Comments on: How To Brain Dump Tasks To Increase Your Productivity

By: 10 Ways to Bust Out of a Mental Funk | TheHappySelf.com

10 Ways to Bust Out of a Mental Funk | TheHappySelf.com — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:01:06 +0000

[...] many competing thoughts racing through our minds, and it gets to be overwhelming. The idea of a braindump is to take some time to write down all of those thoughts in one place. While they’re still in [...]

By: Tyrone

Tyrone — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:17:18 +0000

 Well the idea of brain dumping is really great and I tried it out and found it really helps. I think I would be blank without my to-do list.

By: Peter Cameron

Peter Cameron — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 10:52:12 +0000

I like the way of getting everything out of my head by writing all the thoughts on paper. However I doubt if after writing all my concerns and thoughts I will stop thinking about them. Any ideas?

By: Classifieds

Classifieds — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 14:29:44 +0000

This is a great idea, I never heard this as the term “Brain Dump”, but I know a lot of people this. It allows you to clear your mind and and actually focus on what you have to do because you can see it on paper rather than having to think about it

By: Cashmere Lashkari

Cashmere Lashkari — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 05:29:30 +0000

Hey, here’s something I used to do even before I read this. I am a compulsive list maker. I keep scribbling in note pads all over the place.

By: Noobpreneur

Noobpreneur — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 08:19:20 +0000

Yaro,

Thanks for the tips – I did write my thoughts, and I, in fact, be able to work better, faster

By: Alborz

Alborz — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 11:32:50 +0000

Great post Yaro… doing it now… well, after I read your other posts.

By: Vera Raposo

Vera Raposo — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 13:41:33 +0000

The brain dump is AWESOME! So freeing and definitely puts things in perspective. I know as a mom brain dumping is crucial to staying calm and collected.

By: In Other Words: January 16, 2009 | vAssistant Services

In Other Words: January 16, 2009 | vAssistant Services — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 07:20:31 +0000

[...] How to Brain Dump Tasks to Increase Your Productivity [...]

By: Lanyard Lanyards

Lanyard Lanyards — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 05:47:24 +0000

Great info. I use a “to do list” widget on my igoogle home page. It’s simple, but effective.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 03:17:43 +0000

The brain dump is very important to success. How is it that anyone could achieve their honest ambitions and needs without a brain dump? Oh, and I love the name “brain dump” – funny and precise. nice article.

- Andrew @ BusinessEydeas.com

By: Michael Hall

Michael Hall — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 02:04:37 +0000

This really is a great idea, it kinda like mind mapping only faster, since you don’t have to type up everything, I also learned this technique from Mark Joyner from simpleology 101 over at simpleology.com

Just dump everything then do it(right now), delay it(schedule for later), delegate it(ask someone else to do it), or dump it(delete/cross it off)

its elegant in it’s simplicity and more stress relieving than simply making a to-do list, since you completely clear your head.

during my first month practicing simpleology 101, i create a new PHP website script almost every single day because my attention was so laser focused on *fully* completing *one* task before i move on to the other tasks.

By: Mike Collins

Mike Collins — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 13:34:03 +0000

That’s a good idea. Excel would make it easy to sort and categorize your tasks. You could even use simple formulas to track how much time you’re spending on each category.

By: Ben Helps

Ben Helps — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 12:37:39 +0000

Not sure if anyone else suffers from this, but I often find that the act of trying to dump my thoughts causes me to lose (some of) them. I find my best bet is to immediately dictate my thoughts into my phone.

I can start a voice recorder in about 2 keypresses on my phone (Samsung A701 from memory) and I’m sure most modern phones offer the ability.

Of course, then the problems become remembering to review them, finding the time to do so, and not being embarrassed of your own voice.

By: cheap rv insurance

cheap rv insurance — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 05:40:43 +0000

Brain dumping is something I have been doing for years with Excel sheets. The sheets are a great way to keep up with these open tasks for a long period of time without the worry of keeping up with a piece of paper.

By: mommyconspiracy » Blog Archive » Braindump?

mommyconspiracy » Blog Archive » Braindump? — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 04:19:52 +0000

[...] But what is it, really? And why do you need it? Why am I blogging about it? I stumbled into it on Yaro’s Blog (read it to know how to do it) and I decided that I really need this. I am always going around [...]

