We’re often juggling a lot between our work and home lives. Without separation, these two worlds can bombard our thoughts 24 hours a day, without any room for respite. This is when it becomes critical to have techniques to maintain balance.
Luckily, our brains are incredibly responsive to training: we can teach them what to think about and focus on. Often, if a thought or feeling keeps popping up while we’re trying to work on something else, it needs to be given an outlet before we can move on. Using the brain pour technique is a great way to train our capacity to park an issue while we focus.
The pre-work brain pour – Putting aside the personal
10-15 minutes before starting work, write down or dictate everything on your mind about your personal situation.
- Get a coffee and put pen to paper, create a computer document, or record a voice note
- List your ideas, things to remember, and emotions
- Move the thoughts and feelings from your head to something tangible, so you won’t keep thinking them over and over
- Close the book/computer/phone app and give yourself permission to park the situation until you’re ready to come back to it
This technique can also be used to create space from work in our time off. It’s increasingly common for major projects or workplace problems to seep into our home lives, impacting our relationships, enjoyment of down-time, and ability to rest. When something significant is going on at work, complete a similar process to close the day.
The post-work brain pour – Park the project
In your final 10-15 minutes of work, write down/dictate all work-related ideas, thoughts and feelings.
- At your desk or even on the commute home, record your work notes
- Include your to-do lists, but go beyond that
- Include feelings, challenges, causes of stress
- Reflect on things you may have done better, and acknowledge wins
- Assure yourself that you’ve noted everything important, and therefore don’t need to think about it until the next work day
Notice what consistently returns to your mind. Recurring feelings and thought-spirals are the most important things to write down, to give the brain permission to move elsewhere. In both work and personal dilemmas, one common thought pattern is replaying past conversations, or things we wish we’d said. Repeating thoughts along those lines are particularly helpful to put to paper.
Keeping work at work and home at home is a skill that requires practise, but is entirely achievable with the right techniques. The brain pour is just one of many ways to signal the end of one focus, and start of the next. There may be other techniques that work best for you… the most important thing is repetition. Mental fitness is trained like any other muscle, and will get stronger over time.