Stephen King said “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot”.
Well, the thing is I don’t want to be a writer necessarily. I want to be a thinker. Or rather, a more reflective and serious person. All it takes is one quote or passage in a book to spark a train of thought, but I never act or reflect further. Forever in a dream state of nebulous concepts and opinions that never come to solidify.
Writing things down clears your mind. There is no personal value in cramming in lots of new information if you don’t give your mind time to process and absorb it. This would be especially true when you are attempting to assimilate information that is either outside your normal sphere of knowledge or that is in direct contradiction with a particular view you might hold.
If anything is true of my experience over the last 2 years it is that I have tried (and failed) to rationalise and explore some incredibly different viewpoints. Some of it contradictory, some of it complimentary, almost all of it inducing a paradigm shift in my world view.
Writing things down makes you more focused. We are constantly being bombarded with external stimuli in our day to day lives. If you stop to write things down you are forced to focus on exploring one idea at a time, this promotes clarity.
Clarity is what helps people realise thoughts. Once written, they become concrete and true to yourself.
Writing things down actually makes you more motivated. Specific goals that you set, or plans you may make, once written become a focus for your time and energy.
Writing things down promotes self reflection. As you explore topics you are able to reduce the noise, and focus on the important.
So I am setting myself a challenge.
- 1 article per week
- Between 1000 and 1500 words (5-10 minutes reading time for adults)
- Be sincere
By keeping my goal simple, I have far more chance of achieving it. From there, we will see.