By: alpalino

alpalino — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 01:56:51 +0000

Don’t you think, the time you spend to create that list could have been used to tackle most of those required tasks? ) Only joking. I think it is great way to get organised and relaxed. I usually do that, if I can’t sleep. I write the things down that are on my mind on a paper. After I can sleep much easier.

By: David Risley

David Risley — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 00:32:29 +0000

Definitely important to get tasks out of your head. I make a habit of typing things into OmniFocus when I think of them.

By: Sharon Hollas

Sharon Hollas — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 19:43:29 +0000

I always find a good way to clear my mind is old fashioned meditation. Clears you out big time. Sharon Hollas - Surrey Real Estate

By: Stan B

Stan B — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 15:36:50 +0000

Great advice Yaro. I’m currently trying to revise for exams but keep getting distracted by blogs and whatnot on the internet. Maybe if I do what you suggest I’ll be able to keep all that out my mind until I can afford to spend time on it.

Stan

By: Frank Silvestre

Frank Silvestre — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 12:37:06 +0000

I have been an avid follower of Eben Pagan for some time as well. His teachings are really informative and experience-based. I bet many people and IM newbies are thankful for Eben.

As for brain dump, I use sticky notes to remember whatever stuff I plan and ideas I have in mind.

By: Shane Murray

Shane Murray — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 03:08:44 +0000

No problem here. When I want to dump my brain, I go to Florida and do some surfing. I bought a house in New Smyrna Beach, FL and go surfing every day.

An 8 foot wave is a great brain dump for me any day of the week.
And now I sell houses in my home town.

http://www.EastVolusiaRealEstate.com

Adam Scott Realty, LLC is my company. Check it out.

By: Dan Massicotte

Dan Massicotte — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 17:43:02 +0000

Excellent article. Reminds me of Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Pencieve. You’re quite right though, sometimes going to sleep at night is harder because you’re afraid something that is on your mind will be lost (unless you write it down).

By: Troy Malone

Troy Malone — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 17:17:42 +0000

I find that using Evernote on my iPhone is a great tool for brain dumping on the fly. This is important to me. I need to get the idea out of my head and into my trusted system as soon as I can!

After I do this, I can then assign out tasks or send messages through Pelotonics, my project management system:

http://www.pelotonics.com/evernote_usecases.html

Very cool article. Thanks.

@troymalone

By: Clayton | Wynne

Clayton | Wynne — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 17:03:17 +0000

True. It can be pretty stressful just keeping it in your head, especially since you’re almost bound to miss one thing or another. :O

By: Spin Ready Articles

Spin Ready Articles — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 13:30:19 +0000

Thanks for sharing this, Yaro. I also love the Brain Dump idea. I particularly like that one has to write down all the details of what he/she wants to do before getting started on it. I once heard that “the faintest pen is stronger than the mightiest brain”.

By: Scott Rooks

Scott Rooks — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 13:27:20 +0000

Yaro

Thanks for this tip as I forget to do this until things get unmanageable. It so important to hit the relief valve to get everything down on paper to help the productivity level.

Speaking of productivity level a lot of stress can be relieved by studing your hosting stats weekly to get a gauge on content vs productivity to get the most out of your site via your work load.

Anyway thanks for the post!

By: Reyn Aria

Reyn Aria — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 07:44:22 +0000

Excellent tips. I’ve been using the technique, but I just knew that it’s actually called brain dumping. However, I like that idea from John Reese about grouping related tasks. Before this, I just dump everything and take 5-7 of the most important (Eben’s way). But sometimes I was being chased by my activities instead. Using John’s way, I’m more relaxed and be in control of my daily activities. Just my 2 cents =)

By: DemoGeek.com

DemoGeek.com — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 06:22:38 +0000

I’m a real victim of this. My brain just goes over 15 different things at a time and sometimes I won’t remember all those. It definitely adds stress. Brain Dump seems hopeful to help me get over with this. Thanks for the write-up Yaro.

By: J.D. Meier

J.D. Meier — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 03:29:15 +0000

Brain dumping is a great practice.

Aside from using it to clear your mental desk, I’ve used it on my teams for years to rapidly share knowledge. Rather than over-engineer our notes, it was a way to just quickly dump everything into a shared email. Each person on the team would just dump whatever was their key bullets. This worked great because I tend to have distributed teams, and it keeps it lightweight.