How One App Changed My Life: The Cure To Mental Overload
Summary
TLDRThe video discusses how the speaker struggled with overwhelm, stress, and lack of focus while pursuing both a corporate career and entrepreneurial goals. She shares how discovering 'brain dumping' - the simple act of writing down all your thoughts to clear your mind - transformed her ability to organize her life. She explains the science behind why brain dumping is so powerful for managing information overload and details different brain dump methods from casual to committed relationships. She provides practical steps for readers to implement their own brain dump system to reduce stress, maximize productivity, and gain mental clarity.
Takeaways
- 😱 Our brains get overwhelmed trying to juggle endless influxes of information and tasks
- 🧠 Writing thoughts down in a 'brain dump' helps declutter our minds and reduce stress
- 📝 Casual brain dumping provides short-term clarity. A system brings long-term benefits
- 🗒️ Capture spaces should have low barriers to recording thoughts. Use whatever's convenient
- 📋 Create a master to-do list to store all actionable tasks in one place
- 📚 Reference lists hold non-actionable ideas to revisit later (books, places, gift ideas etc)
- 🗃️ Databases in Notion let you organize reference lists by tags and other properties
- ⏰ Make brain dumping a daily habit through cues and rewards to reap the mental clarity benefits
- 😌 Offloading thoughts relieves mental overload so you can focus on the present moment
- 🙌 Implementing a system leads to feeling organized, stressed less and in control
Q & A
What was the main issue the speaker faced while pursuing a corporate career and building her own business?
-The main issue was that her brain would not turn off - she lived in constant chaos, overwhelmed by the constant influx of information and tasks. She was so stressed that she would forget tasks or assignments, and felt like she had too many things to juggle that she couldn't keep up with.
How did the book 'Getting Things Done' by David Allen help the speaker?
-The book showed the speaker that the overwhelm, mental fatigue, stress and anxiety she felt was normal, but it didn't have to be that way. It taught her that all she needed was a way to organize her thoughts and prioritize what mattered most.
What are the two main benefits of brain dumping?
-The two main benefits are: 1) It's the simplest productivity booster, helping to maximize focus, increase brain power, eliminate distractions, prevent forgetting important things, and save time searching for information. 2) It reduces subconscious stress by allowing you to plan tasks so you know they'll get done rather than constantly worrying about them.
What are some key things to keep in mind when doing a casual brain dump?
-Key things to remember are: 1) Writing things down does not mean you have to take action on them right away 2) Allow yourself to write down anything without judgement 3) You do not have to look at the list again or take action on it if you don't want to - the key purpose is to unload your thoughts and regain focus.
What are the four steps outlined to create a brain dumping system?
-The four steps are: 1) Decide on your capture space (where you'll put your brain dumps) 2) Create a place to store your tasks/to-do list 3) Create pages to store non-actionable references 4) Make brain dumping and organizing a habit by doing it frequently.
What reference list ideas were provided in the transcript?
-Some ideas given for reference lists were: to buy list, to cook list, to read list, to watch list, waiting on list, present ideas list, places to visit list, someday maybe list for future ideas, and more.
What strategies were suggested to turn brain dumping into a habit?
-Strategies included: Setting hourly alarms as reminders initially, doing it during a weekly reset day, tying it to an existing habit like commuting, making it enjoyable by putting on music, doing it with friends, setting up a weekly 'date' with yourself for organizing.
What results did the speaker achieve from implementing a brain dump system?
-The speaker no longer felt constant overwhelmed or that she was barely keeping her head above water. She eliminated the background noise and subconscious stress. Her life finally felt organized and she gained mental clarity.
What tools can be used for capturing brain dumps?
-The transcript mentioned using a notebook and pen, phone notes app, Notion, text message threads to yourself as options for capturing dumps. The key is choosing something with almost no barrier to recording your thoughts.
What is the purpose of capturing non-actionable references in brain dumps?
-Capturing non-actionable ideas, recommendations, etc. saves mental energy because you have somewhere to store inspiration. It also saves time searching for information or ideas again in the future since you have a reference list to check.
Outlines
🤯 How taking notes in my phone cured my overwhelmed brain
The author struggled with overwhelming thoughts and stress trying to balance personal goals and her work life. She came across the productivity book 'Getting Things Done' which introduces 'mind sweeping' to capture thoughts and externalize mental noise. This brain dumping brings clarity, focus, and control by organizing thoughts before they overwhelm you.
😅 The science and benefits of brain dumping
Brain dumping offloads thoughts onto a device, freeing up mental capacity. With today's information overload, dumping thoughts reduces distraction and stress. It eliminates constant background anxiety, boosts focus, prevents forgetting important things, and maximizes productivity.
