When you are hosting your first sprint meeting, you will need to know what is actually on your list of desired home projects. It is incredibly hard to create this list when you have a million things swarming around in your head. Everything is competing and can seem like the most important thing because it is the first thing that came to mind.
Imagine your Dorthy and your thoughts are the tornado that takes you away from Kansas. In this case, we want to move away from Kansas as we know it but not end up in Oz.
The start of the process might find us feeling like the cowardly lion. We might experience anxiousness about sitting down to write the list in the first place. We might be scared of some of the things that come out of our brain and onto the paper. We might even want to run and hide from some of the projects that feel overwhelming.
We might feel like the Tin Man with no heart. You may find that you want to give up things that once were dear to you. You might not feel comfortable about a project someone else has put on your to-do list over time. You may want to cut back on spending time in certain places or with certain people.
We might feel like the Scarecrow with no brain. We may sit there for a really long time coming up with nothing. We may have things flow easily at first and then get stuck. We may start to feel anxious about not coming up with anything.
All of these feelings are normal but the brain dump is still important. It’s important to make the new, lush Kansas that you want to be living in versus the tornado that our life can feel like when we haven’t put it together in a meaningful and intentional way.
So how does a brain dump work?
You get your favorite pen or pencil and a piece of paper. You sit down and just try to let go of yourself and let your brain flow into your fingers. I promise it might be uncomfortable but it will be worth it.
Here are a few examples from a recent brain dump for me:
- Find more time to meditate
- Walk 2mi every other day
- See if the school can put all asynchronous learning into the application in AM instead of timed release
- Buy dry erase markers
- Build play area out of cardboard for kids
- Check on old friends and join them for social outings
- Plan a trip with best friend for when this is all over
- See Cher live
- Figure out new entryway solution since hooks fell down in summer heat
- Clean up computer and move things to the cloud
So you’ll see that in that brain dump I mostly came up with things that I’d like to do. I’ll also admit that one of the best pieces of advice I ever got was to brain dump until it hurts. You’ll know you’ve got it all out when it’s a little uncomfortable but you come up with those last few things that are really deep down there.
Now you can prioritize.
Which of these items is your #1? #2? Etc…
This will allow you to go to the meeting and assess your top priority with the priorities of everyone else. Then you’ll be able to plan the best first sprint possible.
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