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Passion and creativity are most useful when matched with focus on impact. But that’s easier said than done when your internal voice bounces like a pinball.

(So says Deb Puchalla of Dinner Tonight, while commenting on an article called Do You Have Entrepreneurial ADD?)

Since I do have entrepreneurial ADD, and my internal voice does in fact bounce like a pinball, this hit home for me.

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Oooo, shiny!

Wait. Focus. Let me look at my list.

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Developing strategies to organize your brain can be a necessary part of life, especially when life seems to be moving faster than a speeding bullet and everything seems so interesting.

(Photo: Creative Commons image by Randy Son Of Robert.)

Here are a few strategies that can help:

• Write it down. - Lists can be great, both for prioritizing things to do and for setting distracting thoughts aside temporarily.

  Examples of useful lists include a daily to-do list, a master list of projects in order of priority, and idea lists broken down by project. Keeping those lists handy, whether in a paper planner or virtually via a service like Google Documents, allows for quick brain dumps and easy reference. Just remember to write & move on, or refer & do.

  Calendars are helpful for keeping random thoughts of “oh I have to pay the property taxes next month” from becoming brain clutter. The same idea applies: write it down and move on, then refer and do when the task gets closer.

• Set limits. - Whether it’s limiting a to-do list to one time-consuming thing per day plus a few 5-10 minute things (and then doing the time-consuming thing first), or limiting the total number of projects in progress at a time, setting limits helps the brain to focus. Limits also help with organization because things actually start getting done instead of just multiplying and cluttering up the brain.
• Develop mantras. - Mantras help to redirect the brain and keep it on track. Mine are “Focus!” (for when my brain goes off into oooo shiny land) and “No new projects” (both for when I’m tempted to say yes to working on a project that isn’t even one of my own, and for when I’ve reached my limit of doable projects period.)
• Know thyself. - Everyone has their weaknesses. Figuring out what those weaknesses are can go a long way toward organizing the brain, because workarounds and plans can then be developed to counteract the weaknesses.
• Find the sweet spots. - Likewise, everyone has their strong points. Do you focus best in a quiet room? With music going? In the early mornings? After a five-minute stroll? Organize your day to capitalize on the ways that your brain works best. Work on the most important projects during those times when you’ll be the most focused. Remember that strengthening strengths can be more advantageous than strengthening weaknesses.
• Go wild. - Give yourself permission to go wild with ideas now and then — within a set time period. Corralling ideas into a set time frame acts like a brainstorming session and make it easier to remain organized and focused during other times.
• Circle around. - Some people find it easier to tackle projects in a series. (Especially people who get bored easily or have entrepreneurial ADD.) Consider really focusing on one project for a period of time (say, a couple of days or a week) and then giving the next-most-important project the spotlight. This can work well if there are two or three main projects that are being tightly rotated until they are completed. (It’s that last bit that is key.)