From Brain Dump to Action Plan: Use ChatGPT to Organise Ideas

ByMel

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Too many ideas, not enough action? Learn how to use ChatGPT to organise ideas, sort the chaos, and turn your thoughts into an action plan!

back of person's head with wind blowing hair and papers around representing chaos and how you can use chatgpt to orgainse ideas

Does your brain feel like a browser with 57 tabs open—all competing for your attention?

One minute, you’re inspired to start a new project; the next, you’re paralysed by indecision. If you’re drowning in ideas but struggling to take action, ChatGPT can help you clear the mental clutter and create a plan that actually works.

Don’t worry, AI isn’t writing this article; I’m sitting in bed with the dog asleep on one side, coffee on the other, writing this the old-school way with pen and paper.

Later, I’ll use AI to convert my scribbles into the typed text you’re reading now. But right at this moment, my writing methods are centuries old. 

Anyhoo…

How does AI help a multi-passionate dilettante with too many spinning plates and not enough time to do everything?

This may be just me, but maybe you can relate? 

As someone who habitually takes on more things than I have time for—and then spends a vast amount of energy hyperventilating with overwhelm—I can say that it’s easy to get stuck into overthinking without making progress.

But I’ve been experimenting with using AI to help untangle the mess and turn overwhelm into action, and I thought I’d share how.

Note: I use ChatGPT, but you can use Claude, Copilot, Gemini, or other AI models to do the same thing – most now have voice-to-text for free or you can use the voice-to-text option on your phone.

The Multi-Passionate Mind: Too Many Ideas, Not Enough Focus

I sat down and told ChatGPT all the things I hoped to do this year.

And even AI laughed at me. 

Not literally laugh, but it did say, “That’s not realistic,” and added a few 😆😆😆 to get the point across.

If you’re multi-passionate, you can probably relate.

We LOVE having lots of interests and goals.

But it gets overwhelming fast.

And when you don’t have the time or energy to pursue all those ideas, you feel guilty—like a failure, right?

Like “There goes Mel again, starting something new, never finishing. So many ideas, nothing to show for it!”

The dilettante pain is real, and it’s brutal.

But AI can help.

It’s not a magic machine that will miraculously turn you into a productive Da Vinci (even Da Vinci had issues finishing what he started). 

But it does help you get all those swirling thoughts and ideas out of your head and organise them in a way that’s actionable.

How to Use ChatGPT to Organise Ideas

I’ve found ChatGPT to be really good at taking my stream-of-consciousness word salad and turning it into a structured format that makes sense.

Even with an Aussie accent and a fair few slang and swear words.

You can brainstorm via the voice-to-text function by simply blurting out what’s on your mind, and it will summarise and categorise your thoughts.

Here’s how:

  1. Open the ChatGPT app on mobile or desktop.
  2. Turn on the voice-to-text option by pressing the microphone.
  3. Start by explaining why you’re there and what help you need.

For example:

“I have too many projects I’m juggling, and I have all these ideas swirling around in my head, but I need help turning them into an action plan!”

Then, just brain dump. 

It’s okay to ramble—AI is pretty good (not perfect) at sorting out the mess.

The other day I brain dumped all the things I had to do for the volunteer role I’ve been neglecting, all the things I had to do to prepare for guests, all the things I had to do to start a new business, and discussed some ideas for a newsletter I was thinking of writing.

ChatGPT sorted them into three lists:

  • Urgent tasks (time-sensitive items)
  • Creative projects (big-picture ideas)
  • Recurring responsibilities (things I need to do regularly).

Suddenly, I wasn’t drowning in ideas—I had a plan that I could put into my task manager and use my calendar to block out time to work through the chaos.

Once you’re done, tap to end, hit send, and let ChatGPT process your thoughts.

This is a conversation, so you don’t have to get it perfect the first time. You can always add things later, like:  “I forgot to mention X, Y, Z—can you please add them to my list?”

Important Disclaimer:

I want to emphasis that AI has limitations. It’s primed to be ingratiating, which can hinder creativity. Other limitations include:

  • Biases: AI tends to agree too much and reflect common narratives.
  • Hallucinations: It makes things up—always fact-check.
  • Over-simplification: AI may skip nuance—use pushback prompts (see below).

For these reasons (and more), it’s not a replacement for creativity, problem-solving, or thinking.

Instead, think of AI as a helpful assistant—like a friend who listens, acts as a sounding board, and helps you to wrangle your thoughts into something manageable but leaves the final decisions up to you.

Don’t accept everything AI says as true—it always needs to be double-checked and challenged (see prompts below).

Turning Ideas into Action

Now that you have all those swirling ideas out of your head and into a manageable list, it’s easier to work with.

You get clarity, organise the chaos, and prioritise what matters most.

ChatGPT will have arranged your list in a logical way—but if it doesn’t quite make sense to you, ask AI to rearrange, refine, or prioritise your tasks.

It’s also a good idea to read through your AI-generated list to ensure nothing important was missed—it’s pretty good at turning the word salad into something logical, but I’ve found it does miss things occasionally. If something is missing, ask, “Can you add X to my list?”

AI and Data Security

⚠️ Important: Strip out any sensitive information before using AI.

