In today's digital world, the trusty notepad has been replaced by to-do list apps and the fountain pen has been passed over for Google Docs. Sadly, the good old-fashioned practice of putting pen to paper has lost its allure.
If you find yourself regularly creating notes on your computer instead of sticky notes, here are six benefits to writing things down - that will hopefully help you reach for a pen next time instead.
Writing down your dreams, goals, and business ideas helps you brainstorm on a more ambitious scale.
There's nothing quite like writing down your new business idea in the middle of a well-used notebook and then branching out with a string of other ideas to support it.
Plus, writing down your thoughts gives you a chance to explore dreams that you maybe aren't ready to share with others yet. It also provides you with a physical space to keep track of those thoughts and return to them later, when needed.
Think of your brain as a hard drive. A multi-layered, super-epic, crazily complex hard drive.
When you jot down your ideas, emotions, and thoughts it helps your brain to unload some baggage. Giving it more room to think about other things. Or better yet, with all that extra space, it could even begin to relax.
What a novel idea. See what I did there.....
A 2010 study by Indiana University found that the areas of the brain associated with learning worked far better when kids were asked to write words like "rocket" by hand versus just reading the word off a whiteboard.
So, not taking in class wasn't all for nothing, after all. Shout out to my 6th-grade teacher, Mrs. Helus for teaching me note-taking.
Writing things down that you need to remember, like to-do lists, gives you a far better chance of actually remembering them when you have to.
But don't just take my word for it. A 2014 report, by the Association of Psychological Science, reported that students who physically took notes received a memory boost. Particularly when compared to those who took notes via a laptop.
Giving your notebook the cold shoulder in favor of typing on a computer or cell phone is a dangerous game.
As you type, notifications will slide into view and drag you away from your task. "Oh look, new Facebook notifications. Wait... What was I saying...."
Good old-fashioned paper will help keep you focused - and focus is the key to thinking clearer and thinking better.
According to the world-renowned science journal, Neurology, writing things down will keep you on top of your memory game for longer.
In a press release, the study's author Robert Wilson said, "Our study suggests that exercising your brain by taking part in activities, such as reading and writing, across a person's lifetime, from childhood through old age, is important for brain health in old age."
So if you want to remember where you put your glasses in thirty years - I strongly suggest you start writing more things down today.
We'd love to hear... What works best for you? Writing things down with pen and paper or taking notes on a Smartphone? Have you ever tried journaling? Did it work for you?
