(Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeart or TuneIn)

Does your brain sometimes feel like an overstuffed filing cabinet?!

If you’re like most people, the answer is a big yes. And it’s easy to see why we feel that way — most of us are juggling countless tasks every day, from running our businesses, to managing our families, to looking after our health.  

It’s no wonder that we sometimes feel like a circus act, spinning all those plates and hoping none of them crash. 

If you want to break this cycle and stop your brain feeling like it’s in overwhelm mode all the time, there’s a simple but life-changing hack you can use.

It’s called closing your loops.

Press play to learn how it’s done.

In this episode we chat about:

• How a clear mind impacts your creativity, productivity and overall well-being (1:51)
• Why waiting for “someday” never works (2:38)
• My genius scheduling hack for more consistent loop-closing (3:05)
• Painting a picture of how good this inner spaciousness feels (5:16)
• The exact steps to close your loops (6:04)
• Advanced strategies to avoid being weighed down by open loops in the future (7:14)

Episode resources:

• SheLaunch (join here)
• Mastering Your Mean Girl by Melissa Ambrosini (book)
• Open Wide by Melissa Ambrosini (book)
• Comparisonitis by Melissa Ambrosini (book)
• Time Magic by Melissa Ambrosini and Nick Broadhurst (book)
• Things (website)
• Click up (website)

Prefer To Read?

The following transcript has been automatically generated and not checked for accuracy.

[00:00:00] This is episode 620, where I’m going to be sharing with you one of the best ways to clear your head. So you have more creativity, more productivity, and more presence in your life. Let’s dive in. Welcome to the Melissa Ambrosini show. I’m your host, Melissa, bestselling author of Mastering Your Mean Girl, Open Wide, Comparisonitis, And I’m here to remind you that love is sexy, healthy is liberating and wealthy isn’t a dirty word.

Each week, I’ll be getting up close and personal with thought leaders from around the globe, as well as your weekly dose of motivation so that you can create epic change in your own life and become the best version of yourself possible. Are you ready, beautiful?

Hey beautiful. Welcome back to the show. Welcome I’m so excited about this episode because [00:01:00] I’m going to be sharing with you one of the best ways to clear your head. But first, I have a question for you. Does your brain sometimes feel like an overstuffed filing cabinet? Now if you were like most people, the answer is a big yes.

And it’s so easy to see why we feel that way. Most of us are juggling countless tasks every single day from running our own businesses to managing our families, to looking after our health and maintaining our relationships. It’s no wonder that we sometimes feel like a circus act, spinning all of those plates and hoping that none of them crash.

Now, if you want to break this cycle and stop your brain feeling like it’s in overwhelm mode all the time, there is a simple, but life changing hack that you can use. It is called closing your loops. Let’s break it down. So, why do open loops weigh us down? Okay, now I want you to imagine your brain is like a computer.

Each unfinished [00:02:00] task, unresolved issue, or unanswered email or message or DM is like an open tab in your browser, slowing everything down and draining your energy. Now these open tabs or loops clutter your mind, making it difficult to concentrate and zapping your creativity and your motivation. Now successful people understand that closing these loops is not just a cool productivity tip.

It is actually a game changing life hack. By finishing what we start and resolving outstanding issues, we can free up mental space, reduce stress and unlock our full potential. Okay? So how do open loops build up? The concept of closing loops might sound simple enough, right? Yet in reality, most of us keep putting off tackling these tasks until someday, in the future, when we hope it will feel easier or more convenient.

But let’s be real, that magical someday really comes. Instead, these tasks, they pile up, adding to our [00:03:00] mental load and making us feel more and more overwhelmed, okay? So what is the solution? You need to designate time to close your loops. Every single day you need to do this. So if someday is never going to magically appear, then we need to make it happen.

So we need to schedule a regular loop closing session once a day or once a week or once a month or whatever feels right for you. I personally like doing it each day. It takes me five minutes or 10 minutes at the end of my day to close my loops. Now, whenever you want to designate that time, whether it’s once a week or once a day or once a month, you got to do what feels right for you.

This will become your dedicated loop closing time, and it’s going to feel so good. Trust me, it’s going to feel so, so, so good. So at the end of my work day, I try and do this, but sometimes I work in the mornings. So I only work four hours in the mornings. And then I might have a [00:04:00] whole bunch of slacks and a whole bunch of emails in the afternoon where I’m not online.

So what I’ll do is, if Nick and Bambi are happy playing at 4 o’clock and I’ve got 15 minutes to myself, I will close some loops then. If that doesn’t happen, once Bambi goes to bed at 7, I will come downstairs and I will spend 15 minutes just closing any loops that are open so that I can go into the next day.

Fresh with a clean slate and also it allows me to sleep better at night. Okay, so that’s what I personally do That’s what works for me, and that’s good What I love, but you got to do what feels right for you. And in this time as well, once you’ve closed all of your loops, this is also the time where you could schedule a long overdue dentist appointment or follow up on that unpaid invoice, or finally cancel that unused subscription or return your mom’s phone call or clean up your desk, whatever it is for you.

