Decluttering Your Mind With A Brain Dump (Live Recording)

Learn how to untangle your mind, gain clarity, and prioritize with confidence and intention. Brain Dump is a very simple and powerful technique that you can do anytime. In this session, you will learn the benefits, see some examples, and how to get started doing and processing your own brain dump.

Transcript

Happy Tuesday,

Everybody.

Welcome to another session with me.

My name is Emilio José García and today we are going to talk about a brain dump.

What is a brain dump?

How can you do your own brain dump?

How can you help someone else do this?

What are the benefits of it?

And I want to show you some examples of ideas to get you going,

Okay?

Before getting started,

As always,

Let's just do a little practice.

I just want to do a little bit of silence today.

I don't feel like doing anything else.

So please join me.

Close your eyes if you can.

Sit in a comfortable position if you can and just allow yourself to take a few deep breaths,

Okay?

At whatever pace feels good to you.

Just allow yourself a few seconds of silence.

Thank you guys so much for doing this with me.

It really helps transition into the session and set your intention.

I would like to ask you guys,

How many of you do or have done a brain dump before?

I just want to know where we are at.

How many of you have done a brain dump before?

And please,

If you don't mind,

Just type in the chat if you can hear me and see me well because I see a comment.

I can't hear the audio yet.

Everything should be good,

Tonya.

So if you cannot hear me,

Exit the session and come back to it,

Okay?

Same for all of you who are having that problem.

Amazing.

So how many of you guys have done a brain dump before?

Erin says,

Yes,

And mind mapping.

Also called automatic writing.

I have tried it.

Not me.

I haven't.

I have done a couple of different kinds,

Like morning pages,

But I know they can be more specific.

No.

Okay.

So we have a variety of therapies.

Ask me to do a worry diary.

I tried a couple of times.

I do morning pages.

Amazing.

Thank you guys so much for sharing what your practice is and for sharing what your experience is.

Brain dump is something that can help you in many,

Many different ways.

And there is not a right or wrong way of doing a brain dump,

Okay?

Because a brain dump can be very general,

Can be a tool to help you declutter and organize your mind and your life.

A brain dump,

The definition of a brain dump is a method to help you take everything that's in your head,

In your brain,

And put it in a piece of paper or put it somewhere else.

Sometimes a computer program,

Sometimes a piece of paper,

Sometimes your journal.

It doesn't matter where,

As long as you get everything out of your brain,

Of your head,

So that you can actually see it.

Okay?

And then people are talking about mind maps.

I am a huge fan of mind maps.

And mind mapping is what we will cover in the next session.

Because I was thinking about these two exercises,

And I was thinking my experience with them and how they interact with each other.

And to me,

A brain dump,

It's a great starting point.

It's a great way for you to declutter your mind,

To dump everything in that piece of paper.

And then after that,

That's when you can create a mind map.

Because a mind map is more organized.

A mind map has a sequence.

A mind map is like a more elaborated process to help you with sequencing,

With prioritizing.

You can even add pricing to that.

You can add deadlines.

You can add a lot of information to help you actually make it happen.

But I will say that that's the second step for some of you.

The first step is to stop feeling overwhelmed.

Okay?

The first step is to start to be able to understand what's going on in your mind.

And I feel that a brain dump,

It's really handy to do when you are feeling overwhelmed,

When you have a lot of conflicting priorities that you want to do,

But you don't know which one comes first.

When you want to check in with yourself about how do you feel emotionally speaking,

How do you feel mentally speaking about these options,

About these responsibilities,

About this,

Whatever is in your head,

Bugging you,

Demanding your attention.

Okay?

Majority of the times,

When I help someone else do a brain dump,

What I notice is that first,

The person becomes less overwhelmed when we have everything in paper.

Second,

It gives them an opportunity to reflect,

To see those ideas,

To see all the clutter that they had in their minds down into paper,

And then see that from the distance.

And there is something very,

Very healing about that.

When you can have everything that's in your head in paper,

The first thing that happens is that,

Okay,

It's in paper,

So I'm not going to forget about it.

I am not going to lose it.

Okay?

The second one is that you can see the concepts a little bit from the distance.

It gives you some distance,

And that's going to help you connect with every activity and then see how you feel,

See what the reality really is,

Because this is what happens to all of us.

Sometimes we have this sense of urgency,

And we feel that everything is urgent.

Everything is a priority.

But in reality,

It's not.

In reality,

We can decide what comes first.

We can decide what we don't want to be doing.

We can decide what we can delegate,

Ask for help.

Just look for other options that you are not seeing right now.

A brain dump is going to help you with that.

Okay?

