ADHD Brain
Dump

ADHD Executive Function Tools

Empty your working memory and assign each item
a priority — in one step.

Where This Tool Helps

Working memory in ADHD holds fewer items, loses them more easily, and tends to cycle through the same urgent-feeling tasks on repeat — not because those tasks are the most important, but because the brain hasn't been given a reliable external place to store them. Keeping a mental list in ADHD is less like making a note and more like trying to hold water in your hands.

The brain dump addresses this directly: get everything out of your head and onto the page. But this tool goes one step further. Each item you write down gets assigned a priority — High, Medium, or Low — before you move to the next one. That single step transforms the exercise from a venting list into a triage. When you're done, you have a sorted, prioritized set of actions rather than a longer mental load.

Use this whenever your head feels full — before a meeting, at the start of a work session, or when you notice yourself cycling through the same anxious loop of things you haven't done yet.

How to Use This Tool

  1. Dump without filtering first. Write down everything on your mind — tasks, worries, ideas, obligations, half-remembered commitments. Don't pause to judge whether something belongs. If it's taking up space in your head, it goes on the list.
  2. Assign priority as you go. After writing each item, circle H, M, or L before moving to the next. Don't save the prioritization for after — doing it item-by-item is faster and more accurate than trying to rank the whole list at the end.
  3. H means it needs attention today. Not "it would be good to do today" — it actually has to happen today or there are real consequences. Use H sparingly. If everything is high priority, nothing is.
  4. Check off items as you complete them. The Done column is not decorative. Each checkmark reduces the mental load and shows you the list is moving.
  5. Start a new sheet when it fills up. Don't carry a full sheet forward. Complete or cancel items, then begin fresh.
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ADHD Brain Dump

Tasks Priority Done
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H
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L
H
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H
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L
H
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H
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H
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H
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