Why Writing Works
- id: 1746958682
- Date: May 11, 2025, 10:30 a.m.
- Author: Donald F. Elger
Goals
- List things that writing is useful for.
- Explain why writing is useful.
Key Question
Writing is super useful for thinking, problem solving, processing feelings and emotions in helpful ways, learning, remembering, and more.
But why does writing work so well?
Foundational Idea
Writing is powerful because it overcomes the limitations of short-term memory (which can only hold 5 to 9 items) and leverages the fact that repetition helps move items into long-term memory.
Details
- Writing Externalizes Thought
- Moves ideas from your head to a visible, manipulatable form.
- Lets you examine thoughts objectively, spot gaps, contradictions, or assumptions, and revise more effectively.
- Moves ideas from your head to a visible, manipulatable form.
- Writing Slows Thinking Down
- Thought is often fast, vague, and fleeting.
- Writing slows the pace, promoting clarity, depth, and attention to
detail.
- Gives you time to wrestle with ideas and refine them.
- Thought is often fast, vague, and fleeting.
- Writing Forces Precision
- To write clearly, you must think clearly.
- Reveals vague or half-formed ideas.
- Pushes you to define terms, draw boundaries, and commit to meanings.
- To write clearly, you must think clearly.
- Writing Creates a Structured Workspace
- Organizes jumbled thoughts spatially and logically.
- Supports grouping, sorting, outlining, and reordering of
ideas.
- Enables structured thinking and deeper understanding.
- Organizes jumbled thoughts spatially and logically.
- Writing Triggers Deeper Processing
- Activates brain regions tied to attention, memory, language, and
reasoning.
- Enhances engagement, understanding, and recall.
- Activates brain regions tied to attention, memory, language, and
reasoning.
- Writing Supports Emotional Processing
- Labeling and describing feelings reduces emotional overload.
- Helps transform raw emotion into insight and actionable understanding.
- Labeling and describing feelings reduces emotional overload.
- Writing Makes Thinking Visible Over Time
- Provides a record you can revisit, revise, or reflect on.
- Acts as a feedback tool for growth and learning.
- Provides a record you can revisit, revise, or reflect on.
- Writing Enables Iteration and Problem Solving
- Supports drafting, sketching, and reframing.
- Lets you experiment freely until a solution or insight emerges.
- Supports drafting, sketching, and reframing.
- Writing Enhances Memory
- Reinforces long-term encoding, especially through self-generated
content.
- Reduces mental load, freeing up working memory for more complex tasks.
- Reinforces long-term encoding, especially through self-generated
content.
Summary
Writing is not just a way to store thoughts—it’s a way to extend your brain, making you smarter, clearer, and more capable.