Our mind has a zillion of things to think. I am surprised why it doesn’t blow up!!! Our brain needs to declutter when you are feeling stressed, anxious or lost focus in your daily life. The brain dump exercise is one of the simplest and effective exercises to get things done. You may think it needs so much effort, no not as much as you presume.
What does a brain dump mean?
By definition brain dump exercise is a simple way to uncover all your emotions and thoughts at one place and finding out the meaningful outcomes to achieve your goals. In simple words, you are putting all the unmanaged goals and thoughts into a piece of paper.
All of us want to do our best in a limited time. It happens only when we are more focused and organized thoughts. To improve your mental health in such a highly competitive world, you need to do it at least once in 3 months.
To become a productive person, you have to note down what bothers you most and prioritize your daily tasks. SMART goals are only applicable when you know the purpose of your life. How do I know what to do first?
The answer is a brain dump exercise. Gather all your thoughts, no matter how silly you find in the first place. The major reason to do brain dump exercise is to be clear and organize your thoughts.
Why should I have to do brain dump exercise?
I am guilty of being an emotionally fragile person. A person who never has a single thought in a minute. Even though I am sitting on my couch, my thoughts are wandering far away. Thai’s why thoughts are the most intriguing thing in this world.
It’s like the same situation, you opened up 10-20 tabs on your computer screen and you don’t realize what to do. It’s an overwhelmed mind and before it, burnouts, try to do brain dumping.
When you do brain dump monthly, you are cutting all errands of life both personal and professional. You have a clear vision, where to put more effort. You now become a more productive person which increases happiness in life too.
How to do a brain dump?
David Allen is the first person who prioritized to do “brain dump” to gain productivity in his book “Getting Things Done”(2000). So the concept is still not so popular like making a to-do list but it’s quite effective when you are unfocused and totally confuse the way your life is.
Brain dumping can be done via pen and paper or you can buy a bullet journal, blank diary or worksheets like below to clear your head.
The main question people are asking about this process is what do you write in a brain dump. You just have to write whatever comes into your mind and make categories and then prioritize your thoughts.
Never stuck for the perfect process or plan to do brain dumping. You don’t have a plan and that’s why you need to do brain dump exercise to find realistic goals and increase productivity.
Steps by Step Process of Brain Dumping
Step-1: Write, Write and Write
I may sound stupid to you but you have to put all garbage in the trash. Yes, if you want to do all shit things done, write down all thoughts.
No matter if you are writing I don’t like my hair or I don’t like my boss. It’s not compulsory to write only positive things, write negative thoughts too so you can work on the areas which need more concern.
Step-2: Give a Break
When you start brain dumping it’s possible you just forget about the time. It’s about our thoughts!!!
So give maximum 30-45 minutes to let yourself release all your desires and goals on paper. After that take a minimum 15 min break so your brain can cool down.
It’s important to take a break because writing nonstop will overwhelm you. When you see a long list of tasks, you will give up easily. The second important reason for taking a break for every 30 min period is you will get some fresh and quality ideas to write down.
Step-3: Label Everything
As you now have a piece of paper, the time is to label or categories them. You can use different colors of pens to define them into personal, financial, relationship and career. You can use the boxes of the second page of our worksheet and label them personally.
You can also brain dump on one topic too, like Relationship. Categorized them as friends, family, spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend, and self. So the worksheet can be personalized the way you want to use brain dumping to handle chaos in your life.
You can take as many copies of this second page and label each bunch of your thoughts. Go grab a coffee as this is a hard part of the brain dump process.
Step-4 Set Priority and Action Plan
Now as you have created a bunch of different areas of your life, now set priorities for them. Remember, the first example is: “I don’t like my hair”, this can be included in the personal category. So set the priority first.
Is this an important or not so important thing? If yes add that into accordingly. Look out on page 3 of the worksheet and take a step no 4 for each category. As you know you can print as many pages as you want but you can’t sell or share this digital product without my permission.
Now, it’s your turn to set a timeline and action plan. What can I do to make my hair good? Have a new haircut, go to a hair salon or fix an appointment to discuss the issue. As you set action plans, now you have the possible tasks to do next month. How much time is needed to do this task?
This is the simplest example, I can tell you. You can turn this worksheet for your complicated office projects too.
Simple Brain Dump Exercise and Worksheet
This worksheet is gold for people like you and me who are struggling hard to organize life. I do this brain dump exercise monthly regarding my blog. I think about every possible new thing and uncompleted tasks of my blog. By writing down everything, I feel less stressed about my goals.
It’s all about you, which way you like more, pen & paper or digital sheet. Yes, this worksheet is an editable PDF file so you can edit it on your laptop or phone and fill up wherever and whenever you are.
Brain dump works!!!
It’s not a highly complex method that will make you a more effective and productive person. Every person who wants to audit his life. You can do brain dumping to organize and declutter thoughts of the mind.
To detox, your brain from your procrastination and lazy working method try this brain dump exercise and worksheet.
Be a less stressed, happy and more meaningful life by brain dump.
I just love this trick to handle my emotions and thoughts. Do you want to give it a try?
Tell me about your experience of how you arrange your thoughts. You can also write back to me what’s holding you back to try brain dumping.
