In a world where everything can be digitized, researchers have found that people who write things down with pen and paper are more successful in many areas of life.
Thanks to technology, gone are the days of hand cramps, inky fingers, and lousy handwriting. It’s easy to take a photo or type out notes using your phone.
Although digital note taking can be helpful in some ways, the process of handwriting is in many ways superior, as it can improve your memory, decision making, and thinking patterns.
8 Benefits of Writing Things Down
Let’s explore the powerful benefits of writing things down.
1. Improve Your Understanding
Writing things down by hand can be more beneficial when it comes to learning and processing new information. A 2014 study found that students who use laptops for note taking don’t learn as well as students who take notes by hand.
In three different experiments, researchers found that students who use laptops are able to note down more words, but they process information more shallowly. Meanwhile, students who took notes by hand wrote fewer words, but processed the information more thoroughly and efficiently.
When typing notes, it can be tempting to write everything verbatim. That’s because it’s easy to type, so you can get a lot more words down. If you’re a fast typist, you can type out an entire transcript of a lecture!
But when taking notes with pen and paper, you need to be selective, because you can’t write as fast as someone can talk. This limitation forces your brain to process and condense information before you write it down, promoting better retention and understanding.
This benefit isn’t limited to students, though. Even writing down your grocery list can help you retain information better than typing it out on your phone.
2. Strengthen Your Memory
Two essential things happen when you write by hand: external storage and encoding.
External storage is simply storing information into a medium (in this case, paper). It’s accessible and can be viewed at any time. It’s easier to remember things when there’s a visual cue to rely on.
Encoding is the biological process in which your brain analyzes information and arranges it into easily understandable parts. You tend to skip this part when typing notes, as your brain doesn’t engage much with the information.
The more you interact with information, the more it is cemented in your memory. Since hand writing requires you to do more mental lifting, better memory recall is a given result. Some people take advantage of this by writing down important information more than once.
Discover more ways you can improve your memory.
3. Process Emotions
If you’re like me, you might be so busy that you sometimes forget to think about your emotions. When you’re stressed, depressed, or overwhelmed, it can take some time to figure out what’s going on and what to do about it.
Your thoughts influence your emotions, and your emotions influence your thoughts. If your thoughts are constantly negative and distracting, they can start affecting your everyday performance.
Negative thoughts attract negative emotions, leaving you uninspired and demotivated. Writing down your thoughts helps you process these emotions and address the root causes of the problems in your life.
Writing can be a form of therapy and mental self-care, giving you an outlet for any strong emotion, whether negative or positive. Asking yourself what you feel and writing down what comes to mind is an effective way of introspection.
Emotions and thoughts can be easier to deal with objectively once you’ve given them a physical form. Think of journaling like confiding in a trusted friend. Doing this allows your emotions to flow, rather than being stuck inside of you.
4. Reduce Stress
Think of your mind as a computer and your thoughts as programs. The more programs you have open, the slower your mind runs, affecting efficiency. This is why decision making is so difficult. Your mind is preoccupied with many thoughts vying for your attention.
Having so many thoughts going on at once will make you feel overwhelmed. There’s a constant feeling of burden that negatively affects your mental strength, resulting in stress.
Some experts recommend starting your day by sitting down and writing down anything that comes to your mind. With these “morning pages,” essentially do a brain dump and put all of these thoughts onto paper, clearing some mind space so you have room to focus on what’s important.
The fewer thoughts you’re dealing with, the less you feel burdened and the more you can be effective with your activities.
5. Improve Your Focus
Giving your thoughts a physical form makes them easier to break down into steps that will help you put your thoughts into order.
Working without defined goals is a nightmare. There’s no clear direction and endpoint. You often multi-task because you don’t have a clear path to reaching a goal and when you’re stuck in a rut, it feels easier to do something else.
By breaking down your tasks into manageable steps, your mind doesn’t burn itself out so quickly. This way, you can progressively work on one task at a time until completion.
