How Starting Your Day With a Brain Dump Can Make You More Productive

Have you ever woken up and felt immediate dread because the day ahead is so busy ? This happens to me all the time , and frankly, it’s an unpleasant way to greet the morning. It just doesn’t set you up for a positive experience. However, there is a way to quickly right the ship and turn all these tasks into motivation. This is called a brain dump and you should try it in the morning to help you have a more productive day.

What is a brain reset?

A brain dump is similar to a brainstorm, except you’re actually dumping the contents of your brain. In this case, you put them in a notebook, planner, or digital document. The good old Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines “brain dumping” as “the act or occasion of fully and uncritically expressing and recording one’s thoughts and ideas.” When you’re doing it for productivity, the “non-critical” part is important. Simply write down (or type) everything you need to do during the day. Don’t categorize or prioritize; you’ll get there.

So a “brain dump” could include anything from “finish a big project at work” to “take the dog to the groomer” to “buy ingredients for my kid’s birthday cake.” Don’t be afraid to write down everything you have in the next few days if these things are weighing on you today. I just did one and ended up with tasks from all areas of my life that need to be completed this week, but ideally today or tomorrow: finish the big story list (work), make additions to the joint spreadsheet (work). , send birthday party invitations (personal), check out a class I’m waitlisted for (school), do my eyelashes (personal), get my laundry ready for cleaning (personal), send my computer to the store (work) personal and school). There are many more, but you get the idea.

Your goal when you perform a brain reset should be to see the volume of tasks and feel the burden of remembering them being lifted from your brain. Even if you stopped here, with this tangle of responsibilities and tasks, you would write them all down and could stop thinking about them again and again. But you’re not done there.

Prioritize your brain dump

Now that you have all your tasks written down somewhere, it’s time to prioritize them. My favorite method for prioritizing is the Eisenhower Matrix , which forces you to determine which tasks are urgent and important; not urgent, but important; not important, but urgent; and not urgent and not important. You do this by drawing a matrix where the X-axis represents urgency (timeliness) and the Y-axis represents importance, and then writing each task into one of the quadrants created.

You can also try Kanban , which asks you to sort your work into “to do”, “to do” and “done” categories. If you’re using Kanban, use a dry erase pencil or create a large board and write down tasks on sticky notes so you can move them through the steps. Kanban is less useful for prioritizing than Eisenhower, but it helps you visualize where you are with all those tasks, which is useful in the same way as a brain dump: you need to see everything laid out so you don’t waste your day. I’m trying to remember what needs to be done and at what stage it is.

Recommended Products:

Try using these tools to improve your brain decompression process.

• The dot grid journal (two for $17.81) will give you a place to clear your mind without making you feel like you have to keep everything organized.

• The six-color marker set ($16.80) will give you extra oomph if you use them to categorize your tasks (e.g., “home,” “work,” “school,” “personal,” “family,” etc. .). this way you can see the scope of responsibilities within each area.

• The color-coded board ($17.99) helps you prioritize using the Eisenhower Matrix or using Kanban so you can stay on task after a reset.

Why Brain Dump Works

Brain Dumping helps you start your day by getting all your worries, responsibilities, and tasks out of your head and onto paper so you can see the scope of what needs to be done without wasting your precious time trying to remember exactly what needs to be done. is. It isrecommended all over social media and the blogosphere by people who rely on it to clear their minds. Instead of trying to remember everything you need to do or worrying about it, you move it into your dump. Honestly, after just trying it, I can say that it really does relieve stress right away. And when that stress is minimized, you can get to work on real tasks that will improve your productivity.

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