Parking thoughts: notes that turn into plans

You are in the middle of a task, finally in the flow – and suddenly you remember that you still need to move the dentist appointment. And the present for Friday. And that the idea for the weekend would actually be good. Ten minutes later you have three tabs open and no longer know what you were working on. The solution: do not chase thoughts, park them.

Why thoughts keep coming back

The mind is good at holding on to open things. An unfinished thought keeps reporting back, as if it wanted to make sure it does not get lost. That is handy when you only have one thing on your mind. With twenty things it becomes exhausting: every thought knocks, every thought interrupts.

As soon as a thought is written down, in a place you trust, your mind no longer has to hold on to it. Many people describe this as a noticeable relief – as if a window in their head had been closed.

A fixed parking spot for ideas

For this to work, you need one single, fixed place for everything that comes to mind. Not three notebooks, two apps and a pile of sticky notes. One place you always have with you and trust.

Good parking spots have three qualities:

1. Fast. In within two seconds, without a form, without a category, without a date.
2. Always within reach. On your phone and on your computer, on the go and at your desk.
3. Emptied regularly. A parking spot nobody looks at turns into a junkyard.

Quick in, sort later

The most important rule of parking: do not decide right away. When something comes to mind in the middle of work, write it down in two seconds and go back. Do not think about when you will do it, do not research, do not take care of it “just quickly”. Sorting comes later, in a moment of its own.

That way your focus stays with the block you are working on – and the thought is still safe. This technique is also a fixed part of focused work, more in the article Deep work in everyday life.

Sort once a day

Once a day – for example during your day wrap-up – you go through the parking spot. For every thought there are four options:

• Plan it: this is a task with a point in time. It gets a day or a block.
• Do it: takes less than two minutes? Then right away.
• Keep it: an idea, a piece of information, a “maybe someday”. It may stay as a note.
• Drop it: was important in the moment, is not any more. Away with it.

Once a week you look more thoroughly, for example during your weekly planning. Then you pick from your notes what is due in the next few days.

The big emptying-your-head moment

Sometimes your head is so full that parking single thoughts is no longer enough. Then a deliberate moment helps in which everything comes out at once: ten minutes, an empty parking spot, and you write down whatever comes to mind without any order – tasks, worries, ideas, shopping, half-thoughts. Do not sort, do not judge, just write until nothing more comes.

Afterwards many people notice how much space these thoughts took up before. The list may look long, but it is finite – unlike the circling in your head. Good moments for this are Sunday evening, coming back from holiday or a day when everything gets too much. More about this “brain dump” in the article The art of the short list.

Note or task?

Not every thought has to become a task. A book tip, a present idea, a thought about the holiday – those are notes. They may be collected, without a date and without pressure.

A task is a thought with two additions: a next step and a point in time. “Present for Lena” is a note. “Saturday 11 am: buy present for Lena at the bookshop” is a task. The transition is easy as soon as you know when you want to do it.

Notes with sub-items

Some notes grow: the present ideas become a list, “garden” becomes “buy soil, clean pots, choose seeds”. Sub-items turn a vague thought into a small plan. When you then plan it, the sub-items come along as steps – and you can tick them off one by one.

Notes in DayBlock

DayBlock has notes for exactly this: thoughts land in a list with one tap, also with sub-items and with “@name” for people. Next to each item it says “plan”. One tap, and it becomes an entry in your plan – DayBlock recognises the time and day, just like in the input line. The note then shows when the entry is planned and is crossed out as soon as it is done.

If you plan a sub-item, the parent item comes along so it stays clear what it belongs to. Everything you do not plan stays safe in your notes – end-to-end encrypted, like everything in DayBlock.

Summary

Thoughts that are written down nowhere keep knocking. A fixed parking spot they fit into in two seconds, and a short moment each day for sorting, free your mind. Try it tomorrow: every idea is only parked, not chased. And in the evening you decide calmly what becomes of it.