Writing Things Down: The Original Life Hack
When you think about it too hard (one of my favorite hobbies) writing things down sounds like science fiction — extracting an thought from your brain, storing it somewhere outside your brain, and later reloading it into your (or someone else’s) brain. Though it sounds made up, it’s arguably the original life hack. Consider cave paintings as a primitive form of writing. Humans took what they learned about the world around them, preserved it, and shared it with the future generations. In fact it was so effective we still get a glimpse into these prehistoric minds even after 45,500 years. Imagine our society if we never figured out this trick—you’d likely be staring at your blank cave wall right now. Instead you are loading these thoughts from my brain into yours. This simple hack shattered the limits of our mental capacities, allowing us humans to compound our knowledge and set us on the course to become the ever more intelligent society we are today (and with some luck, tomorrow as well).
Writing things down might be the original life hack, but now it’s so commonplace, we seem to have lost an appreciation of it’s power. Not only does it help expand the knowledge of others, we can use writing to expand our own minds. Come take a trip with me as I break down what makes this simple act so powerful and how we can leverage this ancient practice to thrive in the modern day.
Getting a thought out of your head can be a challenge, but this struggle is actually it’s first benefit. Inside your brain, a thought can be fuzzy, vague, and ill-considered without you even realizing it. This is fine until you start using this flimsy idea to make decisions and take actions. However, by simply attempting to put a thought into words, you can force your brain to confront any murkiness and seek clarity. As easy or painful as it might be to find the right words to express your thought, what ends up on the page will be stronger than what was originally in your mind. It’s a simple test. Write it down.
Once a thought it written out, your brain can react to it. This is our second benefit. An idea on a page doesn’t belong to you anymore. It belongs to an old you, from seconds ago. With this maturity comes wisdom and the freedom to judge the shit out of this childish idea. As you poke holes, you make it stronger. OR you might read it and realize it’s 100% solid gold. You’re a genius and suddenly a bunch of other genius thoughts you didn’t know you had will start flowing out of you. Keep on expanding on this thought until your brain taps out. Now that it's down, every time you come back to read it (when you’re even more mature and wise) this process will repeat. Giving your idea a life of its own allows it grow and grow — more so than it ever could within the comfort of your head. Set it free.
With your thought safely preserved, your brain can relax. A good idea in your head is drain of your mental capacity. You’ve felt this mental exertion when a thought strikes when falling asleep. It’s hard work for your brain to keep a thought intact. You’re brain knows it doesn’t have the best track record, so it working overtime, repeating the thought over and over until you can finally make use of it (or it forgets it… again). It’s just as bad when you are awake, but instead of preventing you from getting your rest, it inhibits your mind from doing the things it’s actually good at — looking around, day dreaming, making connections, and finding that next important thought. Just like how writing down a thought lets you sleep, while you’re awake, it allows you think. Keep exploring.
Did we become thinkers because we’re writers or writers because we’re thinkers? Who knows. Not me. But clearly the two are connected. Writing things down helps us clarify our thoughts, think deeper, and frees up our minds to discover our next thought. It’s a loop, and it compounds on itself. Whether you're pursuing a goal, improving your work, or just combatting mental overload; making a habit of writing things down will advance your thinking and improve your life—the same way it has for thousands and thousands of years.
LEARN. THINK. DO.
Not that you asked, but yes, I do have a preferred system for writing things down. And it just so happens you can read about it here. 👇
