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Stress comes to all of us sometimes. But it doesn’t have to take over out lives. Try these braindump methods to beat the overwhelm and get back to gettin’ it done!
Most of the products mentioned in this post were provided to me by Erin Condren. I will always give my honest opinion and would never promote any product that I didn’t love!
What’s weighing on your mind? Do you have so much to do that you think you could never even make a dent in it? Or maybe family or personal struggles have taken up your mental energy so you are struggling just to stay above water.
No matter the cause and source of our stress, or when we are just trying to be productive in different areas of our lives, it all can get crazy overwhelming at times.
So I want to share with you two of my best solutions for when you feel overwhelmed. They both work for different situations and are sure to help you not feel as stressed and be able to process and organize #allthethings you need to do so that you can be a productivity rockstar!
When you feel like you are losing grip on doing #allthethings
My biggest cause of feeling overwhelmed is having so many important things to do (plus the not important ones that get mixed in too), that I can’t even keep them all straight. I start forgetting things that should have already been completed (especially things I didn’t want to do in the first place). Or I start projects and get distracted and don’t go back to them for way longer than I’d like to admit.
Please tell me I’m not the only one that feels this way…
But I have found a perfect solution that helps SOOOO much! And I’ve found that when my anxiety starts acting up, this helps me to be able to calm down and feel more at peace too.
Okay, are you ready for this?
Take a piece of paper… and write down anything you think of.
Easy, right?
Now this can work two ways. If you are trying to remember everything you need to get done, then write down everything that you can think of that needs to get done.
I have a small Erin Condren Dot Grid Petite Journal that I use to keep an ongoing list of everything I want to do. From “shredding old papers” to “find a better car insurance rate” and “look up healthy pancakes recipes.”
All of it gets written down. I keep this notebook in my On-The-Go Folio so it is always with me, and anytime I think of something, it immediately goes in the notebook.
When something gets done or just moved to the appropriate day in my LifePlanner, then I cross it out.
I cannot even tell you how much this has saved me from going crazy!
Alright, and the second way to use this brain dump is one of the first things I do when my anxiety hits hard. I’m not lacking in things that I worry about. So when it gets out of control, I take a notepad (I love this one) and write down everything that is either making me worried (family who are struggling), or things that I feel like I should be doing better at (like eating healthier). Anything that is weighing on my mind.
I feel like this helps clear my mind. If it isn’t trapped in my head, it has less power over me and I’m able to either let it go or work through a solution or action plan.
Now I’ve also got a couple more ideas of braindump topics that are perfect to do on a notepad.
- Goals- Start writing down everything you want to accomplish. This can be like a bucket list of lifetime things you’d like to do, or shorter term things that you would like to improve on in your life. Once you have your list, you can break it down and on each page make a list of actionable steps that you need to take to make it happen. I also highly recommend writing down WHY you want to accomplish this goal. We will never accomplish anything great without having a solid reason why we want it so bad.
- Projects- Want to redo your bedroom? Or planning an EPIC baby shower for your sister? Write down every step, every purchase, and anything you’d need to research to make it happen. Once it is all down on paper you can transfer shopping lists and measurements into a notebook that you can carry with you, so when you find that perfect bookshelf, you will already have what you need to see if it will fit into your vision of your new space. I have a Petite Journal that I use for my project reference on the go too.
If you want to see me set up my Erin Condren On-The-Go Folio, check out this Youtube video. I also added a couple Petite Planners: the Budget Book and the Meal Planner. Between these 4 books I’ve got everything I will need to reference when I’m out shopping and running errands.
And just for easy reference, here are links to all of the products I used in the video:
- On-The -Go Folio (I chose the Lagoon color)
- Dot Grid Petite Journals (available in Lagoon and Charcoal)
- Dot Grid Notepad
- Petite Planner: Meal Planner
- Petite Planner: Budget Book
- Dot Grid Sticker Sheet Duo
- Gel Pens Bundle
- Paper Tape (my favorite are the metallic scallops)
- Adhesive Monthly Tabs
- Large Adhesive Pockets
- Pen Holder (I chose Charcoal, but there are other colors available including metallics)
When you are overwhelmed by all that you have to do, or worse, by all the things that you can’t do anything about… the best thing you can do it get it all down on paper. It doesn’t need to be perfect. Just give your brain a break and store all those thoughts somewhere else for awhile so your mind can have a rest.
Now I want to hear from you. What do you do to feel better when you are stressed out or overwhelmed?
