You can cut the distractions, close the tabs and do one thing at a time. If your head is still full, you will still struggle to focus.
Carrying things around in your mind is a quiet form of multitasking. Part of your brain is busy holding “email Judy”, “renew the travel insurance” and “send a birthday card” while the rest of it is trying to think. That is mental energy you could be spending on the work in front of you. As David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, puts it: “Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.”
The fix is a weekly brain sweep. It is the easiest and quickest way to clear your head.
How to do it
- Find a pen and paper. A notes app or task manager works too.
- Write down everything that is on your mind. Every loose end, every task, every nagging thought, from work and from home. If it is not already in your calendar or written down somewhere, it goes on the page.
- Do not sort, prioritise or do any of it yet. Just empty your head.
That is the whole exercise. If the length of the list makes you wince, remember that nothing on it is new. It was all there before you started. The only difference is that your brain no longer has to hold it.
Useful prompts
Run through these prompts and see what surfaces.
At home: family, friends, birthdays, bills, bank, insurance, holidays, events, errands, books and films, creative projects, things to fix, buy, clear or sort.
At work: emails to answer, calls to make, meetings, things to follow up, things you are waiting for, people to chase, next steps on projects, projects to begin, things to communicate, ideas to capture.
Then empty the list
Once everything is out, go through the list. Each item gets one of four fates.
- Delete or delegate. Before you ask how to do something faster, ask whether you should do it at all. To do more, start by doing less.
- Do it now, if it takes less than three minutes. Anything longer waits. Doing everything the moment it arrives makes you responsive, but you stop choosing your own priorities.
- Put it in your calendar. Anything that has to happen on or by a certain date belongs there.
- Park everything else. Use a task manager or a set of project folders. This is where most people fall down. Some things are not for today and have no date. You need a place for them that you trust. Without one, they go straight back into your head.
Once a week, not once a day
Do a brain sweep once a week. Do it every day and it turns into a to-do list, which it is not. It is a regular clear-out that stops unfinished business from piling up.
A clear head is easier to focus with and easier to sleep with. You will also feel on top of things, which is half the battle.
