Productivity Tip for
When The Whelm Spilleth Over.
November 1 2025
Long story but in my mid 50s, I have found myself healing from repressed childhood and teenhood abuse, which caused me trauma and had me running on empty, from myself, for 50 years, until I broke… apart? through? Down. I was 51. It was about time. It was painful. The bones of my brain broke and I was mush. Stories for another time.
Healing works but it is hard. Restructuring and/or rebuilding ones brain feels impossible, but is possible. IS the point.
It is no longer widely known that “whelm” itself means overwhelmed. When someone says they are “whelmed” that is them saying they are -what we now say and know as- “overwhelmed”.
OVER whelmed is the Word of The Zeitgeist in 2025. We are not just whelmed, we are overwhelmed.
If you are having trouble getting through tasks because the whelm overflows and spilleth over, and/ or you may have been diagnosed with ADHD or have CPTSD like me, I feel this may help you structure focus. It has helped me immensely. It’s quite simplistic but the brain needs to be guided like a child. Love your brain please, a remarkable work of heart.
You will need Post-It type note pads. Lots. Or small squares of paper. Squares are better for this, I feel, mentally, like building blocks.
Yes going through pads of Post-Its or equivalent and paper may seem wasteful but dispose responsibly and make up for it when your thinking pathways aren’t fogged. I am not being breezy, I am saying use resources well, whatever way they are used.
Without further ado … Productivity Tip for When The Whelm Spilleth Over.
Write down everything you have to do just one after the other on a notepad, number them. This is not to overwhelm you, this is NOT a “to-do”list, it’s a “brain dump”.
Further reading about brain dumping over column/below.
- One task per Post-It.
- Assign an hour if the task is something you need to start.
- Complete the task if it is something you need to finish.
- Please note, if you have to send emails ONE email per Post-It. Not EMAILS as the task.
- Then upon completion SCRUNCH the Post-It and throw it.
- Something I do that may help someone else… I write the task in my main diary AFTER scrunching and tick them.
- It is very satisfying seeing yourself get through tasks and accomplishing satisfaction.
Sandhya Nand – PublisherBRAIN DUMPING. Sounds basic but is brilliant. Read more here:-
1. Using Brain Dumping to Manage Your Mental Health [anxiety and overthinking] co-authored by two cool women, Danielle Wade and Saya Des Marais,
Psych Central, October 2022
“Brain dumping is similar to journaling, with the key difference being that it’s time-limited. Instead of focusing on writing about one event, brain dumping allows you to get down all of your thoughts in a speedy manner (usually within 5 or 10 minutes).
The idea is that when you get all of the thoughts crowding your head on paper, you free up space in your brain to be productive and learn new things.”
“A brain dump is a simple yet effective mental decluttering technique. Essentially, it involves transferring all the thoughts, worries, ideas, and to-do lists floating around in your head onto paper or a digital platform.”
I recommend paper, deep dive here; Why Writing by Hand Is Better for Memory and Learning – Scientific American, February 2024.
“This process of externalizing your thoughts helps to create mental space, providing more clarity and allowing you to focus on what’s truly important. […]
Imagine your mind as a computer. Sometimes, it gets cluttered with too many open tabs and processes, which slows it down. A brain dump is like clearing out those tabs and offloading unnecessary information so you can operate more efficiently.‘
The Mend