📝 How to start brain dumping for beginners
Casual brain dumping writes thoughts down without pressure to act on them. It clears the mind short-term. For a long-term solution, committed brain dumping uses systems to capture, organize and reference thoughts and tasks. The key is easy access, single task list, and habit.
😊 Try brain dumping yourself this week!
Decide whether to start casual or committed brain dumping. Casually dump thoughts for 5-10 minutes. If committed, choose a capture space, task list, and reference lists. Implement 2-3 strategies to turn dumping and organizing into a habit. Appreciate your support!
Mindmap
Keywords
💡brain dumping
💡information overload
💡productivity
💡overwhelm
💡focus
💡stress
💡mental clarity
💡habit
💡knowledge workers
💡attention economy
Highlights
I had no idea what I wanted so I decided to pursue both business and corporate career options
I lived in constant chaos, overwhelmed by information and tasks, constantly forgetting things
The book Getting Things Done showed me my overwhelm was normal but didn't have to be
Brain dumping takes thoughts out of your head to reduce stress and help focus
Planning reduces subconscious stress by regaining control and knowing things will get done
Brain dumping boosts productivity, focus, memory and reduces distractions
Casual brain dumping provides a quick, convenient way to calm your mind
Committed brain dumping creates an ongoing system to capture thoughts and tasks
Choose a brain dump tool with little resistance to access for easy capturing
Create a master to-do list to consolidate tasks from calendar, notes, etc
Reference lists hold non-actionable ideas, recommendations, waiting items, etc
Make brain dumping a daily habit to reap the rewards of organization and clarity
This system reduced my overwhelmed feeling and background stress
It's an essential skill for managing information overload in modern life
Implement strategies to make brain dumping an ongoing habit
Transcripts
18 months ago I created one page on one
app that every single one of you
probably have on your phone right now
the notes up and my life has never been
the same I know what you're thinking
yeah okay the notes up changed your life
I'm sure it did but it genuinely did
here's how in 2022 I decided it was time
to get serious about my future the issue
was I had no idea what I wanted I was
caught between two completely different
Visions one of building my own business
bus and one of building a successful
career in the corporate world so I
decided to pursue both to keep both
options open I went to the networking
events I made sure to keep up my grades
at Uni and I started my first corporate
job at the same time I started posting
on social media reading a bunch of
different business books and trying a
whole heap of different side hustles it
was going great I was doing both exactly
like I wanted but I had one issue my
brain would not turn off even when I was
in bed exhausted I I lived in constant
chaos so overwhelmed by the constant
influx of information and tasks that I
could never keep up with I was so
stressed that I would forget about a
work task or a uni assignment I was
constantly replaying conversations to
make sure I wouldn't forget anything it
felt like I had so many balls up in the
air that I was trying to juggle and I
just could not keep up with them all so
it became a repeated pattern my alarm
would jump me awake at 6:00 a.m. my
brain immediately bombarded me with
everything I had to do that day and
everything I hadn't done the day before
I'd try to meditate and just give up
when even that wouldn't calm my mind and
instead I'd sit down at my desk to dive
into the first task that came to mind
realizing an hour later that I'd
completely forgotten about the work
report that was due later that day as I
said complete chaos when I wasn't
working I was consumed by thoughts about
how I should be working and when I was
working I couldn't focus enough to
actually get anything done this went on
for months I felt so stuck I was working
so hard I wanted to be successful so so
badly I wanted to prove Society wrong to
show the world to show myself that I
could balance my personal goals and my
work life but my brain was constantly on
overdrive and I just knew that I could
not keep living in this state now during
this time I came across the book getting
things done by David Allen turns out
it's a productivity cult classic and
listening to this book is what finally
showed me the overwhelm the mental
fatigue the Stress and Anxiety it was
all normal but it didn't have to be all
I needed to boost my mental Clarity and
productivity and actually be able to
prioritize What mattered most was a way
to organize my thoughts and organizing
my thoughts started with what Alan
called a mind sweep what most people
know as a brain dump the best way that I
can describe a brain dump is taking
everything in your head all the thoughts
ideas tasks recommendations and
transferring it outside your head a
simple way to externalize all the noise
you're telling me that writing your
thoughts down on your phone cured your
stress brain fog and overload okay if
you're doubtful I get it I was too but
here's the science behind why brain
dumping carries so much power especially
for knowledge workers and especially
with today's distraction epidemic every
day we consume 74 GB of information this
is the same amount that an extremely
intelligent person consumed in an entire
lifetime 500 years ago combine this with
our 70,000 daily thoughts and the
buildup of all of these over the past
days weeks months even years and it's
easy to see why we feel like we're
constantly overloaded now information is
100% necessary to create good work and
live a meaningful life but not at the
rate that we are currently experiencing
it this is what happens when we are
exposed to information consuming more
information is initially related to
better decisions and better performance
this is until we reach a Tipping Point
the point of information overload which
yes is actually a thing at this point
the amount of information we consume
exceeds the amount that our brain can
handle instead we go into a state of
distraction stress and as the name
suggests mental overload our head is too
full to take anything else in and when
we try and do other tasks all we can
