For those of you that don’t know me, you’ll soon realize I am a “big” fan of
Getting Things Done, a book and productivity method created by David Allen that has spread like wildfire in recent years. It’s the best way I’ve found to get things off my mind, get control of what I have or want to do, and just relax. Of all the things GTD has taught me, the one that has benefited me the most is the act of “collecting”.

Everyday, our minds can bug us like 30 alarm clocks going off with all the things we might, want, could, should or someday do. When you let that thought go, it’s really just like pressing the snooze button in your mind. At a later point in time, your mind WILL bring that thought back up again and most likely not during the best time for you to do something about it.

“How do we stop this?”, you might ask… By “writing it down”. Get it out of your head! Use a paper, a computer, an ipad or whatever you need so that you can stop the cycle of these needless reminders.

If you are feeling stressed, I dare you to give this a try. Just take out a piece of paper or open up a new document on your computer and just write down anything and everything that is on your mind. Need to fill a new picture frame? Write it down. Need to pick up a new spice at the grocery store for a recipe? Write it down. Think up a great new blog post topic? Write it down. Keep writing until your brain has nothing left to remind you about.

While doing this on a regular basis can make wondrous changes to your mood and stress levels, just doing this once will reveal immense benefits. All of us get stressed out, and mostly likely more regularly than we’d like. Externalizing what your mind is telling you is one of the best ways I know of to alleviate it.