It's also going to help you reduce stress,

Reduce anxiety,

Reduce overwhelm,

And it's going to help you gain clarity.

Okay?

Physical,

Emotional,

And mental clarity about what you are about to do.

It's going to help you prioritize.

It's going to help you sequencing.

Sequencing means understanding what comes first.

Okay?

What step should come first than the other one?

Which one is more important for you than the other one?

And the order of the tasks that you will then schedule after.

It's going to help you remind yourself of what's important to you.

When you do a brain dump,

And you can look at it,

You allow for reflection to happen.

Okay?

And this is really,

Really,

Really powerful.

This is why I invite you to do these brain dumps in a place where you can go back to them.

You can do them in your journal.

If you have a journal,

You can start a notebook.

Just put them in a place where you can go back and reflect,

Because you will look at them,

And then as time goes by,

You are going to see those actions,

Those tasks with different mindset,

With different emotional charge,

With different mental clarity.

Okay?

And it's very important for you to be able to reflect.

And this happens because how you feel right now is not going to be the same way how you are going to feel one hour from now,

Tomorrow,

And next week.

So when you can reflect,

What happens is that you are going to look at the exact same information that you had in your head,

And then you are going to be able to make more intentional decisions.

You are going to be able to take in with yourself.

Once you do the brain dump,

Maybe it's not the right time for you to make decisions yet.

You can let those ideas sit with you.

You can look at that brain dump a few times over the course of a few days,

And I promise you,

You are going to start gaining clarity,

Gaining confidence,

And be more realistic about what you really,

Truly want.

Okay?

So some people are talking about morning pages.

Some people are talking about using a specific brain dump technique for a specific topic.

And this is something that I want to talk about.

Okay?

A brain dump can be general.

A brain dump can be I am overwhelmed and I don't even know why.

So that's a great point for you to do a brain dump and put in paper everything that's going on for you.

Okay?

It can also be specific,

Meaning I do lots of brain dumps that are specific,

Like,

Oh,

I want to create this course,

And I am overwhelmed by the amount of ideas.

I need to do a brain dump about that specific course I want to create.

Okay?

And I have some examples here to show you.

Sometimes,

Like,

So this is one example,

Right,

Of a brain dump that I did before creating my last course here on Insight Timer.

And I had a bunch of ideas in my head,

And I just needed to get them out.

See them,

And then over a period of days,

I was going back to this.

I was reflecting.

I was adding information.

I was perfecting it.

And then after that,

I was able to take action.

Okay?

So Stephanie says,

Steve,

So when I do a mind dump,

I usually use one pen.

But after I go back over it,

And I highlight things and make it look pretty so that I will actually go back to it.

Otherwise,

It's just a bunch of lines on a page.

Yeah.

Amazing.

That's the next thing that I wanted to share,

Stephanie.

Thank you for prompting me into that.

A brain dump can be text-based,

Can be a bullet point,

Can be just a text,

Or it can be more artistic.

It can be more colorful.

It can have shapes.

You can use like clouds,

Rounds,

Squares,

Lines.

You can highlight with different colors.

You can add drawings into your brain dump to express ideas,

However they feel good to you.

This is an example of Samantha drew this a while ago when we were feeling this way.

We are small business owners,

And then you can see a guy sitting on a desk.

This is a drawing that she made.

And then this guy has a bunch of clouds on top of his head,

And every cloud has something that he needs to do.

So he needs to do SEO,

Finances,

Employees,

Writing blog posts,

Working with people,

Do the accounting.

And that's how we were feeling at that time.

It's like,

How are we going to be able to do all these things?

And this was really great for us to really put on a piece of paper the emotional charts that we had with these activities,

Right?

So Amy says,

For emotional clarity,

If I am depressed or anxious,

I do speed writing list.

Things I'm angry about,

Things I'm worried about,

Etc.

Amazing.

That's another approach.

And again,

There is not a right or wrong way of doing a brain dump.

If you go online and you say a brain dump and you look at photos,

You will see all kinds of things.

Majority of the times they are very creative.

They have a lot of color,

Drawings,

Beautiful pages.

But please don't let perfectionism stop you from doing one.

Get started wherever you are at.

Create whatever brain dump makes sense to you.

It doesn't have to be colorful if you don't feel like it.

It doesn't have to be pretty if you don't need it to be pretty.

Okay?

Do whatever you enjoy looking at.

And the more you do it,

The more you are going to perfect it.

Okay?

So another example that you have seen a few times is this is a brain dump that I did about the life vision.

This is my life vision.

Okay?

This is what I would like my life to be like.

And this is what my life kind of looks like now.

Okay?

But I drew this probably a couple years ago.