hear is the background hum of stress and
the little hits of anxiety it gives us
the feeling that there's something
constantly pushing down on us but we
can't quite work out what so the point
of brain dumping isn't really to action
everything in your head it's to work out
what's in your head get that out and
plan to action it to know that you will
action it because planning is what
reduces the subconscious stress you go
from knowing that you have a million
things to do but not knowing what they
are or when they will get done to
gaining back a sense of control because
you know what you have to do you've
planned to get it done and you know that
it's going to be completed the second
reason brain dumping is so powerful is
because it's the simplest productivity
booster if I told you there was one
thing you could do to get better sleep
maximize your focus increase your brain
power eliminate half your distractions
never forget anything important and save
you hours of time searching for those
recommendations or that present that
your dad said that he wanted 2 months
ago that you just can't remember how
much would you give for that well brain
dumping gives you all of it for free it
takes back the small mental pieces
allocated to remembering an idea or task
and offloads them to a device that can
remember it without a second thought
it's like taking a computer up with 100
apps and 100 tabs open and shutting
everything down except the ones that you
need right now the more mental pieces we
take back or the more tabs that we shut
down the faster our mind runs the more
organized our mind feels and the better
our productivity Our Lives become I
spent hours of my life searching for the
best productivity tools hacks and tips
turns out there was a solution right in
front of my eyes that worked 10 times
better than any of these so let's get
into how you can actually start brain
dumping
there's two ways that you can use brain
dumping the first is what I call a
casual relationship I can't speak from
experience but casual relationships
typically have very little commitment
you use them when you need they relieve
some stress and anxiety and there's no
real system or structure to them the
same thing applies with casual brain
dumping they are perfect for when you
need a quick convenient way to calm your
mind to get everything out of your head
so you can focus on what's right in
front of you this is how my relationship
sh with brain dumping started it's
extremely simple grab a notebook and pen
or your notes app then set a timer for 5
to 10 minutes third remind yourself that
writing things down does not mean you
have to action them right now fourth
allow yourself to write down anything
and everything on your mind without
judgment once you've got it all down put
your list aside take a quick 2-minute
reset and then start your work you can
then come back to your list later to
action it if you want to now the third
step to this reminds in yourself that
you don't have to action it right now is
extremely important missing this is what
gets in the way of brain dumping for so
many people when I first started brain
dumping I had so much resistance to it
it almost made me feel more stressed
because in my mind writing something
down meant acknowledging it and
acknowledging it meant that I had to
action it it was easier to operate on a
basis of ignore it until I can't ignore
it anymore than to face the reality of
everything I had to do if you have the
same train of thought this is your
permission slip you do not have to
action anything that you write down you
do not have to look at that list again
you can throw it out if you really want
to your casual relationship can just be
a one night stand is this the ideal
option not really but it's a really good
starting point it's one step up from not
brain dumping at all or Worse letting
your brain dump stress you out this
casual brain dumping will leave you with
better focus and Clarity less stress and
mental noise and an easy way to get a
bigger perspective of all your thoughts
and feelings so if you want a convenient
low commitment stress outlet that
temporarily clears your mind then a
casual relationship is for you
personally I continued in my casual
relationship for a couple of months but
I soon found an issue this relationship
was a short-term fix not a long-term
solution to my overwhelmed mind yes my
work sessions became more focused but I
was still waking up in the morning with
that massive weight immediately pressing
on my chest of everything that was in my
mind I still felt like I was tossing and
turning thinking all night instead of
actually sleeping so I decided that it
was time to turn my brain dumping into a
committed relationship it takes
traditional brain dumps and turns them
into a system that leaves you with a
place to capture all of your thoughts
ideas recommendations and tasks it gives
you a list of tasks that you have to
action either now or in the future and a
place to reference everything that you
can't action so things like book
recommendations present ideas creative
IDE ideas or articles we're no longer
making a list that keeps getting longer
and longer and more overwhelming instead
we're creating a bigger system that's
given inputs our brain dumps and leaves
them organized and actioned this is how
I have permanently reduced my
information overloads The Continuous
presence of background Stress and
Anxiety and the feeling like everything
in my life is in a million different
places and I can never be present in the
moment I honestly cannot live without
this system now and so I want to share
with you how you can create your own
from scratch step one is to decide on
your capture space whatever tool you use
to house your brain dumps it must have
almost no resistance to access it has to
be easy the first brain dump page I
created was in notion it made sense I
organized my life there so I may as well
put my brain dumps straight into that
system but as much as I loved notion my
brain dumps just did not work in there
so I switched to the notes app notion
required internet the notes app didn't
notion took 5 to 10 seconds seconds to
load and the notes app took two notion
had no easy search function but the
notes app did this is how the notes app
changed my life and with Apple's device
syc I can move this across to my laptop
