2.2 The Steps

STEP 1, Empty everything out

Write a fast list of everything that started coming up:

Examples: 

Tasks for tomorrow
Things you need to remember
Decisions you’re trying to make
Messages or conversations you need to have
Worries about what could go wrong
Anything you keep mentally rehearsing

Don’t organize or make decisions about things yet.

When your brain is trying to keep multiple things from being forgotten, it has to keep bringing them back into working memory. That’s part of why the same tasks, reminders, and worries can keep resurfacing as soon as you lie down.

Writing them down is a form of cognitive offloading. You’re moving the details out of internal monitoring and into an external place you can see.

STEP 2, Give each thing a future home

Go back through your list and mark each item with one of these:

Tomorrow
This week
Later
Not mine to solve right now

When your brain doesn’t have a clear sense of when something will be handled, it can end  up rehearsing it over and over. Giving each item a future home tells your prefrontal cortex that there’s a place for the item in the plan, so it doesn’t have to keep holding it in working memory. 

STEP 3, Find the underlying urgent item

Look at the list in Step 2, above and write:

I think the thing my brain is most afraid of forgetting, missing, or getting wrong is…

Write whatever comes up.

Sometimes the whole list feels urgent because there’s one concern underneath it that is carrying most of the threat. It might be letting someone down, falling behind, making the wrong choice, losing an opportunity, or not being prepared enough.

Your amygdala and threat-monitoring systems don’t always distinguish between a small reminder and a bigger fear underneath it. Once your brain detects something consequential, it can keep scanning for more things that might go wrong.

Naming the central concern helps make the signal more specific. Instead of your whole mind being on alert, you can see what your brain is actually trying to protect you from.

STEP 4, Tomorrow’s quick action plan

Write:

The first small thing I can do about this tomorrow is…

Examples:

Open the document
Send the email
Put it on my calendar
Decide after I sleep
Look at the list again at 9 a.m.

Note - if you come up with more than one urgent item in step 3, you can repeat this a couple of times. Limit it to 3 urgent items, though, and mark any others with a time to revisit tomorrow. 

Writing down a specific next action cues your brain that you’ve got a plan for the urgent item(s) and that they’ll be handled tomorrow. 

STEP 5, Park it for the night

Write, or create your own version:

Tomorrow is written down and managed. I don’t need to keep holding it in my head tonight.

You’re cuing your brain that you’ve contained tomorrow’s list, that that job is done for tonight, and that you can let go of all of it and shift into rest.