id: writing title: Writing previous: lim next: lt date: 2021-05-08 ---

## Writing

Missed the post last week. No excuses that I am going to trot forward, but there was something more important going on so I had to prioritize.

I have been writing a lot lately. Not necessarily structured writing or with a point for anyone but myself. It has not just been sitting down to write either, it has gotten to the point where I am carrying around a notebook and pen with me everywhere I go.

Most of what I am writing is my thoughts. I am finding it useful for a few reasons.

Firstly it slows me down. While I am writing I am focussed only on that single thought and it really forces me to look at it and analyze it in a way that never happens when I am just thinking.

Secondly it lets me see my thoughts without any of the clouding that memory gives. So much of how we remember things is coloured by our current state of mind and warped by time. Having my thoughts written down lets me know exactly what was going through my head at a given moment.

It would be nice to always have my laptop on me. Keeping my notes digitally does wonders for organization, but it is not practical and I find that physically writing helps with slowing down more. I don’t often transcribe the notes into files but I do keep my notebook organized with dates and page numbers.

The more I am writing the more I want to write, I think that without a doubt it is the most useful habit I have picked up and it both clarifies my thoughts and teaches me about myself.

It also shows where I am confused. Looking back at some of my notes they don’t necessarily make much sense even though the thought felt like it did at the time. This is a practice in communication with myself for now and hopefully these skills will translate into communicating well with others.

I don’t use my phone for notes anymore, it is much slower than both typing on a keyboard and writing by hand, it also has too many other distractions and is just unpleasant to use for this task. I find that overall I am using my phone for less and less. Other than texting and phone calls, everything I use it for these days is something I am trying to cut out, I am honestly debating going back to a clamshell, or at least not carrying my phone with me all the time, but I would rather use it wisely as it is still a fantastic tool. I am looking at it as more of an emergency tool though. If I am lost I can use maps, if I really need to look something up I can. This is quite the tangent but it is just where my mind is going at the moment.

I am not going to keep the blog solely focussed on productivity. I find that my mind is moving to philosophy and other questions and I am going to let this evolve with me. It is still something I am very interested in and so I expect it to continue showing up, but I won't be so stringent in my topic selection in the future.

I am going to keep writing and hopefully I can keep finding more time to write. Some of it will be useful to others and will hopefully make its way up onto the website but the majority of it is just for me.

I think that it is something that everyone should try, it is a behaviour that is fairly easy to implement; you can just start writing out your inner monologue and who cares what it looks like, it is only for you. It also forces patience and introspection which is something that I can always use more of and that a lot of my day to day life is lacking.

Thanks for reading.

Phone time for the past 2 weeks: 9h 45m