Brain Dump — Clearing the Way for 2018
Your head is swirling with loose ends for the closing year and ideas galore for 2018. You can only handle so many little yellow squares of papers, most of which you (I) end up misplacing.
Enter the Brain Dump — a 30-minute time to clean out everything upstairs and prepare for the year ahead. I do this several times a year, mostly when it seems like I can’t keep everything straight…like now, when I’m at the end of a long period of convalescence for hubby from medical issues that dominated every waking moment. I know it’s time for a Dump.
Step 1: large blank sheet of paper — notebook/computer/newsprint — the key is large enough so you don’t feel like you have to stop because there’s no more room. I use an old-fashioned composition book. Yes, you can do this on a Google Doc, but it’s very satisfying to write it all down — even more so to manually cross it off your list.
Step 2: Get a pencil, pen, or marker and start writing everything you can think of that you need to do. Just write — don’t try to organize. Loose ends from the holidays, left-overs of goals you almost completed, money matters, ideas for the coming year, thank you’s, WHATEVER…..the important thing is to clean out your brain so you don’t have to worry about remembering specific little items every day.
For me Step 2 means: website issues, ordering photos for the next 6 months, artist guild duties, sales goals for the next year, revisiting loose ends from the past year, connecting with friends, new projects to try, update marketing plans, blogging, finishing book 1, continuing on book 2, researching for book 2, new outlets for passive income, scheduling time for friends, Coursera work, classes on Craftsy, my art time, an idea for an art quilt a month, scheduling work for the nine art shows we have planned, working on a proposal for an art show on the Sixth Extinction, summer travels…you get the idea, and I can still continue.
Step 3: Review your master list. What are some key headings that pop up? Using separate sheets of paper, title each one with a key heading, (ex. Art Shows) and transfer items to those specific lists — like each show, when and where, hanging specifications — then you can cross them off when completed— such a great feeling!
For me Step 3 means: Book Plans 1 and 2, medical left-overs, art guild duties, show planning, studio time, marketing, new workshops to teach, summer trips…you get the idea. At this point, your brain might be spewing out other things you haven’t thought of — add them to your original master list.
Step 4: Enjoy the cleansing. Every thing you wrote down is now in a place where you can see it and not worry about remembering. In fact, you might be fired up to add a ream of new items to your lists. Not a problem
Take another clean sheet of paper (this is where I go to my old-fashioned composition book for the new year and start my work here). Under one of the headings, take items from your master list that fit this category and then list them.
Step 5: Once you’ve gleaned everything from your master list, CROSS THEM OFF and feel incredibly satisfied. You no longer need to worry about them rolling around loose in your brain.
Step 6: Take a break before you return to organizing. You will prioritize next — look at each of your categories, flesh out some of the activities, and star those that are critical in the coming weeks.
Step 7: Using a notebook, online calendar, Google Doc — whatever — list the weeks over 52 pages. My notebook is an old composition book. First page is my general goals for the year. Second page is a list of my January goals. Then there is a complete page for each of the weeks in January. For each I list what I know is already scheduled, add in a few basics (meditation, yoga), and then start with each of my categories. Ask yourself what are the critical items you’ve already starred in each category and spread them out over the first weeks. Cross them off when you’re done during the course of the month.
Step 8: Continue through the year. Nothing prevents you from adding new deadlines for projects — that’s a good use of the back of each month’s goal pages. There are a lot of organizing systems out there that you can invest in. This one costs nothing additional but your time, and your brain will thank you for the vacation and think about a latte with the money you just saved.
