Clearing Your Mental Dashboard (a re-post)

Linda Andersen
Dec 1, 2024
2 min read

I can't take credit for this but it's so worth the read, so I'm sharing! I'm all about promoting others so check out this LinkedIn post by Valeriya Patrei:

Does your brain "buffer" sometimes? ...𝘓𝘰𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨

(𝘓𝘦𝘵'𝘴 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥)

First, why it happens?

My guess: You've got too many tabs open:

→ Every unfinished task

→ Every project coming up

→ Every little thing you need to fix

→ Every conversation you need to have

→ Every upcoming appointment and event

→ Every birthday you are trying not to forget about How many tabs would that be?

Do this exercise now👇 (𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘠𝘌𝘛 𝘈𝘕𝘖𝘛𝘏𝘌𝘙 𝘖𝘗𝘌𝘕 𝘛𝘈𝘉)

1. Take 10 minutes to list down all 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗮𝗯𝘀 you can think of…

• 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘹

• 𝘚𝘶𝘣𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘭

• 𝘎𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘶𝘺

• 𝘜𝘯𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴

• 𝘈𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴

• 𝘖𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘴

2. Now your goal is to 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗮𝗯𝘀 as soon as possible. Go through the list and make sure every item is either getting: (a) Done (b) Dropped (c) Delegated

3. (a) Get them 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲.

→ If it takes less than 5 minutes, do it now.

→ If it takes longer, schedule it into your calendar.

Speaking of all those dates you are trying to remember, set yourself up for success by adding them to your calendar + setting reminders within in.

3. (b) 𝗗𝗿𝗼𝗽 it? If there is no time in the next few months when you can do the thing, consider dropping it. Don't underestimate the relief of making a decision to NOT do something. (𝘉𝘵𝘸, 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦) You can also park this item and assess it in a few months if you have time for it. Otherwise, it'll keep on slowing you down.