The Secret Power of Writing Stuff Down

Once you have reasoned through a string of thoughts and believe to have a solution to whatever problem you are facing, you would benefit greatly from writing this thought process down. In writing out your process, the number of things of which you did not think will probably shock you. Then, as you reason through each of those things and begin writing them down, yet another floodgate or two will most likely open. The process will possibly go on ad infinitum. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as you can detect patterns, generalize where you need to, and move on.

I keep a daily journal and write a lot of things down. Each week, I write a blog post. As a consequence, what I describe happens a lot. In the process of writing everything out, other paths of thought are revealed that I need to think through or resolve.

Last weekend, as I was thinking through a mathematical problem, I had thought it through in my mind and believed I had it figured out. But then, I wrote out my solution.

Almost immediately, I saw the flaw in my thinking and that there were so many more cases I needed to consider. It was a humbling moment, as I thought I had things figured out. It was a powerful moment, because it allowed me to actually figure things out.

If you’re a writer, you have experienced this in one form or another. Usually, it occurs when you set out to make a point and fail only because you try and tackle every rabbit hole that you uncover. This has happened to me on the several occasions in which I’ve tried to write about politics or religion.

Indeed, it is on those two points that you should always use the power of writing stuff down. Do you think you have a political or religious point all figured out? Write down your argument. You will be better off.

So will society.