I have always had trouble falling asleep quickly at night. My brain continues to work full speed, rehashing everything, from the current day’s events all the way back to things that happened in my childhood. I searched for a solution for many years. I even got a prescription sleep medicine and took it just one time. It didn’t help me sleep at all, and I was a zombie the whole next day. So I flushed them. Melatonin tablets help sometimes, but even then, I don’t always go to sleep after the melatonin has made me sleepy.

A little over four years ago, I heard about something called a “brain dump.” I don’t remember the details of how I found out about it. It did sound promising. I found a very good video by Carie Harling titled: “The Whys and Hows of a Brain Dump.”

Carie’s basic premise is that your brain is for thinking, not for storage. She says to keep a cheap small notebook handy, and whenever you think of something, write it down immediately. Don’t stop to do anything about it, such as adding it to a to-do list or putting it on your calendar. Just write it down, so that it’s no longer necessary to think about it, because it’s safely on paper.

Always note the date when you start writing. Later on, you can come back to the brain dump book and look over the items. At that time, you can take care of items, whether it’s something you can do immediately, or you add it to your schedule, or you delegate it. As you take care of an item, cross it off in the brain dump book, as it’s no longer needed there. As you finish all the items on a page, cross off the whole page.

Here is a photo of my brain dump book. I bought a package of cheap 4.5″ by 3.25″ notebooks at the office supply store. I put an address label on the front and labeled it “BRAIN DUMP 001,” as it’s the first one, and I didn’t know how many I would eventually use.

I bought the notebooks on June 6, 2016, and started writing on the first page of the first book that night just before bedtime. I filled six pages with 86 items. I had a lot on my mind!

I have crossed off almost all of those items and all but one page. There are several items that I want to do someday, but I can’t schedule them. Some people flag those items with Post-it tabs.

About two-thirds of my first book is full. I have found it useful, and I hope you will too.

Here are a couple of other good videos on brain dumps:

Please check out the YouTube channels of all three women, as they are very interesting. They are really into scheduling, journaling, bullet journals, fancy notebooks, fancy papers, and fancy pens.

Michael T. Slaughter