And this is just a drawing with ideas,

With the things I wanted to do,

With work,

With hobbies,

With family.

And as you see,

There is almost no text.

It's all visual.

Again,

This was what came out of me that day.

But there is not a right or wrong way of doing this.

Okay?

This is another example of this is a course that I wanted to create.

And then as you see,

There are some drawings.

There are some text.

It's not very pretty.

It doesn't have color.

It's just black because I only had a black pen at that time.

But again,

This helped me really put into put into this piece of paper all the ideas that I had about this specific topic.

And then the beautiful thing about this is that I had this inside my journal,

And then I was looking at this every few days,

And I was always adding things.

Every time I had an idea about,

Oh,

That course needs to have that lesson,

Or maybe someone told me,

You need to add this,

I will record it here.

So when I go to create this course,

Everything is in here,

And I don't forget anything.

Okay?

So that's another idea how I use a brain dump.

Having colors really helps.

Okay?

Again,

Don't let the artistic side stop you from doing a brain dump.

But if you have access to colors,

I also have a pen with four colors,

Like black,

Green,

Blue,

And red.

And I also carry these colors with me.

And then when I feel like it,

I will do something,

And then I will start adding color to it after.

Okay?

So there are no rules about how to do this.

Okay?

So how do you guys feel about brain dump?

Is this something that you feel can help you?

Is this something that you are excited and motivated to give it a try?

Or is this something that overwhelms you?

Because it's okay to feel either way.

Okay?

So Amy says,

To connect spiritually,

I sometimes write a letter to the universe that helps me dump what I need to on that page.

But I also receive clarity from my higher power.

Yeah.

Sophie says,

I need it.

Tonya says,

Yes,

But I do get overwhelmed.

I love the idea.

I like hearing all the different techniques from you.

Okay.

So guys,

For those of you who are excited,

I will invite you to get started right now.

Okay?

Grab a piece of paper or your journal.

Okay?

And then think about what can I benefit from doing a brain dump?

And then once you set the intention,

And I think this is important,

Set the intention before you get started.

And the intention can be like,

I just want to gain clarity.

I have no idea what I need to focus on.

Or I have no idea,

But I just feel overwhelmed and I don't know why.

So I just want clarity.

That can be one intention.

Another intention can be,

I am really struggling with this specific thing in my life.

And I really want to do a brain dump about that specific thing in my life.

So you can just think about that.

And what's happening here,

You are focusing your energy,

Your emotions,

Your attention into that specific area in that specific time.

Okay?

So again,

There is not a right or wrong way of getting started.

You have all the answers.

Sometimes you don't believe it,

But when you allow yourself the time to sit with yourself,

Pen and paper,

And even colors,

You play some nice music,

Or you go to an environment that makes you feel well,

Maybe a coffee place,

Maybe a library,

Maybe a park,

Maybe somewhere in your home,

Maybe your bedroom,

Whatever that is,

And you allow yourself the time,

You are going to start seeing stuff coming out of you.

Okay?

And the more you do this,

The better you are going to get at it.

Okay?

Sana says,

It seems a good idea,

But I wouldn't know how to start.

Okay.

Robert says,

I don't think I do mind dumps or maps correctly.

I like other people's,

But my own doesn't inspire me.

Okay,

Robert,

That's fine.

And again,

This is something that the more you do it,

The better you will get at it.

Okay?

So Stephanie says,

Distraction moment.

Don't want to totally distract,

But I just have to say that your guitar on that wall with those shelves is freaking fantastic.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you,

Stephanie.

Yeah.

This is my old guitar in the background that it broke.

And this was my first guitar ever.

I bought it in Thailand and I just couldn't let it go.

So I went to Pinterest and I found this idea and then I just did that.

I removed the front and I put some shelves in there and that was a nice winter project.

And I got a new one now.

Okay.

Okay,

Guys.

So let me show you more examples.

Okay.

For those of you who don't know how to get started,

Let me just show you more ideas because sometimes seeing ideas is what helps us find something that we resonate with.

Okay.

So this is an example of a brain dump that I did with a person during a live workshop.

Okay.

So during this live workshop,

There were a few people and then I asked them who is willing to give it a try with me right now,

Live.

And then this person said,

I can go.

Okay.

So this is how it looks like.

It's just a piece of paper and then you can see some keywords circled by color,

By black,

Mostly black and green.

And then this person started to share how they were feeling.

And then they started to say,

Yeah,

I want to help.

I am overwhelmed.

I want to help my community.

I want to walk every day.

I want to really create something for my visitors in my community so that they can feel invited.

She's into the farming community too.

She's involved into networking with other farmers and other people in their community.

