Just Write it Down

I don’t know about you but I’m reaching that age when I forget why I walked into a room, what I’m looking for and yesterday, I even took the scenic route home – by scenic, I mean long and totally unnecessary!

My brain is still in summer holiday mode.  Summer holiday mode is where I just answer continual questions from the kids. Having kids with a variety of labels means a variety of questions including:

So as you can see, my brain is, to put it bluntly, mashed!

I have spent the last week rushing around like an idiot trying to get everything ready for the back to school rush.  My excuse was I hadn’t put a list together because every time I get a notebook out, it disappears.  I have a stationery addict daughter!  Or if I am being totally honest, I hadn’t put a list together because that would mean looking at the list of things I have procrastinated on over the holidays!  If there is one thing I specialise in it is procrastination.

When the kids are in school or when I am feeling focussed, the one thing that really helps me is to write it down.  I have talked about my passion for the Bullet Journal method on here many times.  However, today I wanted to talk about how making the effort to write it down really helps me to focus and remember the things I need to remember.

Last Friday, I sat down and wrote a brain dump.   I love brain dumps.  I grab a notebook, draw a line down the centre of the page to create two columns and on one side write the things I need to do for my coaching and my blog.  On the other side, I write the things I need to do for my home life.

I start off with the things I have swirling around in the depths of my misty brain, Then I go through my previous ‘to do’ lists and add those not done (usually quite a few), Next I go through my emails and write down the ones I have flagged (I flag emails which I need to respond to when I check them on my phone).  I then look at any project lists and see if there is anything I have missed.  Finally, I add the phone calls I need to make, prescriptions I need to put in or collect and other similar items usually not on a list or an email.

I find that when I am thinking about the things I need to do, before I write it down, I feel anxious and find it hard to relax as I am always thinking about the thousand things I think I need to do.  So I don’t actually enjoy the time I spend not doing it because I am still thinking about it and worrying about the amount I think I have to do.

However, once I have written it down and I can see it, I usually find it’s not as bad as I thought.  It may be a huge list but I have a few methods I use to work through my to do lists and I will share them with you later this week.  They include choose three, eat the frog and time blocks amongst others.  Hopefully at least one of these will help you.  Having the list to work with means my brain is free of all those swirling thoughts and worries.  I know what needs doing, I know it’s all written down and I know that I have a place to start.   Now I am not claiming that this means I remember what I walked into a room for but it does happen less often when I have my list.

Go and write that brain dump and sign up so you don’t miss the next post this week on the techniques to improve your productivity.