17 Great reasons to carry a pen and paper
(a re-post )
by Judy Shafarman
Okay, so you carry your i-thingy and your android-whats-its, so why do you also need a primitive 20th century pen and simple notebook or legal pad? There’s still nothing that activates the brain like that old pen and paper behavior from childhood. Some reasons why it’s great to be able to write at any time of the day and wherever we find ourselves. Writing allows you to:
1. Do a quick brainstorm of new ideas to consider alone or with colleagues.
2. Off –load petty annoyances and angers so you don’t have to think about them anymore.
3. Doodle notes during a phone call. Record how long the phone call is if you want to cut it short after a set number of minutes.
4. Make a shopping list.
5. Write questions to consider seeking answers to.
6. Quickly add an item or three to your to-do list, perhaps even with a note of when to do them or who to delegate them to.
7. Record a remark made that you want to ponder, process, or query, at a later time.
8. Do a two column pro and con list before making a decision.
9. Clarify your feelings and thinking.
10. Give yourself a little pep talk, confidence booster before a big meeting or presentation.
11. Take quick notes during a meeting.
12. Keep a full-blown to-do list so that you can manually check off the completed items.
13. Draft in a few bullet points what you want to write or speak about.
14. Record observations that you want to recall for later processing.
15. Work out ideas that you need to find clarity or more information about.
16. Jot down a phone number or appointment info. while you’re talking on your smartphone and it’s too awkward to type into the phone. .
17. Keep a regular journal to do a full-blown 10-30 minute brain drain
