This is for anyone whose ideas arrive faster than they can type them. If you’re dyslexic, or you have ADHD, or like me you’re dyslexic with a lot of ADHD traits, you probably know the moment. A good thought, a keyboard, and by the third typo the thought has gone. When my fingers are slower than my head, I stop typing and record a voice note instead. This piece is about why I talk instead of type, the habits that make voice notes work for me, and what happens to them after I press stop.
Why I take notes out loud
Because my typing can’t keep up with my head. I’m dyslexic, and I’ve been hiding typos for about 35 years. I also show a lot of ADHD traits, though I’ve never had a formal ADHD diagnosis. Put the two together and typing an idea is a race I usually lose. By the time I’ve fixed one word, the next thought has pushed the first one out.
And I’m often typing fast on a phone between meetings. (You should see my WhatsApps.) Talking skips all that. I say the idea the way it arrived, messy, and it gets down before it goes.
I’m not a doctor, so I can’t explain why in medical terms. The NHS list of signs of ADHD in adults includes “being easily distracted or forgetful” and “finding it hard to organise your time”. All I know is where my ideas go missing: in the gap between having one and getting it written down.
Speech-to-text is a normal dyslexia tool
Talking instead of typing isn’t a trick I came up with. The British Dyslexia Association’s advice on creating a dyslexia friendly workplace lists speech-to-text alongside screen readers, mind-mapping and enhanced spellchecking as tools that “support independence and confidence”. I wrote more about being dyslexic with ADHD traits at work last week.
AI you talk to, and a box called Kevin
In August I bought a little “computer in a box” for £20 on Amazon and gave it to Claude Code to play with. I ended up with a portable AI assistant you could talk to. It’s a bit janky, and it’s called Kevin.
Lots of AI gadgets you talk to are knocking around at the minute, and I don’t think anyone has nailed it yet. But AI clearly needs to live in more places than a webpage you type text to, and so do notes. If the only way in is a keyboard, the ideas I can’t type fast enough never make it.
What helps me with voice notes
None of this is clinical advice. It’s what works for me.
1. Record it the moment it turns up
An idea won’t wait while I find the right app or the right folder. If saving takes longer than the thought, I don’t bother, and then it’s gone. Recording works the same way: the button has to be the first thing I reach, before I’ve even decided what the thought is.
2. Don’t tidy it while you talk
A voice note doesn’t have to be good, and false starts and rambling don’t matter. Stopping to say every sentence properly is just typing with your mouth.
3. Let software write the transcript and find the point
Ordinary dictation types out every word, mistakes included. What I want back is the point: something that transcribes the recording and pulls out what matters, so the idea survives without me sitting down to type it up.
4. Keep voice notes with everything else
A voice memo app full of recordings called “New recording 14” is another place to forget to check, and every extra place is somewhere things vanish. I wrote about that out of sight, out of mind problem in object permanence and ADHD. My recordings go in with my links, files and typed notes, so there’s one place to look.
Where Ultrathink fits
I built Ultrathink so there’s one place to throw everything, voice notes included. In the web app, quick capture has a button to record audio from your microphone, and on Windows the desktop widget records too, without opening a browser. A recording saves like any other entry, without choosing where it goes first.
With AI turned on, each voice note is transcribed, and then it gets a title, a short summary, key points, topics and people. Long recordings come back laid out like a script, with who said what. When I need something back, I ask for it in plain English.
I’d saved 32 voice recordings into Ultrathink by early October.
Ultrathink won’t change how my brain works, and it isn’t meant to. It just gives the things I say out loud somewhere to land, next to everything else I’ve saved. There’s more on choosing a note-taking app for ADHD and on Otter alternatives elsewhere on this blog.
Should your ADHD notes be voice notes?
I can only say what works for me. If typing is where your ideas get lost, try saying them instead and let software do the typing afterwards.
If ADHD is getting in the way of your studies, work or relationships, the NHS says to make an appointment with a GP to find out what support is available. Its page on ADHD in adults has more.
My typing hasn’t improved in 35 years. It just matters less when my notes can start as voice notes.
