Is your brain feeling a bit cluttered, overwhelmed, or just plain squiggly?
Trust me, you’re not alone. In our fast-paced world, it’s easy to end up with a mind full of jumbled thoughts and unfinished ideas. I’ve been there many times myself.
That’s why I wanted to share five strategies to help you declutter your brain and organize your thoughts.
1. Stream-of-Consciousness Journaling
Grab a pen and notebook, and write down whatever comes to mind as fast as you can. Don’t worry about editing or making sense of it. This is stream-of-consciousness journaling, a technique I first encountered in high school and later in Julia Cameron’s book, The Artist’s Way. It’s about dumping all those cluttered thoughts onto paper to clear your mind. Once done, close the notebook and move on with your day.
2. Bullet Point Brain Dump
For a more organized approach, list your thoughts in bullet points. Write down each idea as concisely as possible, then sort and act on them later. This method helps you recognize the importance of each thought and allows you to deal with them systematically.
3. Index Card System
If you prefer a modular approach, try using index cards. Write each idea on a separate card. You can draw, sketch, or diagram to represent your thoughts. This flexibility lets you move and organize your ideas, making it easier to discard or prioritize them.
4. A Walking Journal
Sometimes moving your body helps to move your mind. Take a walk with a small notebook or use the notes app on your phone. As ideas come to you, jot them down. The physical activity will stimulate your brain, helping you gain clarity and momentum for your projects.
5. Large-Scale Mind Mapping
For a more visual approach, put up some large poster paper on the wall and create a mind map. As you jot down each idea, note how it connects to others. This method allows you to see your thoughts from different perspectives and explore their relationships. You can keep adding to the mind map over time.
Feel free to mix and match these techniques to find what works best for you. Maybe start your day with some stream-of-consciousness journaling, take a walk to gather more thoughts, and then map everything out on the wall.
I hope you find those strategies to be useful. To dive deeper into the skill of visual thinking, check out our library of courses.
Best of luck with your decluttering!
Cheers,
-Doug