WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH THE THINGS THAT POP INTO MY HEAD?
Welcome to phase 1 in this series on Mastering The Art of Execution!
Let’s talk about… WHAT should I do with the things that pop into my head?
Every day, there's a huge amount of information coming at you.
- You receive emails, texts, and chat messages.
- You stumble across articles and books you want to read.
- There’s the list of action items you own from a meeting
- Your partner texts you to pick up avocados at the store on the way home.
- And then you get into the car and remember, ahh, I really need to get a car wash.
The constant influx of information and requests can make it challenging to stay on top of everything and maintain a sense of control.
Many people live in a state of information overload and lack a systematic process to assist them. As a result…
- They feel anxious... they worry about forgetting small details
- They feel frustrated... because they have a track record of starting lots of projects but have trouble finishing them
- They feel vulnerable... because they have a gigantic number of things to keep track of but fear forgetting
Our prefrontal cortexes are only capable of holding a few numbers of things at any given time. It’s impossible to remember everything we have to do just by telling ourselves that we're going to “remember it all.”
Here’s the thing: You can fool everyone else, but you can’t fool your own mind.
If you don’t find a better way to deal with all this untamed information flying at you, you’ll lose it.
If you’re really real about it, you have a huge number of what David Allen calls “open loops.”
WHAT’S AN OPEN LOOP?
Open Loops are inappropriately managed internal commitments.
Open Loops are anything pulling at our attention that doesn't belong where it is, the way it is...
As soon as your brain is made aware of something that it needs to remember, that it needs to attend to, that it has to decide on, that it has to figure out... It creates an open loop in your mind.
Open loops are like nagging thoughts... Your brain is reminding you of the things you told it you need to remember ... like a morning alarm clock that keeps going off... if you don't capture the thoughts out of your head... you're just hitting the snooze button, delaying the inevitable of the thought coming back a few minutes later.
The more open loops you have, the more muddled and stressed you’re gonna feel.
So, to gain control of your tasks and reduce the open-loop anxiety, you need to close the loops.
To be clear, this doesn’t mean you have to complete every task. It means that you need to capture the thoughts and get them out of your head for you to deal with later.
So, to gain control of your tasks and reduce the open-loop anxiety, you need to close the loops.
To be clear, this doesn’t mean you have to complete every task. It means that you need to capture the thoughts and get them out of your head for you to deal with later.
You need to capture your thoughts to get them off of your mind.
THE BIG IDEA… CREATE A TRUSTED INBOX
Your brain is incredible at creating new ideas but terrible at remembering them.
What I'm about to introduce to you is the first step into a new way of processing all the information that comes at you...
The first step in this whole process is collecting everything you need to do or want to remember in one place - THE INBOX.
To deal effectively with the open loops we mentioned before, you first have to capture all the nagging thoughts that come to mind.
Let me put it like this: Between the time you woke up today and now, did you think of anything you needed to do that you still haven’t done? Have you had any thoughts that you said to yourself, “Ooh, I need to remember that the next time I see Dillon” ….
Now, have you had that thought more than once today?
Why?
It’s unnecessary.
This is the snooze button we were talking about.
It’s a waste of time and energy to keep thinking about something that you make no progress on.
And it only adds to your anxiety about what you should be doing but aren’t.
And it only adds to your anxiety about what you should be doing but aren’t.
You’ve gotta take those thoughts and put them into a system you trust, like an inbox.
as soon as you add "I should," a "I need to," or an "I ought to" to an item in your mind, it's officially become an open loop that you should throw into your inbox.
Having a thought, needing to do something about it, and capturing it into your inbox should become a part of your everyday lifestyle.
You gotta get it all out of your head
Get in the habit of keeping nothing on your mind.
There is no reason to ever have the same thought twice unless you like having that thought.
HOW DO I MAKE AN INBOX?
If you want to start today and create your own inbox, I would first ask you... are you more of an analog or digital person?
DIGITALLY:
I recommend downloading the app Things 3.
I have been using Things 3 for the past 10 years.
Admittedly, I have tried to move away from it in the past because I enjoy trying new things, but I have always come back to it.
Things 3 has captured my heart.
ANALOG:
I’ve got a couple of thoughts here.
Warning: this might send you down a rabbit trail…. you’re welcome.
If you are looking for a planner that provides structure and allows you to capture your thoughts in one place, try the following option:
- The Full Focus Planner by Michael Hyatt
- High-Performance Planner by Brendon Burchard
If you enjoy working with a blank page, this might be more up your alley.
- I LOVE my Ugmonk Analog system. (I use it in coordination with Things 3. More on that here)
- Or I would look into the world of Bullet Journaling
Choose something, whether it's Things 3, your bullet journal, or your planner, and make it your trusted hub of information.
The objective is to have a single location to capture any action item that arises in your life.
This will be your one-stop shop where you can check and see "what tasks do I have on my plate."
ACTION STEP
Get all the open loops out of your head and into an inbox.
- When you have an idea, what do you do? Get it out of your head and into your inbox.
- When you receive an email and need to take action later, what do you do? Write down in your inbox what your next step is.
- When you want to remind yourself to purchase a Valentine's Day present for your spouse, what do you do? Yup, you guessed it. The inbox.
You’re awesome.
Thanks for reading.
See you tomorrow!
Hunter