Emptying Your Psychic RAM by Meggin McIntosh, PhD

Remember, last week, you learned about the concept of Psychic RAM, i.e., keeping all the things you want to do, need to do, might do–all whirling around in your head. An overloaded psychic RAM will shut you down just as surely as an overloaded RAM will shut down your computer. To empty out your psychic RAM, consider these productivity tips:

1. Never miss the opportunity to write something down.
2. Have good places for capturing your thoughts (planner, smartphone, etc).
3. Process those places regularly.
4. Don’t have too many places where you collect your thoughts.
5. Go through your calendar…day by day, month by month and see what pops into your head. Then write it down and get it out of your psychic RAM!
6. Just sit and think. Your brain is happy to tell you what is whirling around in there. Just give it time to do so. Then write it down and get it out of your psychic RAM.
7. Walk around your house and see what pops into your head and capture those thoughts.
8. Walk around your office, classroom, or lab and see what pops into your head and capture those thoughts.
9. Ask those close to you, “Is there anything I need to be attending to?” Capture what they tell you.
10. While you’re sitting in meetings, see what pops into your head–and it may or may not be related to the meeting. That’s OK. Capture it (see Tip #1 above).

Once you get started keeping a clear psychic RAM, you won’t believe the difference. So, take a few minutes and start right now. Last week, I mentioned David Allen’s book, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. In case you haven’t read it yet, consider doing so.

And if you liked these tips you may be interested in the Get a Plan! Guide® to Ridding Your Workspace of Clutter part of the Get a Plan! Guides® series designed to give you the ideas and inspiration to do your work easier, faster, and in a more focused fashion.