The Dump List

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Do you ever find yourself lying awake at night, when you should be sleeping, thinking about the things that you have to do? Or maybe when you go to bed is when your mind finally kicks in with a great new idea about the project at work, or how to get your kids to like brussel sprouts.

Personally, I tend to wake up 4 or 5 hours after I’ve fallen asleep with all kinds of ideas running through my head. Or, my personal favorite, jolting awake in the middle of the night cause I’ve just realized that I forgot something really, really important – yesterday.

Well, I don’t know if my “Dump List” will help, but it can’t hurt to try.

A Dump List is a list you keep of everything that pops up in your head: things to do, calls to make, great new ideas for whatever. The purpose of the dump list is to get the ideas out of your head and onto something more reliable, like your daily planner or PDA.

Part of the key to the dump list is that you have to put your ideas where you can find them later, so that random piece of paper won’t do. Find something that you can find again when you need to and put your ideas there.

There are no rules to the dump list other than writing your ideas down and keeping the list where you can find it. There is no order to the dump list – that makes it more complicated than it needs to be.

Getting all those things that keep you up at night out of your head and into a place where they’re safe will free up space for more important things – like more creative thought, more peace of mind, and maybe more restful sleep.

Lacy Estelle

Lacy Estelle

Lacy Estelle is the writer of Lacyestelle.com and the Podcast host for An ADD Woman.

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