Write down everything on your mind, one line each, without sorting or editing. Then mark each line as an action, a reminder, something for later, or a what-if. Put reminders and later items where they belong, give the what-ifs a set time, and choose one action to do next with a time attached. The aim is to stop holding the whole list in your head, not to solve it all at once.
When a brain dump helps
A brain dump is for the moment when everything arrives at once: a work deadline, a text you haven't answered, a noise the car is making, a feeling that you have forgotten something. Each one pulls at your attention, and none gets dealt with because the next keeps interrupting.
NHS Every Mind Matters suggests that getting things out of your head and down onto paper or into a notes app on your phone can help clear your mind. A brain dump takes that literally: everything goes on the page first, and decisions come afterwards. It is a one-off clear-out. If you want to track worries over weeks and check how your predictions turned out, our guide to keeping a worry journal, linked below, covers that.
You need a pen and paper, a notes app, or the private brain dump tool on this site. The steps below are our editorial adaptation of NHS and Centre for Clinical Interventions (CCI) self-help ideas, not a tested treatment.
Step 1: unload everything, unsorted
Write one line per thought, as fast as they come. Fragments are fine: car noise, reply to Sam, dentist?, what if the team hates the plan. Don't stop to decide whether something matters or what to do about it. Sorting while you write slows you down and turns the dump into a debate.
Keep going until you run out, or until you reach a limit you set before starting, such as one page. Tasks, reminders, half-ideas and what-ifs all go on the same list. If something feels too private for the page, write a word only you will understand.
The private brain dump tool on this site keeps your text in the current browser tab. The page doesn't save it or send it anywhere, and it is gone when you clear it, refresh, close the tab or navigate away. Your browser, extensions or clipboard software may still handle text in their own way, so leave out passwords, account numbers and anything identifying. If you would rather speak than type, the Let It Out app also takes a brain dump by voice.
Step 2: sort each line into one of four piles
Now go down the list once and give every line a letter. NHS Every Mind Matters' problem-solving page suggests working out whether a problem can be solved or is a hypothetical worry: something outside your control, often a what-if about the future. The four piles below split the solvable side into three, depending on when it needs you.
If you can't decide between A and W, ask whether there is a step you could actually take. Make sure the team loves the plan is not a step. Ask Priya to read the draft is. Our guide to solvable and hypothetical worries, linked below, goes further into this test.
| Pile | What belongs here | What to do with it | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| A: Action | Something you can do, with a first step you could name | Choose one as your next step; list the rest underneath | Reply to Sam about Saturday |
| R: Reminder | A date or fact to remember, with nothing to do yet | Put it in a calendar or reminders app, then cross it off | Bin day moves to Thursday this week |
| L: Later | A real task that doesn't belong to this week | Move it to a separate later list with a rough date | Look into switching energy supplier |
| W: What-if | A worry about something uncertain, with no practical step available now | Note it in a couple of words and give it a worry time | What if the team hates the plan |
Step 3: choose one next step
From the A pile, choose one item to do next. It doesn't have to be the most important one, just one you can start soon. NHS Every Mind Matters suggests making a plan specific: what you will do, whether you need anyone's help, how much time it will take, and when you will do it.
There is a small piece of research on writing specific tasks down. In a sleep-lab study of 57 healthy young adults, Scullin and colleagues found that people who spent five minutes at bedtime writing a to-do list for the next few days fell asleep faster than people who wrote about tasks they had already completed. The more specific the to-do list, the faster they fell asleep. That was one study about falling asleep, not about anxiety, but it is a good reason to write phone the garage at 9am rather than sort out the car.
If the action is too big or vague to start, our guide to turning a vague task into a first step, linked below, shows how to shrink it. Keep the rest of the A pile underneath your chosen step, so nothing is lost.
Step 4: park the rest and close the page
Reminders go into a calendar or reminders app; once they are in, cross them off the dump. Later items go onto a separate list with a rough date.
The what-ifs don't need solving now. CCI's sheet on postponing worry suggests noting each worry briefly, in a couple of words, and setting a worry period at the same time, place and length each day, for example 6pm for 20 minutes, at a time that is not close to bedtime. When that time comes, CCI says worries that no longer seem relevant need no further action. Our worry-time technique guide covers this routine.
Then close the notebook or app. Re-reading the whole list over and over undoes the point of writing it down. If a new thought arrives, add one line and give it a letter straight away.
Worked example: Tom's Sunday evening
This example is invented to show the method. At 9pm on a Sunday, Tom can't settle. He opens a notes app and writes for a few minutes: reply to Sam re Saturday. Car making a noise. Bin day moved? Presentation Wednesday. What if the team hates the plan. Mum's birthday on the 14th. Switch energy supplier. Did I upset Jo at lunch. Book the car in.
He sorts it. Reply to Sam: A. Car noise and book the car in become one A line. Bin day: R, as the council's email said Thursday, so it goes in the calendar. Presentation: A, ask Priya to read the draft. Team hates the plan: W. Mum's birthday: R. Energy supplier: L, next month. Upset Jo: W.
His one next step is to phone the garage at 9am on Monday, which should take about five minutes. The two what-ifs go to his worry time at 6pm on Monday, written as team hates plan and Jo upset. Everything else is in the calendar or on the later list, and he closes the app.
At 6pm on Monday, Jo has sent a cheerful message about the weekend, so that line needs nothing more. The presentation worry is still there. He spends ten minutes on it and adds one action: practise the opening once on Tuesday.
A checklist to copy
This checklist is our own editorial summary, not a clinical worksheet.
- Unload: one line per thought, unsorted, until you run out or reach your limit.
- Sort: mark every line A (action), R (reminder), L (later) or W (what-if).
- Reminders: into the calendar, then crossed off.
- Later: onto a separate list with a rough date.
- What-ifs: a couple of words each, with a worry time written underneath.
- One next step: what, any help needed, how long, and when.
- Close the page. A new thought gets one line and a letter.
If the dump gets stuck
A few common snags, with what we suggest.
- The list keeps growing: stop at the limit you set. Anything important will come back, and you can add it then.
- Everything looks like an action: check each A for a first step you could name. If there isn't one, it is probably a W.
- It is the middle of the night: keep to one-line notes and leave the sorting for the morning. Our guide to overthinking at night has a short bedtime routine.
- One worry takes over the page: give it a W, a few words and a worry-time slot rather than writing it out in full.
- You do a dump several times a day: switch to a worry journal with a daily review, so thoughts have somewhere to wait.
When a brain dump isn't enough
A brain dump clears space; it doesn't make problems smaller. If the same what-ifs fill every list for weeks, or if writing them down leaves you more distressed, it is worth getting support rather than writing more. Anything urgent, such as a safety, health or money problem, needs action now rather than a place on a list.
The NHS describes the main symptom of generalised anxiety disorder as stress or worry that affects your daily life and is difficult to control, and suggests seeing a GP if you think you might have it. In England, adults can also refer themselves to an NHS talking therapies service without a GP referral.
Sources
- NHS Every Mind Matters — Tackling your worries (writing worries on paper or in a notes app; specific plans)
- NHS Every Mind Matters — Problem solving (solvable versus hypothetical worries; planning what, help, time and when)
- Centre for Clinical Interventions — Generalised Anxiety Information Sheet 05: Postpone your Worry (PDF; noting worries in a couple of words, a daily worry period)
- Scullin et al. (2018), Journal of Experimental Psychology: General — The effects of bedtime writing on difficulty falling asleep (PubMed; 57 healthy young adults, five minutes of writing)
- NHS — Generalised anxiety disorder in adults (main symptom, when to see a GP, self-referral to NHS talking therapies)