My most trusted tool for dealing with overwhelm?
A piece of paper.
Whenever my mind gets cluttered, I grab a pen and write everything down.
What’s swirling in my head. What’s worrying me. What’s unfinished. What’s uncertain.
It’s cathartic, like opening a window in a stuffy room.
Suddenly, I can breathe again. My mood lightens.
The same thoughts that felt heavy in my head seem much less intimidating on the page.
Like a graveyard in daylight, still there, but not so scary anymore.
I first learned this practice from David Allen and his wildly and globally popular GTD (Getting Things Done) method.
Once you’ve dumped it all on paper, don’t stop there.
Go item by item and give each thing a home:
– Trash it
– Calendar it
– Or do it (if it takes < 2 minutes and matters)
This simple process does a lot more than organize your day.
It clears cognitive bandwidth - your brain’s limited processing power for solving problems, making decisions, learning, and self-control for better food choices.
“When cognitive bandwidth is depleted, it becomes harder to manage tasks, solve problems, and even make good choices.”
No wonder we spiral down when we try to hold it all in.
Want better sleep?
Write things down before bed.
Want to reduce anxiety and worry, emotional baggage?
Capture open loops of thoughts and unfinished tasks in an external system you can rely on.
Want to make better decisions?
Free up mental space first - otherwise it's like running a slow computer with 30+ tabs open. Same exact thing happens to your brain.
This doesn't have to be just a personal ritual, it works in teams, families, leadership groups.
Instead of just talking about what needs to be done, create a collective ritual:
- Make space.
- Hold time.
- Set purpose.
And do the mental unloading together - mental dump time.
Your brain is not a storage device. It’s a decision-making machine. Free it up to do what it does best.
As David Allen likes to say, "Your head is a crappy office" - a brillian observation that science backs up.
PS Do you have a daily practice to declutter your mind? Or are you still trying to store your life in your head, and wondering why it feels heavy?
