If you have watched Kung Fu Panda, do you remember the scene where Master Shifu is meditate? Or trying to, and his ear keeps twitching from some imperceptible disturbance he can sense some distance away?
That is exactly how many of us feel when we try to focus on some important work. Of course our phone is always there to distract us, but even if that were kept in another room, there are random thoughts, things you forgot to buy, people you need to contact, and dozens of other things free floating in our heads all the time, and they keep making a dive for the single seat of our current focus. Which is why focusing on anything for more than even a minute can feel so challenging sometimes.
To the rescue, is an old, ridiculously simple and incredibly powerful habit that works well for me. And if you don’t already practice it, you should give it a go!
Brain dumping: the simplest habit that changed how I work.
Every day, sometimes more than once, I sit down and empty my head onto paper. No structure, no judgment, no editing. Just a raw transfer of every thought, worry, idea, and half-formed notion swirling in my mind. It takes about 10 minutes, and the effect is immediate: mental clarity, reduced anxiety, and surprisingly, a surge in creative thinking.
After years of doing this, I’m convinced brain dumping is one of the most underrated tools for both productivity and innovation.
Thing is, our brains aren’t designed to hold dozens of open loops at the same time. When you’re mentally juggling tasks, ideas, and concerns, your cognitive bandwidth shrinks.
A brain dump takes the noise away. Once it’s on paper, your mind stops trying to “remember” and becomes free to think.
And that’s precisely where innovation lives; in the space you create when you’re not cluttered.
How to start? Keep it simple. Grab a notebook or open a blank document on your fav note-taking app. If you’ve never used one of those, Google Keep is a simple place to start.
Write everything that comes to mind. It could be pending tasks, current thoughts or feelings, random observations, creative sparks, your shopping list, things you’re avoiding. Don’t organize, don’t prioritize. Just dump. Afterwards, review and sort if needed, but the real magic is in the release.
Try it daily, ideally when your mind feels most chaotic.
You might find, like I did, that you can’t get enough of it.