Brain Dumping with Pen, Paper, and Evernote
1. Grab a notebook and write down all your tasks, plans and ideas.
It doesn't have to be in any particular order. Once you start writing,
don't censor yourself—just write everything down without
stopping. You discover that ideas start to come fast and furious into
your head. Even faster than you can write. Add anything to the list
such as business tasks, personal tasks, and anything that pops in
your mind. The idea is to empty your brain.
2. Name it “brain dump journal” so that you know where your
brilliant ideas are when you want to refer to them.
3. Once you have it all on paper, go back and read each item. Ask
yourself what is urgent, important, what can you delegate or
wait can wait? As you do so, label or color code each based on
importance.
It should reflect your current goals for the month or quarter. For example,
label anything related to launching a new product as urgent. Working on
the next thing is important, but it can wait until you complete the current
promotion. Review the items a second time. Mark the critical items first,
the important ones second, the ones you delegate third and finally the
ones that can wait or you cut altogether.
4. Once you finish take a picture or scan it in using the Evernote app
and have it wherever you go.
Brain dumping seems so simple. Yet, it gets rid of the overwhelm that
occurs in your life when you keep everything in your head. Start a brain
dump today if you haven't and see how easy it is to rank your tasks and
get things done.
You can go to www.evernote.com to sign up and get started using it to
house your brain dumps.
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