Shownotes
Closing open loops in your brain is essential for finding peace and preventing burnout. Today’s episode emphasizes the importance of doing a brain dump to release all those nagging thoughts and tasks that keep your mind racing. By getting everything out of your head and onto paper, you can identify quick wins—simple tasks that take little time to complete—and delegate responsibilities that don’t need to fall solely on your shoulders.
Episode Highlights
- What is an “open loop,” and why does it make life so hard?
- Coming face-to-face with the chaos in your head
- Identifying the Quick Wins
- Do what you must, and delegate what you can
- Finding clarity, peace, and breathing room to rest
Resource Mentioned
Related Episodes You Might Also Like
- EP 4 - The Best Way to Avoid Burnout
- EP 15 - My Favorite Time Management Tools
- EP 17 - Identifying Priorities as a Work-at-Home Mom
- EP 23 - RR: Essentialism by Greg McKeown
- EP 41 - Are You Sleepwalking Through Life?
Connect with Rachel
- Website: racheldbaker.com
- Instagram: @rachel.d.baker
- Email: rachel@racheldbaker.com
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Transcripts
Welcome to episode 51.
Speaker A:Today we're going to talk about closing open loops in your brain so you can find your peace.
Speaker A:First of all, what do I mean by open loops?
Speaker A:So when we're talking about our brain, open loops keep your brain active even when you're supposed to be taking a break.
Speaker A:Because we have this natural obsession with unfinished business, we just can't shut it off.
Speaker A:Our body and our spirit might be trying to provide the brain with the feedback that it's time to chill the heck out, but those open loops of unfinished business are not in receive mode.
Speaker A:So if we can't shut off the brain, we need to close the loops.
Speaker A:And the best place I know to start when I want to close all those open loops is with a brain dump.
Speaker A:If you've been here for very long in this community of ours, you know how I feel about doing a brain dump.
Speaker A:This is getting everything out of your head and where you can see it with your eyeballs.
Speaker A:It makes that chaos just a little more tangible so there's no more swirling inside your head.
Speaker A:And when you can see it, then you can actually do something with it.
Speaker A:And as you get it all out of your head, you do the brain dump.
Speaker A:Maybe this is written with actual pen and paper.
Speaker A:Maybe this is a note on your phone.
Speaker A:Maybe it's a Google Doc.
Speaker A:Whatever floats your boat, getting it out of your brain and in front of your eyeballs.
Speaker A:There are two things you're going to look for to help you close these open loops.
Speaker A:First, we're going to look for the quick wins.
Speaker A:And second, we're going to look for tasks to delegate.
Speaker A:And I want to dive into each of these just a little bit more.
Speaker A:So first we're going to find the quick fix.
Speaker A:What are the items that you've dumped out that aren't going to take very long or they're not going to take very much effort?
Speaker A:This is something that's going to take maybe a minute or two, and it's going to knock something off the list.
Speaker A:Get it off your plate, clear that space in your mind, close the loop.
Speaker A:Couple of examples that I've had recently.
Speaker A:Maybe there is something on the car that needs to be fixed.
Speaker A:It's not that your car is totally busted on the side of the road and needs a major overhaul.
Speaker A:This is.
Speaker A:There's something small on the car.
Speaker A:It needs to be fixed.
Speaker A:It's kind of annoying, but you've just been letting it go and it just kind of does that nagging thing in your head.
Speaker A:You know what I'm Talking about, maybe you forget about it when you get out of the car.
Speaker A:But then every time you get back in the car, there it is again.
Speaker A:And you're like, why is it still here?
Speaker A:This is probably something as simple as making a phone call.
Speaker A:Or nowadays, a lot of times you can just go online and schedule on a website.
Speaker A:It's a quick, easy thing.
Speaker A:And then you know you've taken action and you're moving in the right direction to get that thing taken care of.
Speaker A:Close that loop.
Speaker A:That's what we're just going to keep chanting that.
Speaker A:Close that loop.
Speaker A:This could also be something like maybe you keep seeing ants in the kitchen.
Speaker A:Oh, does anybody else ever had this?
Speaker A:It grosses me out beyond belief, but let's just say it's not just me and you've seen some ants in the kitchen.
Speaker A:It's not all the time.
Speaker A:It's not like you have an infestation.
Speaker A:It's just enough that when it happens, it makes you crazy and you keep forgetting to do something about it.
Speaker A:When you dump it out of your brain and you see it there, maybe it's as simple as ordering some baits to get rid of them, kill them off.
Speaker A:Or maybe you very quickly make that appointment with pest control to come out to your house and take care of it.
Speaker A:Whichever route you decide to go, that's a quick win.
