Happy Monday 🌞
I’m so glad to be back to this newsletter. If you joined recently, hi 👋 I’m Hailley. I’ve always created systems for my work (as a Marketing leader at Buffer) and life (as a remote worker and mom of two) where I can stay productive, calm, and organized.
This week we’re chatting about mental processing. Understanding your natural thinking style can dramatically improve how you work, communicate, and solve problems. Whether you know it or not, you likely fall into one of two buckets:
- External processor: These thinkers clarify their thoughts by expressing them outwardly. They often need to speak their ideas to fully understand them. You might be an external processor if you prefer talking through problems or feel that your thoughts become clearer once you’ve shared them.
- Internal processor: These thinkers develop their ideas thoroughly within their own minds before sharing. They prefer quiet reflection and typically present more polished thoughts. You might be an internal processor if you need time alone to think before meetings or if interruptions disrupt your thinking flow.
I realized a little while ago that I’m an external processor, and specifically a verbal processor — which I used to call talk thinking before I learned better.
Knowing this about myself, I’ve been adjusting my systems accordingly to set myself up for success in several areas of work and life.
Here are a few things I’m doing as an external processor:
- Recording meetings: When it’s possible, I record my meetings so I can have a written account of my verbal processing later. This is useful not only for notes and assigning myself tasks, but also because I can reread what I said and use that to keep thinking through ideas and problems with more specific thoughts.
- Use voice memos: If I need to do any writing, I usually start by talking first. I’ll record an audio clip in Apple Notes and talk it over. I can then look at the transcript to pull out the main message, or give the transcript to AI and prompt it to summarize or analyze it from there.
- Asking people to verbal process with me: Sometimes, it’s just best to talk something out with someone else. The people I collaborate with most closely know that I’m a verbal processor. If I’m trying to process something a bit more complex, I can ask someone else to jump on a call with me and help me process.
If you’re an internal processor instead, your systems will look different, but the principle remains the same: design your work to complement your thinking style. For example:
- Build in time between meetings to collect your thoughts before and process afterward.
- Create thinking spaces where you can retreat for uninterrupted reflection.
- Take notes privately before sharing your thoughts in group settings.
- Request agendas in advance so you can think through topics beforehand.
The superpower in this situation is not the systems themselves but knowing yourself well enough to know what kind of processing works best for you and then proactively setting yourself up to do that processing when you need to. These systems work for me, but different ones might be better for you — if you have any that come to mind, reply and let me know which strategies have been most effective for your thinking style.
If you want to dive deeper into this topic, I wrote a longer post on mental processing styles here: The Power of Knowing How You Think: Mental Processing Styles & Systems for Each One
I hope you have a lovely week ahead. As always, feel free to reply if this sparks any thoughts or questions.
See you next Monday,
Hailley
- This timely piece about how to thrive at your company offsite. We’re getting together for Buffer’s annual retreat next month, so I’ve been gathering tips on making the most of these valuable in-person collaborations!
- Claude has become my daily AI companion for deeper thinking work. Unlike other AI tools, I find it particularly helpful for strategic questions, message framing, and substantive writing edits — perfect for both internal and external processors!
- Come join me on Threads or Bluesky if you use either network. I’ve been really enjoying both of them!
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I'm happy to offer my writing and this newsletter for free, but if you're so compelled, a cup of tea is always appreciated! ☕️
