Need To Sort Out Some Ideas?

Sometimes, life gets hectic.
My life is not hectic, by any means, but my brain gets hectic. And that's kind of the same thing.

All these things I want to be doing, all these projects I want to try, and all these tasks that need to get done at some point.
It creates a jumbled mess in my head.

Now, that's why we keep a planner, right? To schedule things and keep lists.
And sure, that works, but from time to time, that's just not enough.

And that's where this lovely concept comes in.

The "technical term" is brain dump. I watched a few videos on the subject (click here for a playlist on YouTube about it!), because the term intrigued me. I tried it a few times, and then realized that I've been doing this already in my life, actually.

All you need to get started is this:

1. A jumbled mess of a brain. Too much floating around. Be it the grocery list, or your newest project ideas.


2. Some paper. A cute notepad, a spiral notebook, lined paper in your planner, whatever suits you. You may end up keeping this list, or you may end up using it to reference and create new lists - so the choice is up to you.


3. A good pen. One that you like, because you will be doing a bit of writing!

And that's it. Seriously.

Sit. And write. Everything that is in your noggin.
List form, paragraph form, journal form, whatever.
Any task you need to do, any ideas you have, any thing you need to acquire for any of this. It's similar to a writing exercise that's called "Free Writing", other than this isn't "free" - it's mean to clear your head, not to create a page of writing.

I used this method when I planned for my Happiedori. I used this method when I figured out what I wanted in my blog planner. When I decided how I was going to use Kikki (more about her on Friday!). When I made my original notes for this blog. When I planned for Sunday Foodie Bits. When I need to re-figure my budget, and when I need to make a note of all the things I ought to be working on instead of spending hours on Instagram and Facebook.

And it helps. Oh does it help.

A "brain dump" allows you to put all your thoughts onto paper. Get them out of your head. And then you can go over them - see what makes sense, and what doesn't. See what is important and what isn't.
It's akin to writing your to-do list when you know you have 10 tasks but can only remember 9. You have those other 9 somewhere that you can now see them, so no need to waste brain power on them, and you just might be able to remember that 10th item.

Say you have a trip coming up, and you know you need to pack x, y, and z, but what else?
Do a brain dump.
Write out everything you think you need to take. Then read over it, and see what you're missing.

I'm assuming most of us do something similar to this in our lives on a regular basis.
And that's great. But there's more potential to it than you may think.

Not only do you have a list once you're done, you have a starting place, and possibly an ending place. You are now free to go about doing whatever it is without that brain-clutter.
I feel so much better after I get all my thoughts and ideas onto paper. Because after the initial "dump", you can go over everything. Reread it and have a reference point. And then, you can add or subtract, and start to move forward. But you also have a chance to see what's a little off in your plans, and what really stands out.

This is how I did my goal setting. I had my Moleskine out, and had all these ideas of what I wanted to do with this year, so I turned to a blank page and wrote as many of them down as I could.
Was it a pretty page? Far from it. Was it my final list? Of course not. But I had it started. I could look at it later. And I could now use more brain power to come up with the missing pieces, since the bulk of it was already written down somewhere.

Is this something you do? Something you might try? I suggest it to people as often as I can!

~Havok

P.S. Friday, I have an example of this that I'm excited to share with you. Literally, in the span of an hour and a half or so I went from "I have no idea what I'm doing because there's too much going on" to "ah, this feels much better and I know exactly what to do".