You love writing, expressing your words on paper or seeing them lined up on the screen. You do this because you have a blog or simply because you keep a journal that nobody sees. Unfortunately, your busy life or simply the lack of inspiration prevent you from writing regularly. Have you ever wondered if the writing that you do has other effects than just helping you remember things or expressing your ideas?

Benefits of writing regularly

Helps you remember

Writing a short note or several paragraphs each day will help you collect your thoughts and remember important events throughout the week. It will be effortless for you to recall important details much faster. This is especially useful when you are traveling and want to remember everything from your journey.

Keeps you in check

Each one of us falls into a rut at some point in our lives. At such a moment, feelings of unhappiness, dissatisfaction or lack of fulfillment would surface. You can effectively use writing to manage those feelings. Write about how you feel and tag your note with the respective feeling. If you continue to consistently feel a certain mood, you can reference back to the aspects of the week that have to lead to the rut and find ways to fix it.

Helps communicate in real life

If you write regularly, in time, your writing will develop a tone and specific characteristics. It will also seem more put together and elegant. You will choose words that you do not use daily, and these will slowly sneak their way into your conversations.

Gives you a rewarding feeling

Do you know that feeling you have after you come from the gym? You feel accomplished and proud of yourself. This is how you would feel when you finish a short entry or a post. You feel that you have managed to finish something and that it was worth the effort.

Keeps you sharp with age

When you write you perform a thinking exercise, and just like physical exercise, it keeps you in shape as the years pass. It’s also similar to friendships which keep you happy and healthy through their ties to dialogue and social interaction.  Writing keeps you thinking regularly and prevents mental rust.  Even writing poems, if this is what makes you happy.

Manage your mind tabs

Exactly like a browser, your mind can have many tabs opened, becoming a madhouse of distraction. This usually happens when you try to deal with too many thoughts at the same time. Writing will get those ideas out of your head, by giving them a form on the paper or the desktop. This will prevent you from crashing your browser.

How can you start writing?

Baby steps

You can start keeping a journal and write as little as you want. You can even write an article for an online company offering writing service. Even a short note would be enough. You can also start a blog on something that you are passionate about. You will write with excitement, and you will also find other people with the same passions as you.

Technology is your friend

Although the pen and paper give it a more personal touch, it would be better to find a way and stock everything that you want somewhere where is safe and will never be lost. There are many apps, such as Day One, that you can use to store everything you write in the cloud and sync as many devices as you want. So even if you lose you tablet or phone, the information is still there for you to access. But if you’d lost your journal, this could be a reason for you to keep writing for a while.

Link writing to another habit

You can write after you check your email, or after you have breakfast or maybe after you take the kids to school. No matter what you choose make sure that it becomes a habit. It’s easier to remember to write if it comes after a well-engrained habit.

Use writing as a tool and habit to improve not only your productivity, but your life in general. Writing will help your memory, make you happier, help you communicate better and make you proud for managing to achieve a habit that it’s quite hard to crack.

danielle

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