Stress relief. God knows, we all need it.
You know that feeling you get when you have too many things running through your brain? To-do’s galore, little bits and pieces, projects that you’ve been meaning to do, but never even start to tackle?
That my friend, is overwhelm. Overwhelm which is never addressed, leads to a substantial amount of stress.
Very often however, when you get these intense feelings of ‘so much to do’, which in turn induce overwhelm, and of course result in stress, very often – this is all in the head.
No matter how hard you try, unless you have some kind of superpower, you can only deal with one thing at a time.
So before you drive yourself crazy by mentally trying to tick off the hundred and one things you’ve got running through that active brain of yours…all at one instant – STOP.
I’m about to let you in on something golden. Stress relief is about to take centre stage.
The brain dump
What is a brain dump?
A brain dump is literally what it is – dumping stuff off your brain.
The way it’s done is, you dump every single thing you have running through your brain onto paper.
What’s so great about the brain dump, and how does it help with stress relief?
Getting everything out of your head and onto a pad of paper can provide a tremendous amount of relief. You’ve probably written a to-do list before. Just like a to-do list, a brain dump exercise gives you the immediate satisfaction of feeling lighter, because you’ve got it off your chest, so to speak.
What’s the difference between a brain dump and a to-do list?
A brain dump is a deeper and more intense exercise than a to-do list. While a to-do list might give you a list of things to do, you never really analyse if you should be doing those things in the first place. You’re not intentional about your list. The way it goes is, you feel it needs to be done and onto the list it goes.
Personally, while I feel that a to-do list works for shorter spans of time (say, the things I need to do between dinnertime and bedtime), it is not the ideal for everything and anything that we feel we need to get done.
How to brain dump
- Start listing all of the things that are clouding your brain.
All of your to-do’s. As little, or big as they might be, as important or frivolous as they might seem. Use a separate sheet of paper for each brain dump ‘type’.
Let me give you some examples here.
Home – fix light switch, change parquet in kitchen, buy new cushions, repair intercom…
Kids – Buy summer shoes, change out wardrobes, take them shopping for summer clothes, buy books…
And so on. - Analyse your lists
Ask yourself these questions:
Is this important?
Do I want to do this?
Do I need to do this?
Do I need to break this down?
Once you get your answers, surprisingly so, you might actually cross some stuff from your list.
Think about options. Can I ask someone else to do this? Can I pay someone else to do this? Can I get help from a family member? If there’s a better option, list it.
If you’re dealing with a to-do which you feel needs to be broken down into small steps, list the first step next to the item in question. - Assign
Now that your lists are more condensed, and so much more actionable, it’s time to assign.
Pop out your calendar, and input all of the things you need to do into little slots throughout your days, weeks, months…you’re the judge of what needs to be done when.
You’re also the perfect person to be able to analyse what’s doable, and what’s not. So, if your brain dump is 30 pages long, and when it was all in your head you thought you had to do it all, and you had to do it all yourself, this will give you the clarity you were looking for.
I hope this stress relief exercise helps you in more ways than one!
Happy Friday mama!
Love,
Nakita xxx
PS: On Tuesday’s live I shall be going through a couple of tips on how to make your calendar work for you.
Join me on the Mama Manual Facebook page at 4:30pm Malta time (GMT +2), so I can teach you how to boost productivity by using your calendar effectively.
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