So she wants to travel.

She wants to have friends.

She wants to share the story,

The history of her area.

Okay.

She's also involved in the tiny house community.

And then she enjoys doing live music.

And then she likes telling stories.

That's how she likes and enjoy writing with people.

So all these ideas,

I just brought them down.

Okay.

I just brought them down in this piece of paper.

And then after this was done,

I tell her what I just brought down.

And then I started to get to the mental and the emotional of each of these ideas.

Okay.

So I started to ask her more about,

So what is your intention about your community?

What is your intention about the tiny house community you want to be involved with?

What is your intention about walking every day?

And what is the motivation behind that?

Okay.

So all these things started to shape into what you see here,

That these are circles.

And then I started to connect the circles.

And then I started to kind of prioritize.

And this became a mind map after.

Okay.

So the mind map we will cover next day,

But the brain dump was the first thing,

Just writing down all the concepts in a piece of paper.

And then I started to connect them.

So that was one idea that I want to show you.

Okay.

Another idea that you can see here is Samantha did this for me.

So we were delivering a workshop and then she was creating the PowerPoint.

And then she was asking,

Emilio,

I want you to help me.

So I started to just talk to her because she said,

I want you to do this,

Like you do your lives.

I think they are great.

I think you include people and the life portion of the practicality is really helpful for people.

So I started to share with her all the steps that I thought are important.

And then she created this brain dump from what I was telling her.

And you can see here that step number one is awareness,

Step number two is action,

And step number three is maintenance.

Okay.

And then inside the awareness,

You can see lines that goes into mind mapping,

Life stress inventory,

Creating your ideal week,

Understanding your energy cycles,

Doing a creation,

Doing imago dialogues,

Creating your self-care list.

So all these exercises are included in the awareness stage.

Okay.

And then she included,

What do I want?

Why do I want it?

Okay.

And then that was the first step.

And this is the graphicality that she created with colors.

The second step is the action.

And then she brought here,

How do I implement these things in my life?

And then she has these exercises below action,

Habit tracker,

Using a timer,

Journaling,

Declutter,

Organize and beautify your space,

Investment of time.

So all these exercises are into the action step.

And the last one is the maintenance.

And then it's about reflecting about your progress and stuff like that.

So this is another way that my wife is very visual.

Okay.

So that this is how she thrives.

She likes something that is visual.

So she shared this after with the people who came to the workshop and this became like a handout.

Okay.

So this is another idea of how you can do a brain dump about a concept.

Okay.

Breaking down a presentation.

Okay.

So basically,

As you see,

My wife is very artistic.

So she added these headings here.

She uses color.

She sometimes uses different kinds of calligraphy.

She really enjoys bullet journaling and being artistic.

So she takes it to the next level,

But you don't have to.

Okay.

So Amy says,

Emilio,

What do you suggest if I get stuck in repeating negative thoughts or all limited beliefs on the page?

So Amy,

If that happens,

That's a great awareness for you to first notice it.

Okay.

You first notice,

Wow,

I am always repeating this.

And you can notice this because you have done several and you can reflect on them.

You can have them side to side and you can look at them.

If you didn't have this reflection piece,

This physical actually piece of paper with your brain dump,

You will not be able to remember everything that you brought at that time.

This is why having the copies,

Having them in front of you is so important.

When you start comparing them,

If you start noticing that pattern,

Then I will suggest you to start asking more intentional questions about what can I do differently next time I am facing this situation?

When this negative limiting belief that I don't want to keep doing shows up,

Start asking,

When is this showing up?

Is there a specific person involved?

Is there a specific place involved?

What are the triggers that cause this?

What's behind those triggers?

What are the beliefs behind this behavior?

And then you start becoming more aware,

More aware.

You can even do a deeper brain dump about that specific trigger because maybe you have different triggers that are coming up for you and you need clarity on them.

Okay.

So you can do a brain dump about when am I feeling this way?

When are these triggers happening?

And what can I do next time?

What can I try to do different so that I can start moving forward in a different direction?

Okay.

So start doing that.

I think that's something that can help you start shifting.

Okay.

I hope that that's helpful,

Amy.

Another thing that I want to share is that,

For example,

This is my wife's journal.

She has a monthly brain dump.

Okay.

So once a month,

She has a dedicated page where she does a brain dump and she just writes down ideas,

Things she wants to do,

Priorities,

Etc.

Okay.

So this is another technique.

Make it a habit by doing it consistently,

Maybe once a week,

Once a month,

Or at least having some sort of frequency.

Okay.

So Amy says,

Thank you.

What can I do differently?

Amy,

I don't know that.

