Moving into the electronic age, we’ve lost some of the ways that are important for harnessing knowledge and creativity. One thing that’s gone by the way say is writing things down. If you want to improve your memory and creativity, write things down.

Writing not Typing

You have to use the information you want to remember. Writing it down engages your physical self through the movement involved in writing. It is also tactilely different every time you write. Paper grains, pen or pencil feel, and other factors change while writing. These factors combined with the way the brain processes paper versus the way it processes the screen makes the information easier to remember. Having it in your memory, not your phone’s, is important for creativity.

Instant Access

In order for you to be creative, you need to have information in your head. Creativity makes use of the connecting action generated by imagination. If you don’t know something, you can’t use it in combination with anything else. Yet, creativity is what happens when two or more previously unconnected elements are combined into something new. With the way search engines work, you can’t get that kind of connection because you get information of all one kind.

Famous People Keep Notes

It’s said that Walt Disney had a notebook by his bed. Leonardo da Vinci kept notes backwards. Thomas Edison kept notes. Keeping a notebook with you will help you capture those ideas that you would otherwise lose. They are especially good for capturing dreams. You might even try a notebook and pen for the shower (affiliate link). Write it down and you’ll be able to use it later. You might not even need the notes to remember what you wrote.

For More on Creativity

If you want more on creativity, join our Patreon where we release our creativity classes first and have penguins. Follow this blog, and check out my books: “Disneyland Is Creativity,” “The Haunted Mansion Is Creativity,” and “Penguinate! Positive Creativity.”