Turn a Brain Dump Into a Task List

Prompt

Here's an unorganized list of things I need to do:

{{task_dump}}

Group these into logical categories, then order them by priority given this constraint: {{constraint}}. Flag anything that looks like it's blocking other tasks.

Fill in these placeholders

• {{task_dump}}
• {{constraint}}

How to use it

State your real constraint (a deadline, limited hours, dependencies) — without it, any AI can only guess at what "priority" should mean for you.

Example use case

Turning a chaotic to-do list into a plan at the start of a busy week.

Why this prompt works

The hard part of a messy list is not sorting it but noticing that half the items are not tasks — they are worries, decisions, or things waiting on someone else. Asking it to separate those categories does the work of untangling. Requiring a stated reason for each priority makes the ranking checkable rather than arbitrary, so you can disagree with a specific line instead of the whole list.

Common mistakes

• Editing the brain dump before pasting it. The raw version, including the vague items, is what you need help with.
• Accepting the ranking without checking the reasoning, when the model has no idea which of your deadlines are real.
• Producing a list and stopping. The output is a starting order, not a commitment.

Variations worth trying

• Add 'tell me which of these are not actually tasks' — a surprising number of items on any dump are unmade decisions.
• Ask for the three things that would make the biggest difference if done today, and ignore the rest of the list.
• Ask which items are blocked on other people so you can send those messages first.

Tools this works well in

• Notion AI