I’ve not used a Windows machine regularly for probably 10+ years. Despite that fact, one of the things I remember having to do from time to time was to defrag the hard drive:

My understanding of the process was that defragging a hard drive would reorganize fragmented data to improve access speed and overall system performance.

Applying this to my own life

I’ve been maintaining a list of things that seem to help me when I start to feel overwhelmed, or my brain starts to feel foggy. I call this list my brain defrag:

• Journal “Things on my mind” – One of the most effective things I’ve learned to do is pull out my moleskin journal and write, “Things on my mind”, then list out literally everything that is kicking around in my brain. Just the process of getting thoughts out of my head can be extremely helpful. But I also find that I tend to find solutions to a decent number of the things that I write down. Going through this process maybe takes me 15 minutes. Coming out of it, I almost always feel better.
• Exercise – I’ve discovered 3 exercise related routines that I enjoy: Riding my bike (usually the same 10 mile loop), Going for a walk (Again, usually the same 45 min route), and doing some strength training (nothing fancy, some dips, pushups, and kettle bells).
• Breathing – If I don’t have time, this can be a great exercise. Breathe in for 6 seconds. Hold your breath for 6 seconds. Exhale for 6 seconds. and repeat that process 6 times.
• Gratitude – I borrowed this idea from Tony Robbins. Place both hands on your heart and just list out a bunch of the things you’re grateful for. If it’s a nice day I might do this standing outside with my eyes closed and my face and body pointing at the sun.
• Sleep – This one is hard for me to quantify. But my wife says she notices a difference when I’m getting sleep and when I’m trying to get by on too little sleep for too many days in a row. Luckily I am someone who can nap during the day without side effects.

If you have a second, I’d love to hear what types of things work for you, either in the comments below, or via email designpro@gmail.com.