It so happened that the appearance of convenient keyboards and voice input of text is slowly devaluing the skill of writing by hand. Most likely, the last time you wrote something by hand was back in college or university. And only because it was one of the strange requirements of your professor.
However, in fact, handwriting is a good way to stay focused and even increase your productivity. In this article, we will tell how it works.
Improve Your Memory
If you think that when a professor forced you to write something by hand in college just to complicate your already difficult student life, then most likely you are mistaken. The information recorded by hand and analyzed during this process is stored in our memory longer. And it is a scientifically proven fact.
Once you have recorded something, you can be almost absolutely sure that you will not forget about it. At the time of writing, your brain has already received all the necessary signals for storing and processing certain information. But when you ask Siri to create a note for you, this effect does not occur.
Plan Your Workload Better
Written planning is an effective way to improve time management skills. And productivity gains as a result.
If you turn to the classic personal growth and self-development coaches, you will read that most of them give the same universal advice. They advise you to write down your desires and goals. Based on these notes, it will be easier for you to develop a step-by-step strategy for achieving them. Those things that are written down become visual and cease to be abstract. And when an abstract and seemingly impossible goal turns into a real one before your eyes, you get more determination to begin to achieve it.
Stay Focused
When you see a list of your tasks right in front of you, it helps you complete them sequentially. You are less tempted to do things that aren’t written in your plan. In practice, this means that you do not waste your time in vain, but follow each item on your to-do list.
And here’s a hint. Write a short break on your to-do list. Firstly, it will help you better plan your time for work and leisure. Secondly, you still need a break to regain your strength. And thirdly, taking a break at a time determined by the plan, you continue to follow it. That means you remain productive.
Think Like a Strategist
When you record your goal and then describe in detail each successive step to achieve it, you are not only visualizing it. You are developing a whole strategy.
And strategic thinking is the same important skill in the modern world as the ability to communicate with people. The habit of developing written strategies will be very useful for both personal and business projects.
Strategic planning is a tool to eliminate working and personal chaos. This is a tool to achieve the concentration of efforts and actions to realize your ambitions. Yes, you cannot take into account the full range of possible events and risks. However, the strategic and written planning of each area of your life allows you to not only flexibly respond to emerging risks, but also quickly adapt to use the emerging opportunities without losing focus on key goals. Therefore, we recommend starting to develop it right now.
Keep Track of Your Progress
But the coolest thing in writing goals and objectives is that you clearly see your progress and your successes. Feeling satisfied with your result and pride because of your success is just a magic pill for explosive productivity.
The only thing that needs to be done is to put a plus in front of the completed task. Your self-confidence and self-esteem will grow with the number of pluses put. And new, more ambitious goals and plans will be invented by themselves. Most importantly, manage to record them all.
Get More Inspiration
Paper and pen allow you to work with information in a way that is convenient for you. You are not limited to the application interface. If you still cannot formulate the idea in words, you can depict it in the form of a picture, graph, set of conditional symbols, anything that can only be understood by you. A clean slate is an endless space for planning and finding new solutions.
Become More Creative
When you write something on paper, you are limited only by the information that is contained in your head. You are not tempted to say “Ok Google” and get a turnkey solution or answer in a second. You have to think independently. And rely only on yourself.
It is difficult, but it is not bad. This means that you can come up with something truly unique and creative.
Get All the Benefits of the Free-Writing Method
When you sequentially write down your thoughts on any issue, you simultaneously organize these thoughts in your head. When you described a specific problem in words, you are already 50 percent closer to solving it.
Remember the elementary school math course? Half of the answer is already contained in the task description. So it is here. As a rule, the solution to almost any situation is on the surface. But it is difficult to see it until you give a specific problem a visual appearance.
Conclusion
Of course, modern people are much more worried about forgetting their smartphones at home than about the same situation with the diary and pen. We recommend that you do not forget either one or the other at home. A smartphone is a great helper in many situations. And a diary and a pen are one of the keys to better productivity.
Therefore, plan your day, week, month, and year in writing. This will help you stay on track, constantly monitor your progress, set new goals, keep your focus and stay concentrated on each task you are doing.