
Use trigger lists as a guide
A trigger list can help you to get all the little things you are currently NOT thinking about into your conscious mind. There are many different lists available on the Internet, I have linked my version down below for you as a freebie.
How often should I brain dump?
This is a very interesting question! If you like, you can do a brain dump daily. Based on my personal experience I would suggest you go through your trigger list at least once per week. It helps to brain dump if you just have started to work on a new project as well so you can identify all the little things you want to take care of during the project.
Your benefit from doing it regularly
Brain dumps help us to declutter our minds and thoughts. They help us to focus on the important things right now. A brain dump also ensures that we do not forget anything that might become important later.
Since we think constantly, we have new ideas every day, every hour of our lives. Hence, it is vantage to brain dump regularly as there is always something new. Moreover, if there is not something new, you can sit back and relax as you can be sure that there has nothing fallen through the cracks.
You should include a brain dump in your weekly planning routine or at least do it once per month to stay current.
Additional Resources
- Trigger list freebie
- Pinterest board: Braindumps