For the past several days my head has been swirling with thoughts, more so than usual. Today I realized it is time for me to sweep it all out by doing a mindsweep, which is where you set down and write out everything that is your mind.
I am normally very good about writing down any action that comes into my mind. For example, if I am reading a book and the thought pops into my head “Verify integrity of WordPress database,” then I write that down on a 3×5 card and go back to reading my book. Later, when I go to the computer, I will either take that card with me and deal with it at that time, or I will put it into my Task List to do some other time.
Doing this consistently keeps things from “piling up” too quickly in my mind, and also keeps things from slipping through the cracks. But, I still find an occasional mindsweep.
This morning I sat down with a college-ruled legal pad and just starting writing everything that was on my mind. A lot of it is not actionable in its initially-written form. For example, one of the things I wrote down was that “Using tags does not seem to help blog traffic.” This is something that has been on my mind, swirling around with a lot of other non-actionable thoughts.
But, in writing them down, I go from a swirling mess to something concrete, something I can convert into actions. I have not decided an action for the example I just gave, but an action could be “research how other bloggers use tags.”
I will spend a good bit of time today writing out what is swirling in my mind. Over the course of the next few days, I will translate those fuzzy thoughts into actions. These will lead to more peace of mind for me, and will resolve a number of issues that have been bothering me.
Then, at some point in the future, other issues will begin swirling around in my mind, and I will have to do another mindsweep. It has been a few months since I have done one, and I probably should have done it a month or so ago.
Do you do a regular mindsweep? If so, do you use the pen and paper approach, a word processor, a mindmap, or some other tool?
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
mike moore 10.25.07 at 1:16 pm
I don’t do a mind sweep although I probably should, although it would probably be brief.
What I’ve started doing is making voice notes on my Motorola Q whenever something pops into my head that I want to remember for a future action. I seem to always have the cell phone with me so I can do this where before if I was driving I’d either try to remember (usually unsuccessfully) or try find a pen and paper and jot it down without having an accident. Later I type the note into List Pro or PhatNotes for action later.
Bruce 10.25.07 at 2:25 pm
That’s a great practice you have, Mike. No matter how hard I work at it, though, there’s always something floating around in that head of mine that a mindsweep helps put on paper.
Voice notes sure can come in handy, though. I probably do not use them enough.
Thomas R. Hall 10.26.07 at 12:22 pm
@mike moore
If you have Internet access on your Morotola Q, you may want to consider using VoiceMinder[1], which is available for Windows Mobile PocketPC and Smartphone editions. It allows you to record a note and email it automatically to an email address of your choosing. That way, you don’t have to manually go through your Voice Notes and add it.
In addition, you could use either Jott[2] (free) or SimulScribe[3] (subscription) as a speed dial number directly, which gets transcribed and emailed to you as text. This makes it easier to add to ListPro or PhatNotes. Both services also allow you to take already recorded files and email them to the service to get the message back transcribed.
@Bruce - I just found out while posting this that VoiceMinder is now available for the BlackBerry. As you may recall, this was one of the apps that I really wanted on the BlackBerry, and apparently, it has been ported over! I haven’t tried it yet, but I will let you know if it is as easy to use as the WM version.
[1]: VoiceMinder - http://www.webis.net/products_info.php?p_id=voiceminder
[2]: Jott - http://www.jott.com/
[3]: SimulScribe - http://www.simulscribe.com/
Bruce 10.26.07 at 12:54 pm
Great comments, Thomas!
And thanks for the info on VoiceMinder being available for BlackBerry now. I’ll give it a shot.
mike moore 10.27.07 at 7:48 am
Thomas R. Hall, thank you for the Jott information, I’m trying it out. I got Voiceminder for free awhile ago but haven’t used it yet. I agree that either of these are an improvement over plain Voice Notes because with Notes you have to actually remember you made one. With Jott the email makes it far more obvious.
Wietero 11.01.07 at 8:47 am
Hi,
It’s interesting to see how this topic evolves in a technical one and I don’t believe this was the purpose.
I do have what I call every month an “unplugged” day. A day spent at the office, using no equipment and having no meetings. I might read, I might think but usually, I start reading something and then ideas pop up and I want to register them in a digital way, powerpoint, word or email. But if I do it, my creativity fades. I probably get lost in websites or reading emails or whatever. I kind of found a way resisting this and the unplugged days I have lately, or really helpful. My palm does remind me in the beginning of the month if I have planned an unplugged day
I also have about 3 times in 2 years a weekend for myself when I don’t take anything but a notebook, a pen and a good bottle of wine. It’s enourmously refreshing if you come back on Sunday night. Highly recommended. And then you realise after such a weekend that without phone or television or pc or whatever, is really not that hard.