The Power of Writing Things Down
Hello! My name is Joveth Gonzalez and I recently joined The Outpost as the latest team member! I'll be helping Santiago with marketing, community, social, and content creation. I come from the tech and gaming industry and have a background in marketing and community work. I've been a stationery nerd all of my life and in recent years, I've become very passionate about fountain pens, fountain pen inks, planners, and journals. I'm so happy to be here and if you're curious, you can check out my stationery content over on my Instagram account: @ink_apothecarian. Below is my first post!
I have a terrible memory. It’s mostly a symptom of my ADHD, but it’s also because of the constant bombardment of stimulation I get with social media. Who doesn’t love a good doom scrolling session before bed?
To combat this, these past few years I’ve been forcing myself to journal every day—at least one A5-sized page a day—so that I could slow down and capture any important events of the day or things that I need to do next.
I then write any tasks that come up in my journal into my paper planner for the next day so that I don’t forget them.
For meetings, I started to use a paper notebook with perforated sheets to write important notes down; and when the meeting is over, I tear out the sheet and transfer any tasks into the planner I mentioned before.
I’ve developed this system over the years after trying to use my laptop (and failing) as my primary planner and note-taking tool.
Writing things down on paper, preferably with a fountain pen and ink combination that brings me joy, allows me to slow down to process things and sort through all the noise. In doing so, my memory has improved and often, when trying to recall an item, I can visualize the memory of writing down a note.
It’s not just me, either. Scientific studies have shown that using analog tools for writing offers a number of benefits that I have experienced myself, such as:
- Improved memory retention: the act of creating the shapes used for writing activates multiple areas of the brain, which allows for deeper encoding.
- Deeper comprehension: instead of transcribing something word for word, you have to actively select the things you are going to be writing down in your notes or journal, which forces you to slow down and really process the information.
- Increased focus: the act of writing requires dedicated concentration, and it can be a ritual that removes all the outside world noise that you’re used to daily.
- Boosted creativity: when you’re writing things down in a notebook or a journal, you can create a visual that helps improve your understanding of information. Whether that’s a diagram, a sketch, a doodle, or a flow chart… it’s something you can do quickly and easily with a pen and paper.
In addition to all these benefits, you also don’t have to worry about your notebook freezing, rebooting, or losing battery…that is if you’re not using a digital notebook and stylus.
You might be wondering if I even use my computer at this point with this notebook ecosystem that I’ve developed, and the answer is absolutely! My notebooks, journals, and pens are all analog tools that are part of a larger workflow system which includes my laptop. This blog was on my to-do list in my planner, and I wrote the initial brainstorm for this blog in my notebook. I used the paper brainstorm as the foundation for the blog which I’m currently writing on my laptop. 
It's all connected. The important thing is for you to find what combination of analog and digital tools work best for you.
As for me, I’ll continue to do a bit of doom scrolling every night…but at least I’ll be able to process it in my daily journal!