I don't have that answer for you because you are the one,

I don't really know the specifics about your triggers,

Your negative beliefs,

But the more aware you become,

The more you notice those patterns,

The more information you will have to know what's next for me here.

What is the next step?

What are ideas?

What are opportunities?

What are options that I am not considering now that I can give them a try?

Okay.

This is something that I will need more information to be able to tell you specifics because I don't know.

I know that that will come from you going deeper,

From you becoming aware,

From you testing ideas and seeing what works,

What doesn't,

And maybe you are testing these ideas with help.

Maybe you have someone helping you,

A therapist,

Or maybe someone else,

Or maybe it's in one of our workshops if we are live.

There are different ways of going deeper,

But you have to always,

Once you recognize something,

You notice something that is happening and you don't like,

Then it's your opportunity to start brainstorming about,

Okay,

What can I do differently?

What can I try that I haven't tried yet?

Okay.

People have some ideas here in the chat.

Again,

There is not a right or wrong answer and a right or wrong strategy because we all are unique.

Deep inside,

We all have all the questions inside.

We just have to be able to reach them.

Braindamp can be a great opportunity for you to help you get there.

Okay.

So,

Emilio,

Look above Tonya's question.

Let me scroll up the chat.

I think I missed something here.

So,

What about using braindamp for a topic like illness?

Can that be helpful or get one stuck in feeling ill?

So,

Tonya,

About illness,

Again,

Braindamp is a tool that is at your service when you feel like it can be helpful.

Okay.

And this is going to be different for all of you.

Okay.

Sometimes you feel like doing a braindamp is going to be a good idea and sometimes you just don't want to do it.

When you don't want to do it,

I invite you to question,

Like,

Am I feeling resistance to something that is going to benefit me,

But I just don't want to do it because is that resistance or is it really that it's not the right tool for me right now?

Okay.

You have to differentiate these things.

I will say that braindamp can help you connect the physicality,

The concepts with the emotional aspect too and the mental aspect.

Once you do the braindamp and you put things in your paper,

You can look at them and then you can emotionally connect with those things.

Emotionally think,

What is this evoking me?

Okay.

And if we talk about illness,

You can do a braindamp with many different intentions.

Okay.

So,

Can you be specific about what aspect of the illness are you trying to gain clarity about?

Are you trying to understand how can I make my day-to-day physically more manageable or are you trying to.

.

.

So,

You are talking about pain.

So,

Pain can be physical pain or can be emotional pain.

There are many different kinds of pain.

If you are experiencing physical pain,

A braindamp most likely is not going to solve the pain problem for you.

It can help you though understand what can you do around that pain.

Is there anything physically,

Mentally,

Emotionally that you can do that when you do it,

You feel better?

Is there other strategies that you haven't tried yet?

Okay.

So,

The braindamp can help you brainstorm ideas,

Brainstorm new opportunities,

New options that you have not tried yet.

And then by you having that braindamp in front of you,

You can reflect about them and then you can then see what did work,

What didn't work,

And then what's next for me.

What can I try next?

And this is something that is going to look very different for all of you.

Okay.

But I will invite you to,

For example,

I remember having a conversation with Amy,

And she cooks a lot and she has to chop a lot of vegetables.

She has to do a lot of prep,

But then because of her sickness,

Illness,

She cannot stand for a long time.

But sometimes she was trying to do the chopping standing and then sometimes it's like,

Okay,

You can do the chopping sitting down.

You can sit on the couch and then have your chopping board in front of you while you are watching something on TV,

Or you can have a bench that you can sit on the island of your kitchen,

Or you can break that activity into multiple times.

You don't have to do it all at once.

You can understand your energy cycle,

Your pain cycle,

And honor your needs of say,

Maybe I can only stand for two minutes and then I have to sit down.

So you have to start paying attention to those things and honoring that need in you right now.

So braindamp can help you become aware of that,

Can help you brainstorm new strategies on how can you create a physical environment?

How can you make your chores in a way that suits your needs better?

Okay.

That's just one idea that is coming up.

But again,

I will try to be more specific.

You said pain.

Let's try to take it to the next level.

Like,

Okay,

What am I talking about here?

Am I trying to relieve my pain?

Am I trying to be able to go throughout my day in a way that feels better for me and it flows nicely?

Am I trying to create more self-care in my day-to-day that allows me to energize myself more?

Set a specific intention,

And that's going to help you make that braindamp more meaningful to you.

Okay.

I hope that that helps.

I hope that that helps,

Tonya.

Okay.

And then what else do I have here?

So this is another example of a braindamp that I did about money and finances,

Right?

