The Three-Dollar Solution to Your Racing Mind

So, finally, you’re going to bed. Everything you were supposed to do was done, and you feel really proud of yourself, but when your head hits the pillow, your eyes are wide awake. Did I move the laundry from the washer to the dryer? Is the roast out to defrost? Did I lock the door? So then, the wasted hour before you exhaust yourself and fall asleep.

I tried everything. Blackout curtains, lowering the temperature, no caffeine after 6. I even bought a white noise machine. I stopped watching the late show because, you know, screen time. Every week there was some new trick, some new product that promised better sleep. And honestly? I know now they’re all quacks just trying to sell you something.

But here’s what finally worked for me—and it cost me about three dollars.

A notebook and a pen.

That’s it. That’s what stopped the constant stream of stuff floating around in my head every night.

Let’s Look at What the Brain Actually Does

You know during the day when you’re trying to solve something or figure something out, and you just can’t get it? So you write it down and walk away. Maybe you grab coffee or take a shower or fold some laundry. In a sense, you’ve taken the information out of your head and gave your brain a chance to process what you’ve already given it. And then suddenly—boom—the answer just appears.

That’s because you gave your brain time to actually think without the pressure of more information coming in.

That’s exactly what your brain needs to do at night. But it can’t, because you’re using it like a filing cabinet, stuffing more and more things in there. “Remember to call Mom.” “Don’t forget the dentist appointment.” “We’re out of milk.” “Did I respond to that email?”

If you have ever felt foggy after a poor night’s sleep, it won’t surprise you that sleep significantly impacts brain function. Sleep is vital for “brain plasticity,” or the brain’s ability to adapt to input. If we sleep too little, we become unable to process what we’ve learned during the day. Here’s more on the science if you want to dig deeper.

Your brain isn’t a filing cabinet. It’s a processor. It needs space to work. And when you go to bed with your head full of reminders and worries and random thoughts, you’re not giving it that space.

What I Started Doing: Closing Notes

I started doing what I call Closing Notes every single night. And I’m going to walk you through exactly how I do it, because once you start, you’re going to wonder why nobody ever told you this before.

First, I got a notebook. Not my phone—and this is important. I used an old spiral notebook my kid left on the counter. It doesn’t need to be fancy. It doesn’t need to be a special journal. Just paper and something to write with. Keep it on your nightstand.

Here’s what I do every night before bed:

I set a timer for 5 minutes. You don’t need longer than that. Sometimes I’m done in three.

I write down everything that’s bouncing around in my head. Everything. The laundry. The roast. The locked door. The thing I need to tell my coworker tomorrow. The random thought about reorganizing the garage. The worry about my kid’s grades. That recipe I saw on Instagram. All of it.

I don’t organize it. I don’t make neat bullet points. I don’t prioritize. I don’t put related things together. I just dump it out, one thing after another, however it comes out.

When the timer goes off, I stop. Even if I’m mid-sentence. I close the notebook and put it back on the nightstand.

I don’t look at it again until tomorrow night.

That’s it. That’s the whole thing.

What’s Going to Happen

I’m going to tell you what happened for me, and I’m betting it’ll be similar for you.

The first few nights, I filled two or three pages. I thought “this is stupid, I’m just writing down obvious stuff.” But I closed the notebook anyway. And here’s the thing—I fell asleep faster. Not a lot faster, but noticeably faster. Maybe saved fifteen minutes of tossing and turning.

After about a week, my lists got shorter. I’d only write a page, maybe a page and a half. And I started falling asleep within ten or fifteen minutes of my head hitting the pillow. My brain wasn’t running through the list anymore because it knew I had it written down.

Around week two or three, something else started happening. Those answers I mentioned earlier? The ones that pop up when you walk away from a problem? They started showing up more. I’d wake up knowing exactly how to handle something I’d been stuck on. Or I’d be making breakfast and suddenly remember the thing I’d been trying to think of for days.

That’s your brain actually processing instead of just storing.

Now? I write maybe half a page most nights. Sometimes less. And I’m usually asleep within minutes. My brain trusts the system. It knows I’ve captured everything, so it can let go and do its actual job—which is processing everything I learned and experienced that day.

Here’s What I Want You to Do Tonight

And I mean literally tonight. Not Monday. Not when you get a nice notebook. Tonight.

Grab any notebook or even loose paper. Get something to write with. Put it on your nightstand.

Before you get into bed, sit down for five minutes and write down everything on your mind. Don’t overthink it. Don’t organize it. Just dump it out.

Then close it. Don’t read it over. Just close it, turn off the light, and see what happens.

The first night might feel weird. You might think “this isn’t going to work.” Do it anyway.

Try it for a week. Seven nights in a row. Then come back and tell me if your brain feels quieter at night.

Because here’s the thing—this is just the beginning. Once you’ve got these Closing Notes down and your brain starts trusting that you’re capturing everything, we’re going to talk about how to use this same system during the day. Because just getting it out of your head at night is the first step. But when you learn to capture things the moment they pop up during the day? That’s when everything really shifts.

But first? Just try the Closing Notes. Give your brain the space it’s been begging for.

Let me know how it goes.