If it’s messy in your head, write it out. Confusion hates paper.

Thoughts in your head can occupy several states at once and never have to resolve. Writing forces a sequence, one word after another, and the vagueness that survived comfortably inside your skull falls apart the moment it has to be a sentence. What looked like a complicated problem often turns out to be three simple ones and some dread.

When your head is loud, take ten minutes and empty it onto a page with no attempt at order. Then read it back and underline the parts that are actual problems. Usually the list is shorter than the feeling suggested.