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Posted On Nov 18, 2015

Updated On Jun 25, 2025

Declutter Your Cluttered Brain

Wellness Wisdom

Originally contributed by Gwen Pettit, PT, PCC, MA, MS

Information comes at us constantly and it can become too much. Do you ever feel like your brain is just too full?  It happens to me when I find myself juggling many tasks at the same time. I can be left feeling overwhelmed - incapable of deciding how to prioritize the to-do list or where to begin. I get to feeling stuck.

If your brain was so great at storing information, you would always remember things when you needed to (and not an hour or a day later). Have you ever come home from running errands only to remember the one item you forgot to pick up? I certainly have. Your brain is not a good storage unit and, when you are in the middle of doing other things, a great idea could come to mind one moment only to be lost in the next. Your brain is much better at problem solving and generating ideas than it is at storing your thoughts.

The next time your head starts feeling full, and to prevent your brain from clutter, consider this idea. Move that information out of your brain and onto a list of "next steps" - do something with it. You can call this a mind dump, a brain clearing activity, or just a way to get clarity on all of the things you think you need to do. Take a timeout and jot down every single thing or task that is on your mind. Write out any idea, thought, or action that comes to mind without trying to sort them or go into details. My best practice is to write each thing down on a separate piece of paper. This allows me to easily sort them into categories.

I sort the items on my list into categories that make sense to me. All time-related or time-sensitive items with deadlines go on my schedule (with reminders set). I also have a "great idea" folder - for things that are interesting but that I don’t have time to dive into right now. I have a "someday / maybe" pile for things that would be nice to do, but are not really important right now or a priority. Once these get assigned to their appropriate pile, I don’t have to keep thinking about them anymore. 

The biggest value that I get from this exercise is that I can then create a project for each item. If something that I need to get done requires more than one action step, it is considered a project. Each project gets its own page or note on my computer and I move them along as I check off specific action steps (for each) - one step at a time. It is much easier for me to manage my tasks (as projects) in this fashion. This method also makes me better at saying no to new things - this, alone, saves me from getting overwhelmed!

I give credit to the mind dump idea and many of my organizational systems to David Allen, author of Getting Things Done Fast. The bottom line is that you need to find or create a system that helps to prevent your brain from becoming cluttered. Once you establish it, put it to use on a regular basis. I do a mind clearing exercise at least once a week to keep me on track.