Write things down
Writing is a powerful tool for many reasons, depending on why and what you are writing. Personally, I have a few different things I consistently write:
Blogs
The first one is blog articles. I write these for a few reasons:
- Writing in English, to maintain (and hopefully develop) that skill. Even if I use English daily when I communicate with clients, writing a blog article is different from writing an email or any other short message on other platforms.
- To develop the skill of planning and executing. Going through the process of coming up with a subject, writing, finding images, and publishing. It’s not always as easy as it might seem.
- To keep me accountable. I have set the goal to publish one article every week for at least one year.
- To reflect. Thinking about things in different ways — sometimes it makes you appreciate things more (things that you maybe take for granted), and sometimes it helps with current “issues” (e.g. thinking about similar things you’ve already gone through). Putting the thoughts into words makes you think about them in different ways.
- Develop professionally. As someone who works with marketing, content marketing is a big part of my work. Even if I personally don’t do the writing for my clients, it helps me understand and appreciate that side of the work.
So even if the articles are visible for pretty much anyone to read, I’m only publishing articles for myself. At this point, I don’t care if 10 000 or 10 are reading my articles. After one year I’ll check, write more about topics that gained more interest, etc.
I used to write blog articles for my business blog as well, with the intent of possible clients finding my business and informing them about my services. It went quite well, but as the business grew I didn’t find the time to keep it up. As those were professional, a lot of research and thought had to go into the articles — as opposed to this blog where I just write whatever comes to mind.
Journal
I had a few years that were quite the rollercoaster where I had some really dark times, and also times where things that only happen in movies happened to me. Things that I can’t discuss with just anyone. When all that started, I started writing things down. Kind of a diary where I write down what has happened, what I’m thinking, how I feel, etc.
Just when I feel like. Sometimes I might write every day for a week, other times I might write once a month. Even if those dark times are behind me, I’ve kept up with this habit because:
- It helps me go through my thoughts. I’m the kind of person that has a thousand thoughts going on all the time in my head, and it’s difficult to focus on one specific thought and process it. Writing it down makes me process it and “check it off the list”.
- I’m thinking about being 90 years old and going through the things I’ve written down. Or having my grandchildren read through my journals after I’ve passed. As mentioned, there have been some “only happens in movies” moments that probably will be fun to read.
- It helps me keep up writing in my mother tongue, as this is pretty much the only place where I use it properly.
- Writing down and following up on different goals. No matter if it’s short-term or long-term goals, they get written down. Think about writing down everything from setting a goal, fears and other things you feel at that moment, working on that goal, and achieving it — the whole process. And you have it all documented. How powerful is that?
Notes/ideas
I keep one physical notebook nearby at all times, just because I like the feeling of physically writing things down. There, I write down to-do lists, things I need to get back to later, track time, ideas, etc. More daily stuff.
Besides that, I use several different apps for other to-dos, shopping lists, etc.
I strongly suggest writing as much as possible. Besides being effective, it can be meditative and therapeutic. Give it a try.