And this was with a person that they were trying to gain clarity about how their money is moving throughout their lives,

Right?

And how can they organize what they have?

I just asked them a bunch of questions,

And then they were able to create a diagram.

This is a diagram on how money gets in and out of their lives.

Credit cards are here,

And then they have income,

They have expenses,

And then they have an account,

A check-in account,

And then they have a personal account,

And then they have HST money that they put aside so that they don't spend it.

And then they have from their personal,

They have different savings ideas that they want to create.

So a braindamp in this case helped this person create a money flow that makes sense to them.

It helped them gain clarity about how is my money world looking like?

Where is my money coming from?

Where is my money going?

How many accounts do I have?

How many credit cards do I have?

Do I need them?

Can I optimize this system?

Can I automate it somehow?

So the braindamp really allowed for this person to put all the concepts down in a piece of paper.

And then we did the mind map aspect of it.

Organize the ideas,

Schedule them in the calendar,

Start taking action with what they wanted to create.

And then the last example I have,

It's how I use the braindamp to create,

For example,

An email sequence.

An email sequence that I created for my followers.

When they subscribe to my mailing list,

This is one example of a mailing list that I created a few years ago.

And again,

This is something that instead of me sitting in front of the computer and then saying,

Okay,

I'm going to create a mailing list and then asking,

What should I include in this?

And then feeling overwhelmed and not having clarity and not having a plan,

I took the time to think about,

Okay,

So what is the journey of that person that is joining,

Right?

So if they subscribe,

What is the topic that they're interested in?

If they click on this link,

What happens?

If they click on that link,

What happens?

And then what is helpful at that stage of the journey?

Okay.

So thinking about how can I make this content the most useful for this person?

And then that cannot happen all in my head.

It's just very difficult to create that in my head and remember and implement it.

So I use a braindamp.

And from the braindamp and the concepts that I had and the ideas,

That's when I created the sequence.

That's when I created what comes first.

I organized those ideas.

And then it ended up being my email one,

Email two,

Email three,

And everything that was included in those emails and the copy that I was writing for those emails.

Okay?

So sometimes,

Guys,

We are trying to do a task that is huge in one go.

And that's when we feel overwhelmed.

Okay?

So you need to break down that task in steps that make sense to you.

The braindamp can help you with that.

When you look at a braindamp and you have a concept,

You look at that concept,

You read it out loud,

And then you know how you feel.

I remember sometimes,

One time I wrote,

Create a YouTube video.

And that was one task for me.

Okay?

Create a YouTube video.

That's it.

Every time I was looking at that task,

I could feel like,

Oops,

I could feel overwhelmed.

I could feel like,

I don't really know how to get started.

And then when I did a braindamp on that specific thing,

Just creating a YouTube video,

And why is this thing resisting me?

Why am I feeling overwhelmed?

Why am I procrastinating creating this?

Then I understood,

Wow,

Because creating a YouTube video,

One task,

It's not one task.

It's a lot of different tasks.

I have to create the audio.

I have to create a cover photo.

I have to edit the video and the audio.

I have to create the copy,

The description,

The title.

I have to come up with keywords.

I have to upload that content into YouTube.

And then I have to promote it.

Guys,

How many tasks are there?

Eight,

Nine tasks?

So when I was able to do a braindamp,

And I broke down all those steps,

And I put those in my calendar,

Now it's easy peasy.

Okay?

Because I understand what I'm doing,

And I don't have the expectation of doing that thing all at once.

It's just too overwhelming.

Okay?

So that's another idea for you too,

When you are encountering a task,

That you always feel overwhelmed by it,

That you always procrastinate,

That you always feel like,

Oh,

I don't want to do this.

Really ask yourself,

Why am I feeling this way?

Okay?

And really do a braindamp about that specific frustration or task or procrastination,

And really understand why is this happening?

What can I do differently?

How can I break this task down?

And a braindamp on that specific thing is going to help you a lot.

I promise it's going to help you a lot.

Okay?

So guys,

We have seven minutes left.

What would you like me to do or talk about braindamp?

Is there any questions that you have?

Would you like to try and do one right now?

Some people are sharing some apps that you can use to do mind mapping.

I personally,

Guys,

Really,

Really recommend that you use pen and paper.

Okay?

Why?

Because when you are using pen and paper,

Different things are happening in your brain.

When you use your hand to write concepts,

Your brain is functioning in a completely different way than when you are typing in your computer.

Okay?

So I would recommend that you start with pen and paper if you can,

And then you can always take it to the next level with an app.

But just give it a try.

Test it.

Okay?

Give it a try because we are all different and unique.

Give it a try to do the mind mapping with a pen and paper,

And give it a try to do it on the computer,

On your phone.

