I'm going to talk about creating a reference system and this is something I've realised that I've been doing unintentionally for a little while now. So when I say creating a reference system, the reasoning to do this is so that you you free up space in your brain for other things. And what I mean by a reference system is, for example, when you go shopping, do you go ahead and just make a list of all the things that you need and then go shop for them?

Or do you make a list of all the things you want, go around your cupboards and those sort of things, and then go shopping? Or when you run out of something or when you're down to the last jar or 10 or kind of something, do you then go to the place where you normally go shopping online or place where you make a list and write that item down straight away, which those three things do you do? And which of those three things do you think helps free up more space in your brain for other things?

So what I've been doing for a long while is any time I think of something that we need in the house, I'll go ahead and go to my target dot com or Amazon.com or whatever site that is to whatever it is that we're using for shopping and go find that item and put it in our cart, not buying it then and there I am just adding it to our cart to buy later. And I've been doing that for quite a while. And then what I've been doing is as far as I was having a conversation with a friend the other day about content, how do I think of content and where do I come up with ideas, etc.

? And I was I said, well, I come across things all the time when I'm not thinking about content and when I'm not thinking about my podcast or my newsletters. So when I am coming across content, what I do is I have a place where I go and store the link to said content that I want to go ahead and talk about. And so this place I have, this could be a better name for it, but it's like the dumping ground.

And so it is a dumping ground of ideas. Articles means Facebook chats, things, whatever it is that have sparked interest about whatever it is that I'm going to talk about. So this is a dumping ground and it frees my brain because I'm like, OK, I'm going to remember that thing, because otherwise what I used to do before was, oh, that's a great article. Click read article, maybe have a tab that's open for months on end because I'm like, I need to come back and read that and talk about that.

And then when I do want to go ahead and create content around that thing, I can't find it. I'm not thinking about it at the time. I'm on a different, different document, a different item like it could be a laptop. I could be on the phone, can't find it, or I'll just go and do something totally different. So having one main place where I put stuff that I want to talk about on my podcast, stuff that I want to talk about in my news, that is stuff that I want to talk about in webinars is a really good way for me to keep track of content and be free my mind from having to remember what I did with that content so I can go ahead and use it later.

So I realise that now this is expanded into other areas of my life. So I use it, my shopping, I use it for creating content. And so I was speaking to a colleague about this because they found it really difficult to sit and create content because they had to find inspiration for that content. So now they have this Pinterest board and they have this Trello board and some other places where they go ahead and dump content. And it doesn't have to be just for creating content.

It can just be for it. For an example, you are talking to a client you're having is a meeting and they're telling you this list of things that they want to do in the future and mid-term and stuff that you're going to do now and you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then maybe write it on a Post-it and then nothing happens. You remember some stuff because you're going to do it straight away, but the long term stuff in the midterm stuff kind of gets lost.

What did you do with that Post-it note? You need a system. So whether it's always clear or Post-it notes at the end of the day and make sure that it is inputted into a computer or a note taking Apple to do task list app, what is it you do? What is your system to make sure that you remember all the things that you need to remember that is really important will help you free up space to do other things and be more creative and just have space to breathe rather than having to remember all the things because your brain can only remember.

Say so much. Thanks for listening. This is janice@thecareerintrovert.com helping you build your brand and get hired. Thank you for speaking to you next week. Have a great rest of your week.