automatically as well so think about the
easiest place to capture your ideas it
could be the notes app it could be
notion it could be sending a text
message thread to yourself or if you're
really old school it could just be a
pocket notebook choose one and stick
with it the place isn't important as
long as you use it step two is to create
a place to keep your tasks you likely
have a method of keeping track of your
tasks right now whether that's a
physical to-do list or your calendar or
an online system but if you're anything
like 2022 me you're probably operating
this by keeping everything in your head
and then pulling the task from your head
as you plan each day what we want to do
is to create one master to-do list that
houses all of these tasks for us a list
that again you can pull from when you
plan your day but that's no longer
sitting in your head
this could be as simple as creating a
separate page in your notes app that you
just move all of these tasks into I
personally use a Master to-do list on
notion because I love the categorization
that it gives me this to-do list means
that you can put all of your tasks in
one place and have a single source for
everything that you have to do at any
one point in your life it means that you
can categorize and sort your tasks based
on due date context priority and more
and it also lets you include files and
other notes under each test to keep it
all in one place if you want to use
notion then I've created a free course
that you can use to get started I'll put
the link in the description below step
three is to create a place to keep your
references so we have a place for all of
our actionable tasks but what about the
things that you can't action ideas
things to buy places to visit
recommendations things you're waiting on
others for this is where the reference
list comes in again if you're using
notes simply create a separate notes
page for each reference reference list
if you're using notion create a separate
notion page for each reference list you
can keep this extremely simple by just
writing everything down in dot points
under each page or you could go a step
further by putting everything into a
database under each list and I'm going
to show you just how far you can take
this but don't feel like you need to do
this especially first off so I keep book
recommendations in my to read reference
page under a database I can categorize
the book based on type genre status and
rating I've also set up a template
within each database so that I can write
notes on the books as I read them doing
this gives me one place to reference
whenever I want to know anything about
books that I've already read or books
that I want to read in the future what I
would suggest for most people is just to
start simple create a page for each
reference use dot points and when you
have spare time and if you want to then
you can play around with some more
complex options here's some inspiration
you can use to get you started these are
things that I've done for myself and for
some of my clients to buy to cook to
read to watch waiting on present ideas
places to visit to drink and someday
maybe lists for things you might like to
do in the future this saves you not only
mental energy but also an incredible
amount of time going and searching for
information and inspiration step four
and the most important step is to turn
brain dumping and organizing into a
habit this is what really brings the
system to life now if you think about a
committed relationship then you are
talking to your partner every day
probably multiple times a day you'll see
them at least once a week and most of
the time you enjoy talking to them this
is what we want to emulate with our
brain dumping we want it to be an
everpresent partner in our life so
create the habit of writing things in
your brain dump list every time you get
the opportunity you could even set an
hourly alarm for the first few days to
help you get into the Habit then create
the habit of organizing and sorting your
list most of the time I'll do this twice
a week normally once on my Sunday reset
and the other one will be during the
week maybe on the train on the way home
from work like any good habit it's not
necessarily going to be easy at first
you'll probably forget you'll feel
resistance it might feel annoying but
once you start reaping the rewards the
mental Clarity the stress reduction the
sense that your life is finally
organized you will not want to stop so
start by making it something that you
look forward to put on some music whilst
you do it connect with friends and do it
together even do a weekly coffee date
with yourself and make that your time
for organizing everything like any habit
the key to consistency is making it
something you enjoy I genuinely can not
explain how much this has changed my
life I no longer feel constant
overwhelmed I no longer feel like I'm
barely keeping my head above water I no
longer have the constant hum of
background noise and subconscious stress
this isn't something that we were taught
in school but in our society it is
honestly an essential skill so I hope
this gave you the master class that
school never did and if you are ready to
put it into action then here are your
action steps first decide whether to
enter a casual relationship to try it
out first or whether you're ready to go
straight into a committed relationship
second if you chose casual then do a few
brain dumps throughout this week using
the six steps that we went through in
the Casual brain dumping section and
third if you chose commit Ed decide on
one capture space set it up and make it
as easy as possible to use then create a
place to keep your task remember you can
take the free notion course if you want
to get started with notion otherwise
feel free to use your notes app or just
a basic version of whatever you're using
right now make sure you also have a
place to keep your reference list you
could do this as one big list or lots of
separate ones and finally Implement two
to three strategies that will help you
to turn brain dumping and organ
organizing into an ongoing habit if you
got this far thank you I appreciate your
support endlessly please like this video
And subscribe if you found it helpful
and comment any future videos that you
would love to see
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