How note taking and journal writing benefit you emotionally, creatively and intellectually
by Alan Pritt
Investigate the lives’ of most geniuses and you’ll find they’ve either scribbled in the margins of the books they’ve read, or have separate note books full of their thoughts.
Their notes are not usually linear in nature, and they don’t always stick to the lines. They usually doodle as well. They are free flowing, uncensored thoughts that trickle out of the brains of these great minds and onto the page.
So do genius minds feel more inclined to write their ideas down? Or is it that journal writing benefits them so much that it forges those genius minds?
I believe it is some of each; but the latter point is definitely true.
When we write down a thought, it encourages us to write down more thoughts in the future. It works on the power of reinforcement.
When we pay extra attention to a thought it tells the brain that the thought was extra important. More thoughts are therefore likely to crop up in the future.
It works remarkably well. We get an insight, perhaps not amazing but still insightful, and we jot it down on a piece of paper. Then we get another, and we jot that down. Then another, and another.
When we see those thoughts on the page we instantly review and judge them. We can see what our best thoughts are, and we become more inclined to make thoughts like that in the future.
The more immediately you respond to your ideas, the greater the effect. So for the greatest journal writing benefits, keep that note book handy throughout the day. If you’ve been given advice on writing, you’ve likely been given the same advice to carry a notebook with you at all times.
More journal writing benefits
A method coined “freenoting” by Win Wenger has similar benefits. This method is completely natural; and is something I came across by accident long before I heard anyone else describe it.Simply choose a topic and begin writing. Write what ever thought comes into your head. Write without criticising; just let the thoughts come out. And don’t be too concerned about what you’re writing; the process is the most important aspect.
We write continuously, not stopping to decide whether it is good enough to write down. We keep the flow of ideas coming, never stopping.
If you have questions write them down before you worry about answering them. In fact, if you become stuck asking questions is a great way of getting unstuck.
This is different to ordinary note taking because you do not attempt to write down the facts that you hear. Instead you write down what you are thinking.
A great place to do this is when taking lecture notes. Where the material seems difficult to grasp, or you are bored by the pace of the lecture it is especially useful. In this case, stop listening consciously and begin writing down rapidly whatever comes into your head on the subject.
You can do the same when reading a book. Just stop for a few minutes and let your mind spurt out whatever it wishes.
The benefits of this include:
- You come up with ideas yourself before they are said by the lecturer, or before you read them.
- You come up with ideas that are completely original.
- You integrate what is being imparted with your own experience, making it much easier to understand.
- Even if you are not consciously listening, your concentration is much more focused on the topic because you are engaging your whole brain.
- You no longer become bored.
And here is another journal writing benefit
Note taking of all kinds has the benefit of review. Whether you record your thoughts in a book, on scrap paper, on your computer, or on a tape recorder you can go back and remind yourself of those ideas. This will allow you to remember them more easily in the future. It also allows you to go back to an idea and explore it in greater detail.Reviewing can be very time consuming, however. It can be difficult to sort through your notes for the best stuff. But there is a way of making that easier.
Linear notes all look the same; just lines and lines of words. But by putting in some headings, and some bullet points, it becomes a little bit more individual and memorable.
Add colour, and images, different size writing, diagrams, et cetera, and it becomes much, much easier to find the bits that you want to review.
And it allows you to add more insights to those notes. If you have pages and pages of text, there is very little space to go back and add extra thoughts. A freer approach to your note taking usually leaves much more white space on the page for going back to.
I recommend reading Tony Buzan’s book on mind mapping which is a very effective way of taking notes. Follow the method precisely the way he says for a while. Then, when it becomes natural, let go and use it only when it seems the best method.
There are always so many ways of doing things that it can seem impossible to choose the best way. There isn’t one best way to take notes. Instead you use the method that works best for the situation. Take one method at a time, experiment with it, and then use it where it suits you.
There is another journal writing benefit: it guides you with focusing your thoughts and working through them in a structured way.
One of the reasons that journal writing benefits those trying to get out of emotional or personal difficulties is that it allows them to really think about their ordeal in a structured and thoughtful way. It is easy to fall into habitual ways of thinking; easily skipping over difficult questions or looking at an issue in the same way. It is much more difficult to skip over difficult questions when you’re writing. Simply go back over your writing and make alterations. When you do, you’ll be making alterations to your thought process.
One thing you may like to try is giving your journal rules. For example, it could be a rule that you only write optimistically.
Writing can also help with many of the mind meditations on this site. Instead of going straight into the meditations you can try working through them on paper first.
Instead of closing your eyes, sit with pen and paper and write out the meditation. Write it as if it were a story. Focus on sensory experiences; detailing what you see, hear, taste, smell and feel.
This is useful in this extent because it is much more controlled and doesn’t rely on us memorising a sequence of steps completely.
However, it brings up on thing that is certainly not a journal writing benefit: the speed it takes to write. After a while, you may find it tiresome to record many of your thoughts on paper. Much of what we try to write comes out too fast. Writing everything down may slow the process of insight.
I flit between many forms of insight generation. This may seem unusual at first as you add new techniques. But after a while you’re find it easy and natural to move from talking to yourself, to meditating on an idea, to jotting ideas into a journal...
For example: if I’m mulling on an idea in my journal then I get a sudden burst of thought I will leave my journal and just start talking to myself. I’ll use the exact same method as I would in my journal, but instead I will just say the words to myself.
I will return to the journal on two occurrences.
1. When I have a particularly pertinent thought I will note it down on paper.
2. If my self talk is going nowhere and I want to try and guide my thoughts more, I will do so in the journal.
By flitting from one to the other you have the benefits of both. And you always get to use the best tool for the job.
I’ve given you a lot to digest here. And it can all be a bit overwhelming at first. But I can give you no better advice than to just start. Whatever you get from it in the beginning you can be sure that the journal writing benefits will grow as you become more accustomed to all it has to offer.
Remember that this is a very organic medium. When people first start writing a diary or a journal they record what they did during the day. But writing about what you had for breakfast can become a bit tedious. This is how I started off, and I quickly abandoned it each time.
But I kept coming back to it. Somehow I knew there was more. All these people writing must be doing it for a reason.
Eventually it developed into something more; and at last I got it. The same will happen to you. You begin to analyse things a bit more, you ask questions, you receive answers and your doodles become more and more expressive. Those pages of notes eventually become like little works of art.
Another form of journal writing that I really benefit from is my newsletter. It allows me to share the new insights and progress I’ve made on boosting my intelligence. I hope for it to act as an incentive to you, to really boost your life as well. You can join for free now by filling in the form below:
