Let's just call this a small tip in the "organizing your thoughts" category.

I find that when I get too many things going at once, I end up with my thoughts going in circles. I'm never fully able to concentrate on one task because I'm thinking about all of them at once. This first happened to me as a Freshman in college, and an older/wiser sister told me to make a "to-do" list.

Since then I've made several "to-do" lists, but sometimes a simple list won't work. If you can't wind down to sleep at night, can't seem to get all of your "projects" done, or can't remember what day it is.....may I suggest creating an "Empty the Brain" list.

Prepare for an analogy: When I'm sorting through drawers, cabinets, boxes etc...I find that it's easier an more efficient to just dump the entire container onto the floor. Of course this is never the first thing that I tackle in a room as I usually have to make floor space in order to do it. If I tried to sort everything while it was still in the container, there will always be stuff that I missed, and sometimes I don't see very obvious connections.

So to apply this same strategy to my thoughts makes perfect sense. Get a pen/pencil (crayon if you have to) and something to write on, and then just go!! Write down everything that is bouncing around in your brain, even if you have to leave one topic to start writing about another because your thoughts are racing. Then when everything is out of your brain (just like the drawer's contents on the floor) you can go back through and sort out those thoughts into: to-dos, goals, ambitions, memories, epiphanies....what have you.

Plus I just think the name is funny....it makes me smile to see "empty the brain" instead of "to-do" at the top of my list.