Idea overload can be exhausting
Does your brain feel like a popcorn machine some days? One idea pops, then another, and before you know it, you’re juggling so many thoughts that choosing where to focus feels impossible. If this sounds familiar, you might just have Popcorn Brain.
Okay, so it’s not a medical diagnosis, but it’s real enough for sparky-brained women who experience this constant mental fireworks show. While it’s often a sign of creativity and resourcefulness, it can also lead to overwhelm, decision fatigue, and frustration when it feels like your best ideas are slipping through the cracks.
The good news? There’s a way to manage it. It’s called Self-leadership – a philosophy and practice that helps you turn chaos into clarity, moving you from perpetual potential to impactful progress.
What is Popcorn Brain?
Popcorn Brain is the term I use to describe that sparky mental state where brilliant ideas tumble over each other like kernels in a hot pan. It’s exciting but exhausting. Symptoms might include:
- 💡 A flood of creative ideas that all feel urgent and important.
- ⏳ Difficulty prioritising tasks because everything seems equally valuable.
- ⚡ Frequent interruptions from your thoughts as new ideas demand attention.
- 🕒 A sense of urgency to act on ideas immediately for fear of losing the spark
- 🤯 Frustration at being unable to organise, capture, or act on all your thoughts effectively.
It’s a hallmark of neurodivergent and ADHD women, but anyone with a fast-moving mind can likely relate.
The Hidden Strengths of Popcorn Brain
Before we dive into solutions, let’s pause and do a wee reframe of the challenge. Popcorn Brain can definitely feel overwhelming at times, but it’s not an inherent design flaw – it’s pretty much the constant state of my brain, and I like to see it as a creative superpower.
Whenever I’m with a client in a personal planning workshop, I LOVE how my brain buzzes around, making connecting between fragmented parts of their business, turning them into a coherent whole.
I love how it pops out original names for services and programs and how new possibilities appear out of nowhere. I’ve lost count of the number of times it’s injected the energy and novelty that has got someone “unstuck”.
So yes, Popcorn Brain invariably means you’re imaginative, innovative, and brimming with potential. The key is learning how to harness this strength rather than being overwhelmed by it.
This is where Self-Leadership comes in.
What is Self-Leadership?
At its heart, Self-Leadership is about learning to guide yourself with clarity and purpose. It’s the ability to understand your thoughts, emotions, and behaviours so you can align them with your goals. For sparky-brained women, it’s the secret to moving from idea overload to intentional action.
The five pillars of Self-Leadership are:
- Self-Knowledge: Understanding your values, strengths, and what drives you.
- Emotional Dexterity: Managing emotions like frustration and overwhelm.
- Flexible Thinking: Adapting to challenges with curiosity and creativity.
- Intentional Action: Choosing where to focus your energy for maximum impact.
- Vitality Cultivation: Building habits that sustain your mental and physical energy.
How Self-Leadership Helps with Undirected Popcorn Brain
Here’s how you can use three of the Self-Leadership Pillars to calm the chaos of Popcorn Brain so you can manage what needs to be done alongside what’s potentially hijacked your focus.
- Self-Knowledge: Identify Your Priorities
With loads of ideas vying for attention, it’s crucial to know what truly matters to you. Ask yourself:
- What outcome am I aiming for?
- What’s the timing – am I in research or delivery mode?
- Which ideas align with my core values and leverage my strengths?
Clarity about your values, strengths and long-term or project vision helps you sort the “must-dos” from the “nice-to-dos.” To help me with this discernment, I have a Canva-created mini Personal Values and Strengths Poster on the wall beside me.
- Emotional Dexterity: Calm the Storm
When you feel overwhelmed, take a moment. A mindful pause, deep breathing, or leaving your desk and getting out into nature for a few minutes can help you process your emotions and regain focus when you’re being assailed by a brain that’s behaving like an enthusiastic puppy.
And don’t forget to check in and see if you have the HALTS – are you Hungry (or even HANGRY!), Anxious, Lonely, Tired or Sad?
If you are any of these, it can be tricky to manage a wildly popping brain that’s refusing to focus, adding to your stress levels.
Take time to take care of yourself first.
- Flexible Thinking: Reframe Challenges
On another note, I’ve found it helpful to instead of seeing unacted-upon ideas as failures, I choose to see them as seeds. Not every idea needs immediate action – some can be nurtured or saved for later. That’s why I have a literal Ideas Box in my office.
If a perky little idea has arrived at a time when it’s not a priority to develop, I make sure I don’t lose it by storing it into the box with a brief outline of what it is and its arrival date to remind me of when it made itself known.
Some of my best ideas had to be patient with me!
Of course, if you’re a digital sparky, a Google Folder and doc works just as well as does an audio recording when you’re out and about. Just remember to combine them if you, like me, can’t commit to just one option.
From Overwhelm to Impact
When you consciously develop these and other self-leadership skills and practices, you’ll gradually find ways to turn the endless flow of ideas into a steady stream of action as you shift from:
- 🌪️ Chaos to clarity.
- ❓ Scattered thoughts to intentional focus.
- 🤔 Self-doubt and recrimination to steady, anchored confidence.
This isn’t about fixing yourself – it’s about learning to work with your sparky brain instead of against it.
You can start by Discovering your current level of Self-Leadership
My Free Self-Leadership Assessment is designed to give you a personalised snapshot of where you are now. I’ll also happily share the guise I’ve developed that gives you practical steps to strengthen the skills that help you thrive in business and life as a sparky-brained woman.
With Self-Leadership, you can stop spinning and start soaring!