Don’t include:

  • Personal details (names, places, proprietary knowledge, etc.)
  • Confidential company information
  • Anything you wouldn’t want stored on a server

From Ideas to Action: Making It Work

Once you have your AI-generated list, copy it into a task manager like Todoist or Notion and break it down into smaller steps.

If a task still feels too big, ask AI to break your list down into smaller, actionable steps to make it more manageable.

You can also ask ChatGPT to suggest realistic deadlines based on your time constraints and workload.

Later, you can use AI as an accountability partner and cheerleader to keep you motivated.

Don’t Lose Your Notes

Copy and paste key takeaways, checklists, or insights into your task manager or PKM (Obsidian, Notion, etc.) at the end of each session.

Why? AI chat history isn’t always easy to search and insights can get easily lost in the chat. And if you’re like me, and a chat sparks a whole bunch of other enticing ideas 🙄, so you don’t want to lose them in the natter.

Prompt Ideas for a Multi-Passionate Brain Dumb Session

Here are some powerful prompts readers can use in ChatGPT:

For Organising Ideas:

  • “I have too many ideas and projects. Can you help me sort them into categories and create a plan?”
  • “Here’s my brain dump: [list ideas]. Can you organise them by priority?”
  • “I need a structured way to manage my creative projects. What’s a good system for me?”

For Taking Action on Ideas:

  • “I have a list of ideas but don’t know where to start. Can you help me prioritise?”
  • “Turn this messy list into an action plan with clear next steps.”
  • “Break this goal into small, actionable tasks with realistic deadlines.”

For Productivity & Motivation:

  • “I struggle to stay consistent. Can you set up a system to keep me accountable?”
  • “Give me a weekly check-in plan to track progress on my ideas.”
  • “How can I maintain momentum on long-term projects?”

To Challenge Over-Simplification & Assumptions:

  • “What am I oversimplifying or not considering in this idea?”
  • “Can you play devil’s advocate and point out the weaknesses in my plan?”
  • “What are the potential blind spots or risks I haven’t thought of?”
  • “What’s a counterargument to my approach?”
  • “What’s the most unrealistic part of my plan?”

To Get Brutally Honest Feedback

  • “Be brutally honest: Is this plan realistic given my time, skills, and energy?”
  • “If you had to tell me why this won’t work, what would you say?”
  • “If I asked an expert in this field, what hard truths would they tell me?”
  • “On a scale of 1-10, how viable is this? Justify your answer.”
  • “Give me three reasons why I should abandon this idea.”

To Gauge Feasibility & Time Investment

  • “Realistically, how long would this take, factoring in distractions and learning curves?”
  • “Can you break this project down into phases and estimate how much time each phase will take?”
  • “What’s the minimum time I’d need to make meaningful progress?”
  • “What’s a realistic weekly schedule for making this happen?”
  • “Compare my expectations to what’s realistic—where am I being too ambitious?”

Prompts to Critique and Improve Ideas

  • “What’s the weakest part of my idea, and how can I improve it?”
  • “What common mistakes do people make with this type of project?”
  • “How could this backfire, and how can I prevent that?”
  • “What’s a better way to structure this plan for success?”
  • “Tell me what an expert in this field would do differently.”

Prompts to Stop AI from Being Too Agreeable

  • “Do NOT be agreeable—your job is to poke holes in my plan. What’s wrong with it?”
  • “I don’t want sugar coating. Critique my approach as if you’re an expert in [field.]”
  • “What would a skeptical investor or mentor say if I pitched this idea?”
  • “Push back against my assumptions—what am I assuming that might be wrong?”
  • “What advice would you give if you knew I was about to waste 6 months on this?”

Prompts to Compare Priorities & Trade-Offs

  • “If I can only focus on one of these ideas, which has the best chance of success?”
  • “Rank my ideas by impact vs. effort and explain your reasoning.”
  • “If I only have 5 hours a week, which idea is most worth my time?”
  • “What trade-offs should I consider before committing to this?”
  • “If I start this, what might I have to sacrifice?”

AI Tools for Multi-Passionate People

If you’re juggling multiple interests, here are some useful AI tools:

  • ChatGPT – Brainstorming, organising, summarising
  • Notion AI – Note-taking, structuring ideas
  • Todoist / Trello – Task management
  • Obsidian – Knowledge management

Final Thoughts: AI as a Tool for Focus, Not a Crutch

AI won’t do the work for you, but using ChatGPT to organise ideas can help you filter distractions, prioritise what matters, and execute your best ideas.:

  • Filter distractions
  • Prioritise what truly matters to you
  • Turn scattered thoughts into clear next steps
  • Challenge assumptions & avoid over-simplification

And you don’t need to be an AI expert—just open the app and start talking to it like you would a friend.

At the very least, AI can help you get those swirling thoughts out of your head, which is a relief in itself.

What to Do Next:

  1. Try a brain dump in ChatGPT. Say: “Help me organise my ideas into an action plan.”
  2. Use the prompts in this article to refine your results.
  3. Pick one small task from your list and start today.
  4. Learn how to use AI as an accountability partner to stay motivated and actually take action!

Ready to declutter your mind? Open ChatGPT now, hit the mic button, and say: ‘Help me organise my ideas into an action plan!’ Then, let me know in the comments how it went!”

Share with a fellow dilettante!

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