Sorting My Squishy Brain

I started the week experiencing waves of nausea from stress.

While unpleasant, I found myself curious.

My usual bodily response to overwhelming stress has been painful back-aches, limping due to tightness in my hips, paralyzing knee pain, migraines, and tension headaches.

I could handle nausea and some reflux!

The difference this time was noting my bodily discomfort earlier, listening to see what it had to tell me, and doing what felt right to ME to relieve it.

I have been reading “Steal Like An Artist” by Austin Kleon during lunch with my dog Ruby.

He pointed out a novel way to unload your brain into a notebook using a “Log Book”

I was so excited about the energy it gave me during the day I picked up Austin’s second book “Show Your Work” and learned about the economic concept of “Turning Flow into Stock”.

During my day-to-day, my background “Flow” is connecting the dots about personal development projects myself, family, and friends are working on.

My “Stock” however are the projects I am figuring out how to launch into the world, including a book, an online community, and various side money gigs.

I noticed after a looking over my entries in my log book that my Flow and Stock are heavily mixed throughout my day.

This was the cause of my stress and subsequent nausea!

I know I need an organizational system…I have tried many over the years.

And then that day “Bullet Journaling” came on my radar, a method casually dropped by Tom Kuegler during his Mind of a Writer Q&A.

It was like my Iron Man suit had locked onto it’s target and Jarvis was telling me, “Fire!”

Next thing I knew I was at the library checking out a book written by the creator of the method, Ryder Carroll.

I binged on the book and started transtioning my notebook from a “Log Journal” to a “Bullet Journal”

I’m three days in so the jury is still out.

However…

• Connected all the dots floating in my head.

• Finished writing this first blog post during one day.

• Posted it to my own website braddidericksen.com

This tells me I have discovered something new about myself in the process.

“If something is not worth the few seconds it takes to write it by hand, then chances are it’s really not important.”

I’m relieved I now have a dedicated place to capture my Flow that will eventually lead to my Stock getting out into the world.

The Bullet Journal may or may not work out in the long-term…

…so I’m leaving this empty page here as a reminder Brad, to start here next time you are feeling the symptoms of overwhelm.