Brain dump template

What is a brain dump?

A brain dump is writing down everything that's on your mind, all in one go, without sorting or judging any of it. Tasks, worries, ideas, the thing you keep forgetting to buy. Once it's all on paper you stop using your memory as a to-do list, and you can see what's really there. Then you decide what to do with it.

There's some research behind the feeling of relief. In a set of experiments, Masicampo and Baumeister (2011) found that unfinished goals kept popping into people's minds and getting in the way of other work, and that making a specific plan for those goals reduced that interference. In a small sleep-lab study at Baylor University, people who spent five minutes before bed writing a to-do list fell asleep faster than people who wrote about things they'd already done.

How to do a brain dump

1. Empty everything out. One thing per line. Don't edit, don't sort, don't worry whether it belongs. Keep going until you run dry, then use the prompts above for a second pass.
2. Sort into three piles. Today, Later, and Not mine. "Not mine" is for things that belong to someone else, or that you can simply let go of. It's often the most satisfying pile.
3. Trim today to five. If Today has more than five things, choose the ones that matter most and move the rest to Later. They're not gone, just not today.
4. Make each one doable. Rewrite vague items as a first step: "Sort out car" becomes "Ring the garage about the noise".
5. Keep Later somewhere safe. Tomorrow's brain dump starts from that list, so nothing is lost.

Why only five for today?

Five isn't a scientific number. It's a rule of thumb: short enough to finish on an ordinary day, long enough to feel like progress. A list you can finish is kinder than a list of twenty you never could, because unfinished lists tend to roll over as guilt. If five is too many on a bad day, three is fine. One is fine.

Making a to-do list that works with ADHD

Long, vague lists are hard for anyone and harder with ADHD, which the NHS describes as making it difficult to organise your time and to finish tasks. Small habits help:

• Start each item with a verb, and make it the very first physical step.
• Keep one list for today, and everything else out of sight.
• Let unfinished things carry over without a fuss. Yesterday's list isn't a report card.
• Do the dump little and often. A quick one each morning beats a huge one each month.
• Don't do it alone if you don't want to. Sitting with someone while you work through the list, known as body doubling, makes starting easier for many people.

Is my brain dump private?

Yes. This tool runs entirely in your browser. What you type is saved on this device only, so a refresh won't lose it, and it is never sent to us or anyone else. "Start again" clears it.