Empty your brain.

1 min 38 secs

Sep 02, 2024

I love old mythological books, they’re like passports to fascinating worlds.

Immersing myself in them was easy, but one night I found I couldn’t anymore.

I stared blankly at the page, reading the same line over and over again…

When I managed to focus, my mind would quickly wander, and five minutes later, I’d realize I couldn’t remember anything I had read.

Why was this happening?

My 15GB of free mental storage were full of random thoughts, leaving no room for reading.

And sadly, there wasn’t a premium plan for more space.

If you're actively creative, your brain quickly fills up with ideas, leaving no room for new more interesting ones.

As David Allen says, "The mind is for having ideas, not holding them."

I tried every app and system out there—Notion databases, automated spreadsheets, journaling apps—to unload my ideas. Instead, it made things worse, adding more noise and clutter to my mind.

The brain hates blank spaces. If you can’t visualize the whole process from start to finish, those gaps become big question marks living rent-free in your mind.

It’s like reading an email. If you know how long it is, you’re more likely to read it carefully. Without that clarity, you rush through it faster than an Olympic sprinter.

The same goes for organizing your life. If your brain can’t see the big picture, all those folders and databases just add to the anxiety, making you worry about what you might be missing.

Using digital tools to organize my thoughts felt like trying to make a perfect drawing without a rough sketch. So, I ditched the complicated systems for something simpler.

The brain dump.

No structure, just a stream of consciousness. It’s therapeutic—a way to project thoughts without wrestling with the perfectionism monster.

I scribble everything down on large sheets of paper away from screens. Once I’m done I organize the few important points on a simple to-do list.

The best part? Tearing up the paper at the end—it's like holding onto anxiety and then letting it go. Gosh… It feels so freeing!

I use brain dumps in the morning to clear my mind and focus on deep work, and at night to relax and prepare for sleep.

Try them out—they’ll help you unlock more creative brain power when you need it the most!