So any niggling tasks that need to be tidied up, [00:05:00] followed up or resolved, Now is your time in that designated time. Okay. Now, most importantly, you want to treat your loop closing sessions as though it’s a meeting with your biggest client, protect it, prioritize it and do not flake out. Okay. And I’ve got another question for you.

Do you want to taste at how it feels to close your loops? Okay. Imagine you’re planning a four week holiday to your favorite destination. Me Greek islands. You’ll be completely uncontactable during this trip, right? So in the weeks before you leave, you tackle everything on your to do list, your emails, your projects, your invoices, your random phone calls that you need to return, all of it.

And as you shut down your computer, that last night of work, you feel absolutely elated knowing that you’re getting on a plane the next day. And there is nothing for you to do for the next four weeks, but enjoy Your holiday. Your mind feels light, clear, and very free. That is the feeling that you’ll start experiencing regularly when [00:06:00] you get intentional about closing your loops.

Okay, so I’ve got a little hot tip for you on how to close your loops. Three steps, right? Here’s how you do it. Number one, you brain dump. You grab a pen and paper or your favorite task management app that you love. I love things and ClickUp, and you put down every single open loop, including everything occupying your mental space, no matter how trivia and no matter the life area.

Brain dump everything. Then step two is prioritize. I want you to look at this list and identify the tasks that will have the most significant impact once completed. These are your high priority loops. Think of them as the VIPs of the loop closing list, okay? So we’re going to do those first. And then step three, you take immediate action.

So dedicate a focus block of time to closing these loops. Start with the highest priority tasks and even just 15 minutes a day of laser loop closing time can lead to [00:07:00] incredible results. You are going to feel so good and your mental space, oh, you’re going to have so much more time for creativity. and presence because it’s not cluttered with all of these open loops.

Okay. So I’ve got some hacks for next level loop clearing for you. Okay. For even greater success in closing your loops, I want you to consider these advanced tips. Number one, make sure you are in a high energy state. When you tackle these tasks, your brain needs to be in peak condition to handle closing loops effectively.

Okay. Number two, schedule enough time. Humans are notoriously bad at estimating how long things will take. Make sure to allocate more time than you think that you will need to avoid feeling disheartened, rushed, or overwhelmed even more because you haven’t finished all of the tasks that you wanted to do.

Number three, batch your loops. So group similar tasks together. If you’ve got a bunch of errands to run, do them all at once. And if you [00:08:00] need to schedule some appointments, knock them all out in one session. Okay. And then finally, number four. systematize for the future. So while closing loops, if you spot a way to make future tasks even easier, do it right away.

For example, if you are overdue for a dentist appointment, book your appointment at the same time you book your next appointment. So this is what I do. So whenever I go to the dentist, the osteo, acupuncture, the Cairo, whatever. I always have the next six months booked in. I just take a few moments there to stand there.

I open my calendar and I add in. All my appointments for the next six months. So I never have to think about it again. It’s in my calendar. I just show up the next month to my Cairo appointment. Okay. So systematize for the future because your future self will love you and thank you so much for it. Okay.

Help a sister out, help yourself out. Okay. So the bottom line here is, by closing your [00:09:00] loops, you will clear your mind and transform the way that you feel and function on a daily basis. Your mental space will expand, allowing for greater creativity, productivity, and peace of mind. People always ask me how I get so much done.

And this is one of the reasons. And when you do this, you will move from feeling weighed down to light and free, which is just amazing, which is what we want. Okay. So take this as your reminder to put in your calendar right now, when you’re going to do a loop closing session. And maybe you do it daily.

Like I said, maybe you do it weekly or monthly. I highly recommend doing a little bit each day, five or 10 or 15 minutes to close out those loops so that you can rest easy at night and know that you’re starting the day fresh with a clean slate. That is my wish for you. So then you have more presence, more productivity, more creativity for your life and for your business.

I hope you got a lot [00:10:00] out of this episode. And if you did, please subscribe and follow the show and leave me a review on Apple podcasts. And when you do just send me a screenshot to hello at Melissa Ambrosini or to my Instagram, and I will send you a gift, a thank you meditation for taking the time to leave me a review.

I’m so grateful. Now come and tell me on Instagram, what you got from this episode. I’d actually love to hear who already does this. Do you already do this on a daily basis? If you do, do you have any tips to add that I could benefit from? And if you don’t already do this, are you open to doing it? I’d love to hear.

And before I go, I just want to say thank you so much for being here, for wanting to be the best, the healthiest, and the happiest version of yourself, and for showing up today for you. You rock. Now, if there’s someone in your life that you can think of that would really benefit from this episode, please share it with them right now.

You can take a screenshot, share it on your social media, email it to them, text it to them, do whatever you’ve got to do to get this in their ears. And until next time, don’t forget that love [00:11:00] is sexy, healthy is liberating, and wealthy isn’t a dirty word.

Thank you so much for listening. I’m so honored that you’re here and would be SO grateful if you could leave me a review on Apple podcasts, that way we can inspire and educate even more people together.

P.S. If you’re looking for a high-impact marketing opportunity for your business and are interested in becoming a sponsor for The Melissa Ambrosini Show podcast, please email pr@melissaambrosini.com for more information.

P.P.S. Please seek advice from a qualified holistic practitioner before starting any new health practice.