3832: Get Things Out of Your Head and Build An External Brain by Marc Bilodeau on Building Systems for Mental Clarity

Optimal Living Daily - Personal Development and Self-Improvement

Optimal Living Daily LLC

Education, Mental Health, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness

4.6 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 6 December 2025

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3832: Marc Bilodeau emphasizes the power of building an "external brain" using tools like calendars, notepads, and email clients to free up mental bandwidth and reduce overwhelm. By offloading to-dos and appointments into reliable systems, you can think more clearly, manage life more effectively, and stay open to unexpected opportunities. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://www.marcbilodeau.com/brain/ Quotes to ponder: "Our memories aren’t as good as we think. Therefore, an external brain becomes a critical everyday tool." "An unmanaged inbox is hard to navigate. It’s cluttered and mentally overwhelming." "Action items should either be put on the calendar, in the notepad, or moved to a special folder to follow up at a later time." Episode references: Evernote: https://evernote.com Google Calendar: https://calendar.google.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You know you want to start a business. What you may not know is how to make it a reality.
0:04.8	GoDaddy Arrow's got you. It uses AI to help you find the domain name that's right for you.
0:10.8	Next, answer a few prompts and with a couple clicks, Arrow will design a professional-looking website or storefront in minutes.
0:18.3	Arrow can even help you stay engaged with your customers. Just attach a professional
0:22.2	email that matches your domain. With GoDaddy Arrow, you can build a business without having to know
0:27.6	a thing about this stuff. Just visit goaddy.com to get started. That's goaddy.com. Premium
0:34.7	features require paid subscription. See terms on site.
0:45.7	This is Optimal Living Daily. Get things out of your head and build an external brain by Mark Billadow of Mark Bilodeau.com. Name your narrator, Justin Mollick, the guy that reads blogs or articles
0:51.3	to you every single day of the year, including weekends and holidays.
0:55.5	And I appreciate you listening every single day. It really means a lot. We're going to get right
0:59.7	to our next post as we optimize your life. Get things out of your head and build an external
1:09.8	brain by Mark Belladow of Mark Bilodeau.com.
1:14.3	One of the best things I've done for myself is build and refine my external brain. All too often in
1:20.6	my personal and professional life have I seen people try to remember details and rely on their memory.
1:26.1	However, for most of us, we overestimate our capacity
1:29.2	to memorize things. An external brain takes advantage of tools to help keep track of daily life
1:35.2	and important details. By writing things down, it frees the mind to think more critically
1:40.2	when the time arises. Otherwise, the brain can become too distracted trying to balance everything
1:45.3	on a daily and weekly basis. Why have an external brain? Research shows that most adults can hold
1:52.7	five to nine items in mind for a short period of time. Therefore, if it isn't written somewhere
1:58.1	relatively quickly, the information can be lost.
2:04.7	However, some of that information can move into long-term memory.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 18 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Optimal Living Daily LLC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Optimal Living Daily LLC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.