Technology can also be distracting as it’s so easy to switch between your social media and entertainment apps while doing important work. This affects your efficiency, as your brain is running different programs for each task. When writing by hand, pen and paper are the only elements you’re dealing with.
6. Clarify Your Goals and Priorities
Thoughts and ideas can be vague and formless, changing over time while words are linear and limited. Writing them down will help in capturing the essence of what you want to achieve, as paper can’t be affected by memory.
You streamline your process this way and avoid constant changes and distractions to achieving your goals and dreams. By making a list, you’re forcing yourself to literally look at them and evaluate what to do first. They’re no longer just thoughts, but solid directions to work on.
Often, your aspirations can be too vague to act on, but you won’t notice this lack of clarity as the root of the problem. For example, if you write down “start a business” on a piece of paper, you’ll notice that it’s too unclear and unmeasurable. You can revise this on your list to something more actionable, or break it down into steps. Complex goals can be better understood and worked on this way.
You can’t check off “start a business” in one day, but you can buy a domain name for your website, design a logo, or start contacting manufacturers and suppliers. This way, you also see what your current progress is.
Mental checklists are ok, but checking those small boxes in your physical to-do list is proof you’re achieving things. The more you want to accomplish, the more important it is to stay organized with a list. Checking off a simple task on your list might not seem like that big of a breakthrough, but remember that any dream you want to achieve must be completed one step at a time.
7. Create a Physical Copy of Your Thought Process
The human memory is notoriously unreliable. It’s influenced by too many factors, including emotion, information, and even your perception. What you remember may differ from what others remember, or may just turn out to be a fabrication of your mind.
Writing your thoughts and goals into paper gives them physical form. They’re easier to access and more reliable as what you write doesn’t change through time unless you physically alter it.
Think of it as having a solid backup copy. You may rely on your memories for the most part, but its nice knowing you have something to go back to when your memory fails.
How many times have you had flashes of insights that you told yourself never to forget, only to forget or misremember it later on? Your thoughts are valuable resources to check on for inspiration and ideas. Writing them down ensures they don’t go to waste. It’s the reason why successful people have a habit of keeping notes.
You might find that a stray thought from a few days ago can trigger new insights or action steps for today.
8. Record Your Journey
Aside from writing down thoughts and ideas, writing down things is essentially recording your progress in life.
If you stick to any writing activity, over time you’ll create an extensive record of your growth. Think of it as an unofficial memoir of your life. You’ll be able to compare your current self to what you were some time ago.
You’ll see how you handled problems in the past and how you changed with each success and failure you’ve experienced. Rather than going for a trial and error approach, analyzing who and what you were in the past can show you what your present self can do to succeed. Perhaps you’ll even discover something about yourself that you’ve never realized before.
It’s Your Turn
Handwriting is a disappearing skill, as more and more people find the convenience and speed of typing preferable. Though it does take more work, the benefits of writing by hand can be worth the extra effort.
If you’re not in the habit of writing on a regular basis, it might be time to start now. It’s a powerful habit to build and may very well be the catalyst to transforming your life.
Anyone who’s made something of themselves will tell you that they make a point of writing on a daily basis. It’s one of the most common habits successful people have!
Writing doesn’t need to be difficult or grand. Start journaling or make a blog and write about your thoughts, interests, dreams, and emotions. You can start small: a quick note to yourself will do. The important thing is that you build the habit of writing into your daily routine.
Whatever you decide, just start writing things down.
Did you find this post helpful? Let us know in the comments below!
If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:
- How to Improve Your Handwriting: 7 Steps for Better Print and Productivity
- How to Take Notes: The Ultimate Guide to Efficiency
- How to Journal: 8 Tips for Getting the Most from Your Writing Time
- How Morning Pages Can Improve Your Writing (and Your Life)
Cole is a blog writer and aspiring novelist. He has a degree in Communications and is an advocate of media and information literacy and responsible media practices. Aside from his interest in technology, crafts, and food, he’s also your typical science fiction and fantasy junkie, spending most of his free time reading through an ever-growing to-be-read list. It’s either that or procrastinating over actually writing his book. Wish him luck!