And then whatever you enjoy the most,

Whatever serves you the best,

Just do that.

Okay?

Just do that.

Someone was asking for me to show my wife's page again in her journal.

Okay?

So this is,

Again,

My wife has a page that says ideas,

Notes,

And scribbles.

And it's basically a braindamp that she does once a month.

And then she just writes here whatever is in her mind.

Okay?

This is what she enjoys.

But again,

Some people will enjoy doing it once a month.

Some people will enjoy it once a week.

Some people only when they are feeling overwhelmed.

Is my mapping the same as braindamp?

Lisa,

No.

Let's say that braindamp is dumping everything that's in your head in a piece of paper or in an application or somewhere else so that you can see it from the distance.

Okay?

You are just writing down concepts,

Ideas in no specific order.

Okay?

Mind mapping takes that information to the next level,

And that will help you sequencing,

Prioritizing,

Interconnect the ideas together.

You can add price tags.

You can add deadlines.

You can add a lot of more information.

I didn't want to do them together today because I feel that braindamp is one concept,

And mind mapping is something a bit more advanced.

And I would say that once you do a braindamp and you get good at doing that,

Then the next step,

What to do with a braindamp.

That's when you are going to use maybe mind mapping,

Or that's when you are going to start thinking about how am I going to take action on these things that I have on my braindamp?

Am I going to schedule them in the calendar?

Am I going to sequence them in the right order?

Am I going to prioritize them so that I don't get overwhelmed trying to do too much?

So that's when the logistics will come into place.

Okay?

So the mind mapping is organized,

It's prioritized,

And it has a sequence of events,

And you can add way more information into it.

Okay?

So you will see in the next session,

I will cover mind mapping.

You will see an example,

And we will talk about how you can create yours.

Okay?

So what else?

So Karen says,

I recommend when you start writing,

Leave space next to thoughts so that you can add if you think of more on that.

Yeah,

Karen,

I love that.

When you are doing a braindamp,

Guys,

It's important to allow yourself space.

Okay?

Just write the ideas spaced out from each other.

Sometimes just writing the keyword or the idea and then circle that idea,

That can help you visualize it better,

And then you just allow yourself space around it.

And then if something comes up about that specific idea,

You can always do a line and then add a concept,

An idea,

A feeling,

A struggle,

And then you will start flowing through how to create it.

And guys,

Hear me out here.

No one knows how to do a braindamp until they get started.

Okay?

You are not going to know how to do it until you allow yourself the time and the space to actually give it a try.

The more you do it,

The more you practice,

The easier it's going to be for you to do it.

Okay?

Just set yourself an intention and just do one for fun.

Allow yourself the time to do one for fun.

Just see what comes out of it and just have fun with it.

No expectations.

Okay?

And then that will allow you to get better and better because this is not about perfection.

This is not about having a beautiful braindamp.

This is about getting started and start gaining clarity.

Okay?

So,

Emilio,

Can you take us through a quick bullet journaling exercise on self-care?

So,

When it comes to self-care,

Guys,

For example,

This is my bullet journal.

And this is one example of how I integrated the braindamp.

This was done on January 2021.

Okay?

January 2021.

Look how simple this is.

It's just one,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight squares.

And each rectangle has a specific intention behind it.

Okay?

So,

I have Gift Mankind.

This is a program that I started.

I have Kaboom Program,

Another program that I started.

I have a course launch.

I was launching a course.

I have Deal Well with COVID-19 Lockdown.

Guys,

That was an intention.

Okay?

Deal Well with COVID-19 Lockdown.

That was one intention I had in here very clear.

Sell my van and enjoy being carless.

We did that at that time.

Do daily exercises and do daily meditation.

That was my braindamp for that month.

Okay?

It was very simple.

I didn't complicate things.

And then every time I look at this page,

I always reminded myself of,

Okay,

What are my true priorities this month?

I will look at these things and then if there is anything missing,

You can always add it.

If there is something that you say,

You know what?

I was trying to do this program,

But I just don't enjoy it.

I try it and I don't.

Just scratch it and move on with the next thing.

Okay?

Let that go and then start becoming intentional.

And this is what the braindamp is going to allow you to do.

You are going to start reflecting with your journal and then you are going to start noticing,

Like,

This is not relevant anymore.

I don't want to do it.

This,

I want to promote this more,

So I'm going to do more of this.

This new idea came and I am very curious about doing that.

I'm going to write it down and make it a priority.

Okay?

So you start evolving.

You start becoming intentional.

And that's how this reflection is going to allow you to do that.

Another idea that you can do in your journal is doing what's called a habit tracker.

