Hobbies that Make You Smarter

6. Write Things Down

Writing is one way the brain untangles thoughts and helps us think clearly. Recent brain research suggests writing mirrors thought -- if your writing is jumbled and complicated, your thoughts are too. Writing, therefore, provides a means of clarifying thought, making it more rational, logical, and consistent. Through the daily exercise of writing —principally through journaling, but other types as well — you can connect the thoughts in your brain and smooth them out so others can better understand your meaning. Writing also allows you to see where your thinking is over-complicating matters that might be, on closer examination, quite simple. Writing helps us better absorb information (remember all those notes we had to write in high school?) and thus learn significantly more.