How often should I do a brain dump?

Whenever your head feels full. Many people do one in the morning to plan the day, or in the evening to clear their mind before bed. Some also do a short one whenever a new worry pops up mid-task, so it has somewhere to go.

How long should a brain dump take?

About five to ten minutes. Set a timer, write until it rings, and stop. Sorting it into a plan is a separate step and takes a few more minutes.

Should I use paper or my phone?

Use whichever you will actually do. Paper is fast and has no notifications. A phone is always with you, and you can dictate into Notes if typing feels slow. The best brain dump is the one that gets written.

What do I do with a brain dump once it is written?

Sort it. Mark what has to happen today, what can wait and what you can drop. Guess a length for the today items, then give them a time on your calendar. Anything that is not on the schedule goes on a later list, so you can stop holding it in your head.

What is a brain dump (and how to turn one into a plan)

Q: What is a brain dump?

A brain dump is a quick, messy list of everything you are carrying in your head: tasks, worries, ideas, errands and things you are afraid of forgetting. You do not sort or judge anything while you write. The point is to get it out first and organise it afterwards.

We built Lantern because we noticed how many plans fail before they begin. The tasks are in your head, mixed up with worries, ideas and half-remembered errands, and a clean to-do list asks you to sort all of that before you have even started. We wanted a way to get it out first, messy, and let the sorting happen after.

That first step has a name: the brain dump. It is simple, free and works with a pen, so you do not need any app to try it.

What a brain dump is

A brain dump is writing down everything that is on your mind, in whatever order it comes. Work tasks, laundry, a message you owe someone, a gift idea, the feeling that you forgot something. It all goes on the page.

The rule is that you do not organise while you write. You do not decide what matters, you do not worry about spelling, and you do not make it neat. You just empty your head.

Many people with ADHD find this helpful because holding a lot in mind at once is tiring, and trying to sort and write at the same time can stop you before you begin. Getting the thoughts out first can make the pile feel smaller and more manageable.

How to do a brain dump in five minutes

1. Pick a place. Paper, the Notes app on your iPhone, or a Reminders list. If you would rather talk, tap the microphone on the keyboard and dictate into Notes.

2. Set a timer. Open the Clock app, tap Timer, and set five minutes. A timer gives you permission to stop, which makes it easier to start.

3. Write everything down. Short phrases are fine. “Dentist”, “reply to Sam”, “birthday gift”, “renew passport”, “why is the kitchen smelling”. If a thought arrives, write it. If it is the same thought twice, write it twice. That is fine.

4. Do not edit. No sorting, no deleting, no ranking. If you catch yourself judging an item, write the next one.

5. Stop when the timer rings. You will probably feel lighter already. You do not have to do anything with the list yet.

If you get stuck, try prompts: What is due this week? Who is waiting for a reply? What am I putting off? What do I need to buy? What is worrying me?

How to turn a brain dump into a plan

A brain dump is only half the job. The other half is deciding what to do with it. Do this after a short break, or right away if you have the energy.

1. Read it once, slowly. Do not act yet.

2. Sort into three groups. Mark each item as one of these:

Today: has to happen today, or will cause trouble if it does not.
Later: matters, but not today. Give it a rough day or move it to a list.
Drop: not really yours, not important any more, or something you are not going to do. It is fine to let things go.

3. Break big items into the next step. “Sort out taxes” is too big to start. “Find last year’s tax letter” is something you can do. Rewrite big items as the first small action.

4. Guess a length for each Today item. Then add a bit. Most tasks take longer than we think. Write the number next to it: 10 minutes, 30 minutes.

5. Pick three to five. Do not put all of Today on the schedule. Choose the ones that matter most, plus anything with a fixed time.

6. Give them a place in the day. Open the Calendar app, look at the gaps between your fixed things, and add an event for each task with a start and end time, like “10:00 to 10:30”. Leave breathing room between them. For more on this, see how to make a visual schedule for ADHD on iPhone.

7. Park the rest. Put Later items in one list in Reminders or Notes, so they are safe and out of your head. You can look at that list once a week.

Mistakes to avoid

Sorting while dumping. It slows you down and often stops the flow. Dump first, sort second.
Making the Today list too long. An overfull plan is the quickest way to feel behind by lunchtime.
Forgetting the small stuff. Meals, breaks and travel time take real minutes. Put them in.
Keeping the list in five places. One page for the dump, one calendar for the plan, one list for later. That is enough.
Treating dropped items as failures. Dropping an item is a decision, not a failure.

When thoughts pop up mid-task

A useful habit is keeping a parking note. When a new thought arrives while you are working, write it in one line on a note, then go back to what you were doing. It stops the idea from taking over your attention, and it will be in your next brain dump.

If you also find the day slides away from you, our guide to time blindness and ways to see time passing may help.

Where Lantern helps

Lantern has a brain dump built in, and it does the sorting step for you. It needs iOS 26.

Type or dictate. Write everything on your mind in one messy note, or speak it.
Lantern splits it into tasks. Each task gets a guessed length in minutes, so you are not starting from zero.
It fits them into the day. Pin up to 3 as Musts, then Lantern places the tasks into the free gaps of your day. Anything that does not fit waits in Later. Tap a task to change its name or length.
It stays on your iPhone. On iPhones with Apple Intelligence, the dump is sorted by Apple’s on-device model. On other iPhones, Lantern splits it line by line. Either way the text is never sent to us.
Quick access. There is a Brain dump control, so you can open it fast when a thought lands.

Once the tasks are in your day, a day budget tells you whether it all fits, and if the day slips you can tap Running late and move everything after now by 5, 15 or 30 minutes.

What it costs

Paper, Notes, Reminders and Calendar are free. Lantern’s core is free: the Today timeline and day budget, Make it fit, Running late, 3 smart sorts a day plus unlimited Simple sort, 1 routine, gentle and standard alerts, your Calendar events, the Now widget and both controls. Lantern Pro adds unlimited smart sorts and routines, persistent alerts and alarms, the Live Activity, the Today and StandBy widgets, the week view and Time truth. It is $34.99 a year with a 7-day free trial, $6.99 a month, or $69.99 once for life.

A note on support

A brain dump is a planning habit, not a treatment. If you think you may have ADHD, or you want to talk about diagnosis or medication, please speak to a doctor or your local health service. This guide is general information, not medical advice.