For many years, whenever my brain had an idea, I felt a compulsion to write it down. What started out as bursts of inspiration slowly—and, eventually, quickly—transformed into a habit driven by anxiety. I didn’t want to let any idea “get away from me.” I felt like if I forgot, I could be missing a potentially life-changing idea. 

I gradually realized that my mind was often very full of chatter, and it would be impossible to fully write every idea down. I had to find a new way to manage this. Here are some things I realized:

I needed to better distinguish chatter—fueled by anxiety, paranoia, and fear—from inspiration—fueled by curiosity, delight, and trust.

Whatever I learn will stay with me, some way, somehow. “I cannot remember the books I’ve read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me,” Ralph Waldo Emerson writes (via Jim Nielsen). 

Prioritization is like going to the gym: while it feels awful in the moment to give up on an idea, or to feel like you’re let it go, the ensuing focus, clarity, and effectiveness feel great. In order to do something, you need to give up everything else in that moment.

I still write things down, many times a day. What I try to do less of is feel bad when I don’t write something down—or when I want to stay in the present, and let go—which means giving my unconscious brain some time to sort out if an idea is worth writing down or not.