Something to doWorkload & wellbeing
Get the worries out of your head
A simple worksheet to get work off your mind, one next step at a time
Why it’s worth your time
A worry with no next step tends to keep circling. Writing each one down, with the smallest next move or a plain “not yet,” gives it somewhere to land so you can stop holding it. Ten minutes is usually enough to turn a crowded head into a short page.
How to do a mind sweep
You’ll come away with everything on your mind on one page, each with a next step or a rest.
We’ll turn this into a checklist you can tick off.
- Set a timer for ten minutes.
Somewhere quiet, with something to write on. The limit helps; it keeps this from turning into a planning session.
- Write down everything on your mind.
Work only, and all of it: the big project, the awkward email, the thing someone said in a meeting, the task you forgot yesterday. Don't sort or judge. If it's taking up space, it goes down.
Stays in this browser only. Nobody else sees it.
Tip: Use the prompts if you stall. They're there to jog your memory, not to fence you in.
- Add a next step, or mark it not yet.
For each item, the smallest physical action that would move it: send, ask, draft, book. If there's genuinely nothing to do until something else happens, write that, and when you'll look again.
- Put the steps where you'll see them.
Anything with a date goes on your calendar; the rest goes on your list. Then close the page.
- Take one step now.
Pick the smallest step on the page and do it before you stop. Starting one tends to loosen the rest.
Good moments for this: when work follows you homeat the end of a heavy weekthe day before time off
We’ll turn this into a checklist you can tick off.
Keep going with Truest
Small actions add up. Truest helps you find the next thing worth doing, make the space to do it, and keep a record of your progress. It’s a private place to work on your career, and it’s yours, not your employer’s.
- It actually happensDo it now, and you’ve invested in your career today.
- Part of the check-inThe end-of-day text asks for two scores and a line; this fits in it.
- It’s yours to keepEach thing you do is saved to your private record, there when your next review or job search comes around.
Anything else we can help you with this week?
Making it work for you
Every workplace is different. Here’s what to think about before you start, and what might get in the way.
Things to think about
What the reorg means, whether a project is at risk: someone could often answer in a sentence. When the next step is to ask, asking is usually shorter than the worrying.
What might make this harder
That's common the first time, and it's the point. Give next steps to the ten that weigh most; the rest can wait for tomorrow's page.
Questions people ask
How do I stop worrying about work?
Before you stop for the day, write down everything that's on your mind and a next step for each. Having it somewhere reliable makes it much easier to let go of.
What is a brain dump?
Writing down everything on your mind, without sorting it, to clear your head. Adding a next step to each item turns it from a release into a plan.
What is a mind sweep?
In David Allen's Getting Things Done, a mind sweep is a deliberate pass through everything on your mind, capturing each item so it can be decided on rather than carried.
Does writing down worries actually help?
Many people find it does, and psychologists have studied writing about difficult things for decades. In our experience, it helps most when you also decide what, if anything, to do next.
Why this works, and where it comes from
Work has a way of staying on after the laptop closes, not because it's urgent but because it's unfinished. Most of what circles at eleven at night isn't a problem you can solve at eleven at night. It's a reminder with nowhere to go, and it keeps coming back because nothing has told it where to wait.
The first half of this is what David Allen calls a mind sweep in Getting Things Done: a deliberate pass through everything on your mind, so nothing is held only in your head. Deciding a next action for each item is his idea too. Psychologist James Pennebaker's research on expressive writing adds a gentler reason to use paper rather than your head: writing about difficult experiences, even for a few minutes, has been found to help many people feel better.
The nothing to do yet answer is where a lot of the calm comes from. Plenty of work worry is about things that are waiting on someone else: a decision, a reply, a reorg nobody has explained. You can't act on them, and your mind keeps checking anyway. Writing down that there's nothing to do, and when you'll look again, lets you stop checking without feeling careless.
Some worries aren't about tasks at all. If you're lying awake over how you're treated at work, or whether you can keep going at this pace, a list will only organize the symptoms. That's worth saying out loud to someone, your manager, a friend, or a professional if it's heavy. A page of next steps helps a busy mind; it doesn't replace being heard.
Other simple things to consider
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Written by Truest, based on Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity (David Allen); similar to Opening Up by Writing It Down (James W. Pennebaker and Joshua M. Smyth). Last updated September 25, 2026. We sell a career membership; where that’s relevant above, we say so.