đź’ˇ Inspiration & Thought | Sienna Ray
The “Brain RAM” Crisis
We are walking around with too many tabs open. If your brain were a browser, Chrome would have crashed hours ago. You feel the lag, don’t you? The background anxiety, the creative constipation, the inability to focus on deep work because you’re worried about an email from three days ago.
Most people try to solve this with apps—Notion templates, Asana boards, reminders. But the most sophisticated technology for clearing cognitive load is actually analog. It’s a pen and paper. But here is the catch: most people do it wrong. They write “Dear Diary, today I ate a sandwich.” That is useless data.
I recently analyzed a fascinating audio breakdown from a practitioner who hasn’t missed a journaling session in seven years. This isn’t about feelings; it’s about data architecture for your mind. He outlines a specific, 5-step protocol that transforms a notebook into a cognitive weapon.
Step 1: The “Dump” (Clearing the Cache)
The first step in this protocol is labeled: “What’s on my mind?”.
This sounds simple, but the neuroscience behind it is profound. This is about offloading the “Negatives” and the “Positives” immediately. The speaker notes that we often carry invisible anxieties—the “patterns” and “character flaws” that sabotage us. By physically writing them down, you are moving them from your amygdala (the fear center) to your prefrontal cortex (the logic center).
The speaker emphasizes dumping the negative first. Why? Because of the Zeigarnik Effect—a psychological phenomenon where uncompleted tasks or unresolved worries take up disproportionate cognitive space. You can’t build a skyscraper on a swamp. You have to drain the swamp first. You dump the mental trash so you can actually think.
Step 2: The Gratitude Algorithm
Once the “trash” is out, the system needs a reboot. The protocol calls for writing down three things you are grateful for.
The speaker explicitly warns against grandiosity here. Don’t write “I’m grateful for my Ferrari.” Write about the simple things—your eyesight, the fact that you woke up, the water you drank.
This isn’t spiritual bypassing; it’s biological engineering. Focusing on micro-gratitudes shifts your autonomic nervous system from sympathetic (fight or flight) to parasympathetic (rest and digest). You are manually overriding your brain’s negativity bias. If you skip this, you’re trying to run high-performance software (your day) on an operating system infected with viruses (cynicism).
Step 3: The “Non-Negotiables” (The Rule of 3)
Here is where the productivity actually happens. The protocol demands you list your Non-Negotiables.
Not a “To-Do List” of 20 items. Just three. Three things that must happen, even if the world falls apart. This aligns perfectly with Warren Buffett’s famous “25/5 Rule”—focus on the top 5, and avoid the other 20 at all costs.
The speaker notes that if you get these three things done, you win the day. If you don’t, you lose. It brings a binary clarity to your life. You stop being “busy” and start being “effective.”
Step 4: The Neil Armstrong Mindset (Review & Ideas)
The final stages of the protocol are Review (“How did I fare?”) and Ideas.
The review is brutal honesty. Did you win or lose today?. This feedback loop is what separates high achievers from dreamers. But the “Ideas” section is where the magic happens.
The speaker references Neil Armstrong. He notes that huge achievements—like walking on the moon—are the result of a vision held since childhood, executed through small, consistent steps.
When you journal for 7 years, you aren’t just writing; you are building a database of your own evolution. You can look back and see the “small steps” that turned into giant leaps. You realize that the person you were 7 years ago couldn’t even lift the weights (mental or physical) you lift today.
Stop buying new apps. Buy a $10 notebook. Tomorrow morning, before you check your phone, try the “Dump” phase. Write down every anxiety currently in your RAM. Does your brain feel lighter? If yes, commit to the full 5 steps for just one week.