Writing may not immediately seem like the most obvious solution to resolving problems and figuring out solutions. It didn’t seem so to me either, as I relate in this post on writing it down, however, I have found that not only does writing help me sort out my thoughts, but also helps me recognize and reject unproductive thoughts that arise.
From finding it hard to know what to write and seeking prompts to give me ideas, I now find myself walking past my journal when I’m trying to figure something out and feeling that I want to write. While we are all capable of thinking as we do several other things, I find that by scribbling my thoughts onto paper I can then go back over them and process the ideas more clearly.
Reading back over what I have written helps me see more clearly where I might be making an unfounded assumption, or see where I am getting sidetracked by a red herring. When you think while busy doing something else, you don’t have any opportunity for feedback. When you can read back your own words, it is very helpful to see exactly what you’ve been thinking.
Another important part of this process is to let go of any ideas you may have about how you ‘should’ write, as these notes are entirely for your own benefit. They are not subject to any of the school rules of neatness, good grammar or spelling you may be feeling limited by. So long as you can make out what you have written, that is all that matters!
I have also found writing to be a useful way of brain dumping. Sometimes we are so overwhelmed by all we have to do, places to be and things we have to think about that we go into mental overload, and are temporarily unable to figure anything out. If you write down everything that is vying for your attention – quick bullet points, doodles, however you want to represent the stuff in your head – then walk away and do something simple and semi-automatic it really helps clear the clutter from your mind.
When you later come back and read your notes you can start to sort the ideas out, observe patterns and trends – and often identify the one thing is trying desperately to get your attention in the midst of all the mental ‘static’? In the same way, seeing your ‘to do’ list in black and white can help you organize your chores into a simpler sequence so that everything gets done more efficiently. Maybe you’ll realize it is time to ask for help because you simply cannot meet all the deadlines you see written on the page.
With all the items written down on the page you are also slightly further removed from them, so it is easier to do triage on them and identify the most urgent tasks , and then assign another time or date to finish the less pressing ones. This will reduce your stress pretty fast!
It can also be that one problem or dilemma is creating nearly all the mental noise. Once again, when written down and sorted out on paper, you can see all the angles and possibilities and gain some clarity about the situation. You can then decide whether you will address this bigger issue head on – or all the small elements one by one.
Perhaps the possibilities and options are so numerous that you don’t know where to begin? Can you pick one position that is most important, such as earning money quickly, and focus on the elements that lead to that direction first? As all the options are now captured on paper you can relax, knowing that you can return to them and deal with the subsidiary elements once the primary task has been addressed.
Whatever you take away from reading this page, please try writing again. If you simply can’t think what to write about consider buying a book of prompts and ideas to get you started. The bottom line is to go and find out for yourself that writing helps!
