Writing things down can seem tedious and a bit of a waste of time, but there is a reason why more and more people are recommending it to others. Many people today don’t know and miss out on the benefits of writing things down, and a large reason behind this is the increased usage of phones and computers, but typing doesn’t benefit you like writing.
Clearing your mind
Writing down your thoughts or a list of things to do helps you to clear your mind. If you write down a list of things you need to do, you only have to focus on one task at a time, increasing your productivity during this task and decreasing stress and overthinking. There’s something about putting a pen to paper that lifts a weight of your shoulders that typing just doesn’t do.
Prioritise
Similar to the last point, writing down a list can help you to prioritise your tasks, helping you to achieve what is important first and on time, once again reducing stress and reducing the likelihood of you forgetting to do something. This applies to tasks in the workplace and out of it, so don’t think that you have to limit your list making to work.
Track progress
Tracking progression is a proven way to boost moral and work ethic. There is a satisfaction in completing a task you set yourself to do, and a good way to track this is through writing it down and then crossing it off your list. You will notice after some time that you will look forward to “ticking off” these tasks and the feeling of satisfaction. This can also work the other way, for example maybe you haven’t completed a task on time, this might motivate you to work harder in order to catch up and make sure the next task is done on time.
Improved sleep
Something that many of us struggling with is sleep, and the impact sleep has on our lives. It is incredibly hard to function on low sleep or poor-quality sleep and a common reason for poor sleep is overthinking in bed. Too many people go to sleep thinking about things that happened today or the things they have to do tomorrow and writing down a list of thoughts or tasks can help you to put aside these thoughts and focus on your sleep.
These are just some of the benefits that come with writing things down and we highly recommend that you try it out for a week or two just to see if it can help you to improve day to day life. We recently had special guest, Brad Kearns on our podcast and one of Brads tips to help you achieve your ideal day was to take down notes. To find out more of Brad’s tips and advice, listen to the podcast here.