The other morning, when my husband asked me what I wanted to accomplish during the day, I had no idea how to answer him.
It wasn’t for a lack of things to do, of course. There’s always SOMETHING.
I couldn’t answer him because my mind was mush. And it wasn’t mush for any particular reason—maybe just a lot of reasonS (plural)…
BREAK! Take six seconds to watch this 👇. It’s important.
(That movie is so good.)
And we’re back!
Anyway, I had so many thoughts swirling around in my head that I didn’t even know where to begin. I knew that I needed to clear away the brain fog, so I decided to do something that I hadn’t done in awhile—a mind dump.
In the past, it has always helped me get in the right headspace for the day. I figured I would share this technique, in case anyone else needed a brain reset.
But first—or even simultaneously… coffee. 🙂
1. mind dump
Do a “mind dump” or “brain dump” or whatever fun name you want to call it!
It’s so easy, quick, and, most importantly, effective. Here’s how it works:
- Grab some paper and a pen.
- Without really thinking about it, start writing down everything that comes to mind.
- You can put your thoughts down in list form, as a stream of consciousness, or any other way that makes sense to you.
- Feel free to use abbreviations to conserve space.
- (Optional) Cross off each individual thought or task as you handle it. Sometimes this makes people feel productive; the physical act of crossing items off of a list can even make you feel like you accomplished something.
It’s amazing how focused you become after a mind dump. Which then sets you up for that much more of a productive day. It’s like magic!
After your head is back on straight, it’s time to show up.
2. show up
What’s cool about this activity is that it gives you the space to decide what “showing up” means to you. And how it might look different for each of your priorities.
For this task, I decided to create a handy dandy worksheet to make this activity prettier than just chicken scratch in my journal. 😂 You can snag it for free at the bottom of this page.
When filling out your worksheet, it is CRUCIAL to ALWAYS PUT YOURSELF FIRST.
Get into the habit of making yourself numero uno! (I just wrote that in Jack Black’s voice. You should read it as such for authenticity’s sake.) If you don’t prioritize yourself, you’re likely to take care of everyone and everything first. You’ll keep pushing YOU off day after day. When you don’t nurture yourself, you’re sure to reach a period of burnout. And that ain’t pretty. You can’t keep pouring from an empty cup.
So, after jotting down what you can do to show up for yourself (e.g., take a shower, exercise, go to a class, journal, etc.), identify the other people, organizations, or things (e.g., your home, your pets, etc.) for whom/which you want to show up. Then DO IT.
At the end of the day, take a moment to look back at your worksheet and note how you did. Did you show up? Or will tomorrow be another day?
Don’t be too hard on yourself if one or more of your intentions did not pan out. It happens! Be grateful for how you DID show up and commit to doing it again tomorrow. You can do it! (Also written in Jack Black’s voice.)
<3 Laura
Get Your Show Up Daily Worksheet…
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