Okay?

So you can have a habit tracker and then you can track the different habits that you are trying to monitor.

Am I doing this?

Yes or no?

And then I have here from day one to day 31st,

And then I have three habits.

One,

Two,

Three.

Yeah.

So I have meditation.

I have doing my set of exercises and I have not biting my nails and I have running 20 minutes.

Okay?

As you can see,

The running,

Look,

Empty.

I didn't do it.

I did it two days.

One day I dropped the ball and then all these days I didn't even track it.

So I dropped the running because it wasn't for me.

I don't enjoy running that much.

I didn't do it,

But I gave it a try.

Okay?

So I have not biting my nails.

And then every day I was doing,

Did I bite my nails?

Yes or no?

If it was a no,

It was green.

If it was a yes,

It was a red.

So I didn't complete the habit of not biting my nails.

By the way,

I've been not biting my nails for a year now.

So I'm so proud of myself because I was able to do that.

Okay?

So habit tracker is another great way for you to create something on your journal.

Another great way that you can use Brain Dump for self-care in your journal or in a piece of paper so that you can display it is creating your own self-care list.

And this is my latest self-care list.

It's a little bit advanced.

Okay?

And I talk about this in the last session,

Creating a self-care list by activity type,

By person,

By I use different kind of colors.

I did some drawings.

Okay?

So this is another one that you can use a Brain Dump to explore self-care ideas.

Okay?

And then you can just include that in your journal.

So guys,

All these are ideas that just choose something that you feel excited about,

Choose something that you are overwhelmed with,

Choose something that you are frustrated with,

Choose something that you want to make happen.

And it's kind of like something that you are looking forward to.

So there are different intentions and the Brain Dump can be used in so many different ways.

Okay?

Amy says,

Quick question.

Did you grow the plant from a seed under the guitar?

Yeah.

So all these plants,

Guys,

I want to show you around because I know you're going to enjoy this shelf.

So my wife has a beautiful plant,

A beautiful shelf.

I don't know if you guys can see it,

But it's a glass shelf that goes across the two windows.

It's really long and she has a lot of little plants.

She also has plants hanging here.

Yeah.

And then she has in the basement,

She has a light and she has probably around 150 seedlings or more.

I don't know.

She's taking care of them.

She waters them every day.

She tells them nice things.

And then she's getting ready for May 24th here in Canada,

When we can plant those things in the ground.

Because in Canada,

The growing season is really short.

So she starts the seeds in the winter and then when spring comes,

They are ready to grow faster.

Okay?

So that's another thing.

She did a Brain Dump on how to organize her garden.

When to plant what seeds,

Because every seed takes different times.

Garlics,

You can plant them in the fall and they come back.

Some flowers,

Some plants,

Some veggies need to be planted at a specific time of the year.

And then all those things,

She was overwhelmed.

So she did a Brain Dump and then she did a Mind Map and then she created a strategy.

And then she did a little drawing of how the garden is going to look like,

Where the flowers are,

And then the Brain Dump technique helped her take the gardening to the next level.

Okay?

So I hope that that,

Guys,

Gives you some inspiration.

Okay?

For those of you who don't know,

I record all these sessions and they are posted on my profile.

You can also find them on my podcast,

Your Thriving Lifestyle.

Okay?

So all the recordings are in that podcast,

Or you can find them on Insight Timer once they are published.

It may take a couple of days.

Okay?

I also have three courses that you can check.

One about self-care,

One about minimalism,

And one about how to declutter your home.

Okay?

So make sure that you check all these resources.

In the meantime,

Between lives,

And then the next life that we are going to do together on Thursday,

It's going to be about mind mapping.

Okay?

So I hope you guys have an amazing rest of your day.

Let's do a little bit of silence before we leave.

Okay?

Let's intentionally transition out of this session.

Okay?

So I invite you to close your eyes,

Get comfortable,

If you can,

Of course,

And then just deep breathing for a few times,

Just in silence.

Okay?

The last one.

Okay,

Guys.

Thank you so much for being here today.

Thank you so much for your energy,

For your presence,

For your curiosity,

And for your willingness to always be open to new ideas and new concepts.

Okay?

I hope that you can give this brain dump a try.

I hope that it helps you improve your life.

And I hope that it becomes a habit that you do every time you feel overwhelmed or excited about something,

So that you can gain clarity and you can connect with the mental and the emotional aspect of yourself regarding that specific topic.

Okay?

Thank you so much for being here,

Guys.

I will see you on Thursday,

Or I will see you inside of one of my courses if you want to do that in the meantime.

Okay?

Have a beautiful rest of your day.

Adios.