I’ve been in my office for a few days now,  with deadline work and research to do. However the deadline work hasn’t been getting done, because the research is on my mind.

You know how it is when you are thinking about something that you are going to do? Something that will be happening or something that you feel you should do or want to do? Maybe you’re actually worrying about something, rather than just thinking about it. All this occupies space in your head. It’s literally on top of your mind, weighing you down. This means that all the other processes going on in your brain are running more slowly. It’s like running several programmes at once on your computer. There isn’t enough processor capacity or memory space for them all to run effectively.

When you have something “on your mind” you need to get it off your mind.

The best way to do this is to take some action. You could:

• actually get on and do that job you’re thinking about. That would certainly take it off your mind and be a positive step.
• discuss it with someone else, write about it or spend some time meditating on the subject.
• decide to give yourself the space to think about it at another time, so you can allow yourself to get on with all the other jobs that are demanding your attention.
• tell yourself, just before you got to sleep tonight, that the issue will be resolved when you wake up.
• make a list of what you need to do so that when you are ready you can just get on with it.

I decided to do my research and this has helped me to make a decision. My head space has now been freed up for the deadline work.

What’s on your mind today? What will you do to free your mind and tackle your priority tasks?