During my college years, I stubbornly wrote all my notes from class while my peers took notes on their laptops. For me, physically writing down the material helped me retain the information and perform better on exams. And while I was experiencing great depression and anxiety, I would write in my gratitude journal daily. By writing out my blessings and positive thoughts, I was able to overcome my depression much faster. I have been engaging in the physical act of writing before knowing the research behind it. I always felt as though there was power in writing things down. Did you know research found that those who wrote down their goals were more likely to achieve them than those who did not write them down? According to Dr. Gail Matthews at Dominician University, those that wrote down their goals were 42% more likely to achieve them. People who can vividly describe or picture their goals are 1.2 to 1.4 times more likely to be successful at accomplishing them. Writing things down helps you to activate two parts of your brain, the imaginative right hemisphere, and the logic-based hemisphere. By writing things down, you will increase your personal success.
Here are some of the benefits to writing things down:
- Clarity. Clarity is a high vibration that is linked with confidence. When you write things down, this can be like creating a map to where you want to go in life. Writing things down can allow you to visually see what you’re expressing and can affect how you act. Writing down your blessings or the things you’re grateful for can provide clarity on how well your life truly is going. This can help you to find great appreciation for your life experience. Writing down your desires can be similar to creating a vision board. It can help you to clarify what you want. It can also allow you to begin taking inspired action towards that desire. By clarifying your desires, this can become a way for you to find opportunities to achieve them. This can also help to overcome resistance. The best way I know to overcome resistance is to focus on what you want, not the absence of it. Journaling can also help you to identify and clarify your values, thoughts, and priorities.
- Focus. As you make writing or journaling a daily habit, this can help you focus on how you want your life experience to go. It can help you focus your efforts towards those values and goals you’ve identified. Writing can allow you to gauge your time. If you’re writing down your goals, for example, you can place them in a location that you can see every day. By being able to see your goals, you are more likely to remember them and take action towards them. It can also help with encoding. Encoding is a biological process that allows information to travel to your brain’s hippocampus and is linked to your long-term memory. As you write things down, you have a better chance of remembering it. In other words, writing things down provides a sense of focus.
- Reduce Stress. Taking thoughts from your mind and placing them on paper removes the burden of keeping everything inside. Writing things down can help you to find a better understanding and control of your emotional reactions. This can allow you to find peace.
- Inspiration. Writing things down can provide a vision, hope, and inspiration. It can help you to find your why and drive inspired action. Inspiration is another high vibration on the emotional scale. Writing allows you to express yourself and celebrate your unique journey. Journaling can be a fun activity, as you can use a variety of pens, markers, colors, and images to express yourself. You can make it your own! It can be something that helps you to unleash your inner child and strengthen your imagination. It gives you the freedom to create anything you want. You can use journaling to see how far you’ve come and what you’ve accomplished along the way. You can use writing as a tool to motivate and inspire you.
- Accountability. In terms of writing out your goals and values, it can increase your accountability. By knowing exactly where you want to go, you can begin taking the action towards that goal.
Writing on paper can be a powerful force. It can inspire you, provide clarity, and reduce stress. It allows you to live more authentically and can help to raise your vibration. Journaling can be a resource in allowing you to raise your vibration and manifest your desires.