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Getting organized by getting things out of your head!
By Mildred Munjanganja | February 8, 2010
Have you ever wondered how cluttered your brain must be? How many ideas, thoughts, ‘things to do’ have you had floating in there for an indefinite period of time. Can you imagine how draining it must be to carry things in your head, things that really should have been handled at one point or the other – as long as you have incomplete and undecided things in your mind, your brain will have to continue working on them until they are completed. How many unfinished things do you honestly think your brain can handle before you start suffering from stress, fatigue, burn-out and other such symptoms?
Right this second, grab a piece of paper and right down everything….big or small, personal or work related, urgent or not, every single thing that you have ever thought you need to do. Do it in an excel spreadsheet or on a numbered piece of paper, your list will look something like this:
1. Take old clothes to Salvation Army
2. Clean out trunk
3. Take PowerPoint lessons
4. Lose 10lbs
5. Lower credit card interest
6. Look into marketing project
7. Get puppy
8. Submit living will
9. Call Aunt Eunice
10. Talk to Juan about that thing he does that annoys me
Can you imagine the amount of bandwidth you are able to clear from your head once everything is written down? Whenever you are trying to focus on a given task and your mind starts to wonder, have you ever evaluated where your mind wonders to? It likely focuses on things that are incomplete and need to be attended to. This then leads to worry and then stress. Once you have EVERYTHING written down, start tackling the list one at a time, and determine what action item needs to be done to get the task complete.
ShareTopics: Business - Office, Clutter Control, Mind, Body & Spirit |
April 18th, 2010 at 6:23 pm
Lists, lists, and more lists do indeed free up precious mind bandwidth. Great advice.
May 8th, 2010 at 6:04 am
Putting on motivational music helps me to focus. It’s always spiritual music for me…Sheila Walsh, Michael W. Smith, any list of artists that I have collected over the years. I always have to regroup,every day. It seems so profound to me. Others tell me it’s just me, that everyone goes through the same process.I need to get on with it, and stop this process. I’ll feel better then.
May 20th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
That’s a great idea for personal tasks. If you’re a family, there are also dozens of recurring household tasks that can clutter up the back of your mind, yet slip by the wayside. (Having the chimney swept or getting a termite inspection, for example.). “Do, Due, Done,” the printable chore list at http://www.Habitudes.info, not only serves as a reminder, it encourages sharing responsibility. It’s not YOUR task list, it’s the FAMILY task list.