notebook and pencil

I have a very stressful day job.

I work for a performing and visual arts non-profit and I care a lot about the success of the organization. For two years, I have found myself overwhelmed with long to-do lists and there never seems to be enough time in a day to get everything done. There is always more to do.

I've spent my evenings and weekends dwelling for two years. And it's the dwelling that killed my creativity. I stopped writing. I simply did not have the energy for it.

Since 2015, I've published two fiction trilogies, one standalone historical fiction novel, and two non-fiction books. I wouldn't call myself prolific but I was at least releasing books fairly regularly. But since starting this job? I've basically not written a word. And writing is very important to me. I've always written.

Caring about one's career should not mean you need to only think of that, all day, every day. I am allowed to care about other things besides my job that I love—remembering that was an important step.

So, I knew I had to do something, or I would quickly be heading for burnout. I also knew that if I didn't do something soon, I might never write another book again, and that scared me.

I did some research and decided to try something I've never tried before. It's been a few weeks and I'm sleeping better, I'm preparing to write a novel, I'm finding joy in book work again, and I simply haven't been stressing about work outside the office. It's been a very positive life change for me.

Brain dumping.

The name is kind of gross and I think it's one of the reasons I didn't try it before now. I didn't take it seriously. But now that I've started doing it on a regular basis, it actually makes more sense.

Note: this is just how I do it. It might not be what the productivity gurus out there suggest—but for me, it's more about my mental health than productivity.

a hand holding a pen and resting on an open notebook. there are handwritten notes on the page.

How I Do a Brain Dump

  1. 1.

    Ten minutes before the end of the day, I close my computer and open my brain dump notebook. (If I'm feeling especially stressed, I will give myself 15 minutes instead.) I don't use this notebook for anything else. I like this specific notebook because it can be firmly closed with an elastic ribbon. I can't be distracted by emails or Teams notifications.

  2. 2.

    Write the date at the top of the page. Sometimes entries are a full page, sometimes they are half a page.

  3. 3.

    Write a list of the specific work-related things that I'm stressed about. Usually they are specific to-do list items I haven't had time to tackle but sometimes they're about interpersonal conflicts or other things. I stick to work-related things though. I write as quickly as I can. I use bullet points and don't pay attention to spelling or writing full sentences.

  4. 4.

    When everything is down on the page, I pull the elastic around the front to shut the notebook firmly, and I put it away. That's it.

I am giving my stresses over to the notebook. The elastic seals them in. Those are not my stresses anymore—they belong to the notebook.

It sounds woo-woo as hell, I know. I'm afraid if I think about it too much, it won't work anymore, so I'm not going to. And so far, it is working for me.

I'm sure there will be days when the notebook isn't enough. But for right now, I feel like my weekends and evenings are my own again. I feel more awake, like my brain is actually functional outside the office. It's nice!

How Brain Dumping Has Changed My Journaling Practice

I've been writing in a Day One journal every night since 2019. I don't get too deep with it; it's mostly just a record of my day-to-day life. I now avoid journaling about stressful work stuff, because they're not my stresses to write about. They don't belong to me. So, in that way, my daily journal is no longer a full record of my life. Buuuuut if I restart writing about my stresses in my journal at night before I go to bed, the stresses will stay with me.

According to a 2019 study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, writing a to-do list before bed might help people fall asleep easier than writing a traditional journal entry—the more specific the to-do list items were, the faster study participants fell asleep.

That study was strictly about bedtime-writing but I think I still have science on my side here.