Key Points
- Entrepreneur and artist Minette Riordan says traditional planners and to-do lists don’t always quiet creative overwhelm. Instead, she developed a “visual brain dump”—a practice that combines intuitive art, journaling, and project planning.
- The approach helps multi-passionate and neurodivergent thinkers get ideas out of their heads and onto paper, bypassing overthinking loops and calming inner chaos. Experts in creative well-being agree: visual, playful practices often reveal patterns and priorities more effectively than rigid productivity hacks.
- Even for those who don’t see themselves as artists, this technique provides clarity, reduces mental noise, and reconnects people to their intuition.
Introducing the Visual Brain Dump
You know that feeling when your brain feels like Times Square at rush hour? Thoughts honking for attention. Ideas darting in every direction. A swirl of to-dos, half-formed dreams, and creative inspiration that feels less like a spark and more like a storm?
Yeah, me too.
As a multi-passionate entrepreneur, artist, and mentor, I live in a head full of color, concept, and possibility. It’s beautiful—but it can also get noisy in there. For years, I tried to manage the mental chaos with planners and apps and endless to-do lists. But those tools never fully calmed the storm.
Until I started doing what I now call a visual brain dump.
What Is a Visual Brain Dump?
It’s part intuitive art practice, part therapeutic journaling, and part project planning tool. Instead of forcing my thoughts into bullet points or categories, I let them flow onto paper—in shapes, colors, doodles, words, and lines that don't need to make sense to anyone but me.
Markers. Big blank paper. No rules.
A visual brain dump helps me:
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Get out of overthinking loops
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See the patterns and priorities in my ideas
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Reconnect with my creative intuition
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Quiet the inner critic by bypassing logic and going straight to expression
It’s a sacred, playful way of making the invisible visible.
Why It Works for Creatives
If you’re a visual thinker, neurodivergent, multi-passionate, or just deeply imaginative, your brain likely doesn’t think in straight lines. You don’t need another productivity hack—you need a way to see what’s going on inside your mind.
Making art gives your busy brain a place to land. It reclaims your creative energy from the chaos. It helps you trust yourself again.
And yes, even if you don’t think you’re an artist, this is for you.
Try It for Yourself
To help you get started, I made a printable prompt you can use for your own visual brain dump.
🖍️ [Visual brain dump process for.pdf]
Use it when:
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You’re overwhelmed with too many ideas
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You feel stuck or creatively blocked
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You need clarity on a project or decision
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You just want to play with your thoughts
Let it be messy. Let it be magic. Here's mine from the other day:
Your Mind Doesn’t Need More Pressure. It Needs More Play.
Creativity isn’t about control. It’s about connection. A visual brain dump isn’t about getting it right—it’s about getting it out.
So if your brain feels crowded, try this gentle, artful way of clearing space.
Your ideas deserve to be seen. And so do you.
With love and color,
Minette
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