When Your Brain Won't Stop Spinning: Taming the Overachiever Mind

It's 2 AM and you're lying in bed, mentally composing emails for tomorrow while simultaneously planning your grocery list, worrying about that project deadline, and having imaginary conversations with your boss about the budget proposal.

Sound familiar?

Welcome to the overachiever brain—that magnificent, exhausting organ that never quite learned how to turn off. While everyone else is peacefully dreaming, your mind is hosting its own personal brainstorming session, complete with action items and follow-up questions.

The spinning brain is both your superpower and your kryptonite. It generates brilliant ideas and solves complex problems, but it also creates mental clutter that can paralyze you with overwhelm. When your thoughts are ping-ponging between seventeen different projects, it's hard to focus on any of them.

Here are some of my best strategies for how to harness that spinning energy instead of letting it drain you. It's a menu you can pick from!

The Great Idea vs. To-Do Revelation

A few years ago, I stumbled across a piece of advice that changed everything: the difference between ideas and action items. Reading that, you might think, "Well, duh." But hear me out.

For years, I had been treating every brilliant idea like a binding contract. Cool new project concept? Straight to the to-do list. Interesting workshop I could attend? Another item for the ever-growing pile. Fascinating research rabbit hole? Obviously something I had to pursue.

My to-do list became a graveyard of abandoned dreams and guilt-inducing obligations. I was drowning in my own creativity.

The game-changing realization: Not every idea needs to become an action item.

Enter the Ideas List

Instead of immediately promoting every spark of inspiration to to-do status, create a separate Ideas List—a safe space where thoughts can exist without demanding your time.

Here's how it works:

Capture everything. When inspiration strikes, write it down on your Ideas List, not your to-do list. Use a notebook, phone app, or simple document—whatever you'll actually use.

Give yourself permission to dream. The Ideas List lets you explore possibilities without immediately feeling burdened by them. Want to learn pottery? Write it down. Curious about that online course? Capture it. No commitment required.

Review periodically. Every few months, scan your Ideas List. Some items will feel exciting and worth pursuing. Others will seem ridiculous in hindsight. Both reactions are perfectly fine.

Promote selectively. Only move ideas to your action list when you're genuinely ready to commit time and energy to them.

This approach was incredibly freeing for me. I realized I had been marrying my perfectionist tendencies to every fleeting idea, immediately feeling overwhelmed by all the work I'd just "assigned" myself simply by having a thought.

The Power of Brain Dumping

When your mind is spinning with competing priorities, get everything out of your head and onto paper. This isn't about creating the perfect organizational system—it's about clearing mental space.

The "Decisions to Make Later" List

Sometimes we overwhelm ourselves by trying to solve problems that don't need immediate solutions. Create a separate list for decisions that are mentally pestering you but don't actually impact today:

• That scheduling decision for next year's conference

• Whether to renovate the office

• Potential vacation destinations for six months from now

• Ideas for reorganizing your filing system

Write them down with the explicit permission to ignore them for now. Your brain will stop reminding you about them once it knows they're captured somewhere safe.

The Daily Reality Check

After brain-dumping your future concerns, make a second list of things that actually matter for today:

• What to make for dinner

• Responding to that urgent email

• Preparing for tomorrow's meeting

This simple exercise helps you distinguish between mental chatter and genuine priorities.

Deploy Containers: Using Time as Your Friend

One of the most effective ways to stop mental spinning is to contain it within specific boundaries. Think of time as a container that shapes your work, rather than an enemy that's always running out.

The Power of Deadlines

Duke Ellington reportedly said, "I don't need more time; I need a deadline!" There's wisdom in this paradox. Deadlines can be comforting for perfectionists because they provide a clear endpoint—a moment when something must be finished, regardless of its state.

Create artificial urgency:

• Schedule a meeting right after your prime working hours, so you know you have "only a few hours" to focus

• Set a timer for specific tasks (30 minutes of writing, 15 minutes of tidying)

• Start running the shower and use the water warm-up time for a quick task like putting the TV remote away

• Be ultra-specific with calendar blocks: instead of "clean car" for an hour, try "car: dust interior, wipe seats, toss trash, vacuum" for 20 minutes

The Focused To-Do Approach

Instead of maintaining one overwhelming master list, create focused mini-lists for specific contexts or time periods:

• What needs a deadline (highlight these in red)

• Tasks for when you have 15 minutes

• Projects requiring deep focus

• Items that can only be done at specific locations

AI as Your Brainstorming Buddy

When your brain is spinning but you can't quite grab onto a clear next step, try using AI as an external thinking partner. Instead of staying stuck in mental loops, externalize your thoughts:

"I'm trying to organize this project but feeling overwhelmed. Here's what I'm thinking..."

Sometimes just articulating your spinning thoughts to an external "listener" helps clarify what's actually important versus what's just mental noise.

The Closet Mindset

Julie Morgenstern suggests thinking of your calendar like a closet—there's only so much space available. This mindset helps you make deliberate choices about what deserves your mental energy.

Just as you wouldn't try to stuff 20 coats into a closet designed for 10, you can't fit unlimited commitments into finite days.

When Mental Spinning Becomes Mental Sprinting

Sometimes the spinning is actually your brain trying to process legitimate concerns. The goal isn't to stop thinking—it's to think more strategically.

Questions to ask when your brain won't quit:

• Is this thought productive or just repetitive?

• What's the smallest action I could take to move this forward?

• Does this need to be solved today, or am I borrowing worry from future-me?

• Am I spinning because I'm avoiding something else?

Finding Your Off Switch

The ultimate goal isn't to eliminate ideas or stop being creative—it's to create boundaries so your brilliant mind doesn't exhaust itself.

Simple practices for mental rest:

• End your workday by writing down tomorrow's priorities, then close the notebook

• Create a physical ritual that signals "thinking time is over"

• Use the Ideas List as a parking lot for after-hours inspiration

• Practice saying "That's an interesting thought—I'll capture it tomorrow"

Remember: your spinning brain is evidence of your intelligence and creativity, not a character flaw. The goal is simply to harness that energy more intentionally.

What makes your brain spin the most? Which strategy sounds most helpful for creating mental breathing room?

This is the third post in my "Overwhelmed Overachiever Toolkit" series. Next week, we'll tackle "When You Can't Get Moving"—for those times when you know what to do but somehow can't get started.

Image Credit: Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay