Some phases of life seem to be marked by too many things to do on your plate. When this is the case, keeping track of everything can become overwhelming, especially if there’s no system in place for remembering and tracking. I’m finding the Brain Dump Journal from Cultivate What Matters to be the ideal solutions to this problem.
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Why You Need A Brain Dump Journal
I really can’t imagine someone who lives with (or is responsible for) other people, who has responsibilities and obligations, and who has goals, who doesn’t have too many things to remember and do.
But often, we struggle with not only the remembering part, but the doing and tracking part of the process.
The first part of the problem – the remembering part – is because we’re making lists everywhere.
We may write some things down in our planner. Other times we grab a notebook or pad and begin jotting whatever thought has come to mind. And then there are the loose pieces of paper or sticky notes that we grabbed when we couldn’t even find where we’d started the actual To Do list.
As a result, we’ve got things written everywhere willy nilly, and when we need to find or remember something, we can’t even find where we wrote it down.
That simply adds to our frustration. And I seriously doubt I’m the only one who’s ever dealt with this problem.
The other part of the equation – the doing and tracking part – is also haphazard. We may remember and actually complete part of a project, but without any notes, we may leave out critical pieces, resulting in having to revisit the project later.
Talk about inefficient.
The Brain Dump Journal Solves All These Problems
Solving the problem really isn’t difficult, but it does require that we get a system in place to organize all of our thoughts, ideas, to do’s, and projects in one place.
I’m finding that the Brain Dump Journal from Cultivate What Matters is the perfect system to get thoughts from my head on to paper in a systemized way.
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Look Inside The Brain Dump Journal
First, I can’t stress enough the importance of having one place where all those ‘brain thoughts’ go. The brain dump journal is big enough that it’s not going to get buried under other pieces of paper. It also won’t blow away or lose its ‘sticky’ and drop off whatever you stuck it to (so that you’d be sure to see it again).
The brain dump journal gives you a sturdy, spiral book (that’s as pretty as it is functional) to record all of those thoughts that “I really need to…” and “I must remember to….” without having them scattered around your house of office (which simply creates frustration and chaos).
You’ve got places to just ‘dump’ everything out of your brain, then pages to organize and make sense of it all so that you can begin working your way through it.
Thoughts, ideas, and tasks in our head don’t turn into action without a clear plan in place.
Benefits Of A Brain Dump Journal
Once everything is out of your head, there’s a page to help you categorize all of the things you’ve just written down. It’s divided into quarters and can be used as category buckets, an Eisenhower matrix, or however you prefer to group things.
You can learn how to use the Eisenhower Matrix in this post.
There’s really no right or wrong way to organize – it’s simply a matter of what works for you.
Once things are organized and are no longer just a jumbled mess in your head, you can create a plan to work through them to get them finished.
Personally, I like to organize my tasks by category. That means that I’ll group all home related tasks together so that I can decide in what order they need to be done and do the same for the other main areas in my life.
You, of course, get to determine your categories if you choose to group things this way.
Other tasks and thoughts are also grouped together by category. One of the main reason I do this is so that I can batch tasks and do similar ones at the same time. For example, if I need to create pins for Pinterest, I’ll sit down and do several in the same sitting instead of doing each one at a different time.
Batching tasks is a more efficient way to get things done because you avoid the start-stop process by doing it just once. Every time we start something new, we have to get back in the groove, remember where we are in the process, or open programs or software, etc.
The Brain Dump Journal Is Versatile & Flexible
But if you like to do things according to a list, the brain dump journal has you covered there too. You’ll find list pages in the back of the journal so you can just list out the things you need/want to do and put a due date out to the side. Then once a task is done, simply put a checkmark in the box.
If you’ve never used a brain dump journal and are worried that you’ll just stare at the blank pages and freeze, there are instruction pages in the front that give ideas and suggestions on how to go about using the journal. You’re really not going to get lost.
I highly recommend that you check out the brain dump journal for yourself. It’s got enough pages to last you about one year so you can purchase once and know you’re good for the next twelve months.
You can read more about tools & strategies I use for productivity in the following posts:
- Planner Pad: My favorite personal planner
- 26 Time Management Strategies
- How To Be More Focused & Productive
More to help you be your best:
I’m a retired educator, mom of three adult children, cancer warrior, sandwich generation member, and lover of life!
I help older women create & live a life they love through radical self acceptance, unapologetic goal pursuit, and relishing the joys of home.
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