The Seven Main Benefits Of Writing Things Down

You know you should write down your ideas and thoughts. Every success coach preaches it. But do you know exactly why?

How many times have we read the advice to always have a notebook with us? Well, I’m certainly not the first one to tell you that.

But be honest with me — do you listen to this advice? Do you really always have pen and paper or a note app at hand? I already see the first ones looking shamefaced to the ground ;)

But now to you who are actually always ready. Do you use your notebooks too, or do you just carry them around with you?

Okay, there are only a few nerds left at this point.

But it’s not easy either. It is all too easy to forget the reason why you have this thing with you in your hectic everyday life. And do you really have to write everything down all the time? What’s that supposed to be good for, anyway?

I have written this article for everyone who asks this question. Here come the seven main benefits of writing things down.

1. Writing is more evident than thoughts

In our head, there is continuously a confusion of all possible thoughts. Barely ten seconds we can concentrate on an idea or a question without anything else fighting for our attention in between. But as soon as we have written down a thought, it stands pure and without distraction before our eyes. The idea becomes tangible and clear. Much clearer than it could ever be in our heads.

2. It frees the head from thought loops

I have to buy butter, I have to buy butter… Whenever we try to keep something in mind, we must form a thought loop so that the important thought remains in our head. It gets worse when we try to make a decision. Again and again, we go through the pros and cons of a decision in our minds. The result is the same in both cases: Valuable capacities of our brain are blocked. The solution is again simple: We write the thought down and don’t have to be afraid to lose it anymore. The mind is available for new tasks.

3. Writing down saves mental energy

We have seen an example in point 2. But preventing thought loops is only one way to conserve mental energy by writing down thoughts. Written thinking, for example, is much easier than doing all the work in your head. Especially when it comes to planning, you can save an enormous amount of energy by writing it down, because you can develop the plan on paper step by step. In your head, on the other hand, you must always go back to the previous actions in order not to forget them and compare the subsequent steps with the previous ones.

4. Writing down ensures that essential or potentially important ideas do not disappear unused

The most well-known reason for always having a notebook with you is probably the suddenly appearing idea. Scientists, artists, and other creative people benefit most when they write down their ideas no matter where they occur to them. But every other person should also seize this opportunity. How often do we have a flash of genius and say to ourselves: “I must never forget that, that’s brilliant.

If such a sudden inspiration is not written down, the idea will most likely disappear from our memory forever after only a few minutes. How many great products, philosophical insights or ravishing poems may have escaped mankind in this way in the last centuries?

5. Thoughts and ideas are resources. Write it down and use it or forget it and waste it.

An idea can make life easier, you can earn money with it, or you can help others with it. This makes them a valuable resource. Every good but unused idea is a waste. We waste most ideas because we just forget them. But once you have written it down, you can rediscover it years later and use it as if you had just discovered it.

6. Write down an idea, and your subconscious will reward you with a hundred new ones.

Our subconscious is like a hard worker. It provides our consciousness with ideas to test and hopes that these ideas will be heeded. Now let’s imagine an employee who comes to his boss day after day and makes excellent suggestions for improvement. What’s he gonna do if the boss ignores his ideas every time? His motivation to come up with new ideas probably diminishes every day until he no longer comes to the boss’s office.

Our subconscious reacts in the same way when we merely let every idea expire. But if we write down every idea that the subconscious gives us, we signal to it that we value these ideas and take them seriously. Motivated by this, it will provide us with even better ideas more frequently and over time in the future.

7. Written down plans offer an excellent possibility to occupy oneself if one has dead time. (bus stop, etc.)

Waiting is boring. Most of the time we get our smartphone or a book out of our pockets to pass the time. But surfing the Internet isn’t very productive, and we don’t always have a book with us.

But now we always have our notebook with all our ideas and plans with us. Suddenly waiting for the bus or the boring train ride can become the most valuable time of the day. When could we better read and think through all that we wrote down last week? Finally, we have the opportunity to reflect on what has been written and to consider one or the other idea a little further.

Bottom line

Writing is a cultural technique and probably the most important we have developed in human history. Far too rarely do we realize the power this ability gives us.

It enables us to bring thoughts from fantasy into reality and make them visible on paper. In this way, we can develop much more complex theories and plans than would be possible only in thought.

Whoever makes it a habit to write down his thoughts and think in writing will suddenly have his life much better under control than someone who tries to juggle everything in his head.

Writing is a creative power. Let us use this ability for a better and happier life.

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