Speaker A:And already just with maybe a couple of phone calls or a couple of online appointments or orders, you've done the things, those are being taken care of and you don't have to keep thinking about them.
Speaker A:Loop closed.
Speaker A:Wasn't that nice?
Speaker A:So anything that's like that, that is a quick win.
Speaker A:See it in front of your face with your brain dump.
Speaker A:Knock it off.
Speaker A:Really fast.
Speaker A:Move on.
Speaker A:The second way that you can close some of these open loops is delegate.
Speaker A:So when you've done your brain dump, you found the tasks that are quick wins.
Speaker A:But I also want you to look for things that you could delegate.
Speaker A:Because the idea that every blessed thing has to live on your plate is garbage.
Speaker A:Can I, like, let's just call it what it is, okay?
Speaker A:It's garbage.
Speaker A:You are doing so much to take care of all the things and help everyone else, but you do not have to do all the things for all the people all alone.
Speaker A:Did you know that?
Speaker A:I'm going to say that one more time, just in case that one slipped by.
Speaker A:You do not have to do all the things for all the people all alone or all the time.
Speaker A:I'll just tack that on there.
Speaker A:And these might be Things like groceries.
Speaker A:Can we just talk about groceries for a second?
Speaker A:I have feelings.
Speaker A:I have feelings about groceries.
Speaker A:First of all, cooking is not my forte.
Speaker A:We all have our strengths.
Speaker A:This one's not mine, but just the groceries.
Speaker A:There's this beautiful thing that exists now called pickup.
Speaker A:You want to take it a step further?
Speaker A:They also have delivery.
Speaker A:And it absolutely depends on your preference.
Speaker A:It depends on where you live, what's available to you, the finances.
Speaker A:I completely understand all that.
Speaker A:So you do you.
Speaker A:I can't decide this for you, but I want you to know there are options out there for you.
Speaker A:And if it takes you an hour or two to get groceries every week, maybe this is an option to look into.
Speaker A:Maybe you make out your list, do a quick online order, and then you just have to pick them up, or maybe somebody picks them up and brings them to you.
Speaker A:I'm just saying these are options.
Speaker A:That's a thing you can delegate.
Speaker A:It's a thing that needs to be done, but maybe it doesn't have to be done by you every time.
Speaker A:Something else along these lines is household chores.
Speaker A:Now, a lot of times when I say, let's delegate those household chores, people are like, I can't hire someone to come clean my house.
Speaker A:I get that.
Speaker A:And maybe you can, maybe you can't.
Speaker A:That's completely up to you.
Speaker A:But that's not the only option either.
Speaker A:If you live with someone else, if you have a spouse, or if you have a friend or family member that you share your living arrangements with, they can also do some of those things if you have children.
Speaker A:I love training my children to do household chores.
Speaker A:I have had situations before with friends where we would trade off times helping each other with things like that around the house.
Speaker A:So you can ask for help or you can pay for a service, but there are so many things where you don't have to be the one doing it all.
Speaker A:You're already doing a whole lot.
Speaker A:Find the things that could maybe live on somebody else's plate just for a little bit and see how that works out for you.
Speaker A:And you monitor and adjust as you go.
Speaker A:Keeping open loops in your brain is a one way ticket to burnout.
Speaker A:Your body says, let's rest, but your brain can't stop when there's this unfinished business.
Speaker A:Dump everything out of your brain and onto the page where you can see it.
Speaker A:Find those quick wins, knock them out, and delegate the tasks that need to be done, but not necessarily by you.
Speaker A:Closing those open loops is going to bring you clarity and peace and rest.
Speaker A:And this is honestly one of the quickest ways I have found to create some breathing room in my life.
Speaker A:And if you're ready to really get intentional and close those open loops, I have a fantastic resource for you.
Speaker A:Overcome the Overwhelm.
Speaker A:It's a digital training I created to walk you through the process of getting everything out of your head, prioritizing those tasks, and creating an actionable plan to get stuff done.
Speaker A:It includes six training videos that break down the system into these bite size manageable lessons.
Speaker A:And there's a PDF workbook that provides links to all the trainings, printable resources, and links to other helpful tools that I just love and want to share.
Speaker A:You're also going to get email support with tips and tricks to help you stay on track, so click the link in the Show Notes to sign up for this digital training.
Speaker A:If that sounds like something that would be helpful for you, you can also visit racheldbaker.com courses I would love to see you in there.
Speaker A:It's one of my favorite resources that I have shared.
Speaker A:I use it all the time in my own life, personal and business, and I'm excited to share it with you.
Speaker A:So check that out.
Speaker A:Link in the Show Notes or Rachel D.
Speaker A:Baker.com courses.
