The only difference between the clinically insane the creatively prolific

Is everything you know written down somewhere?

On the surface, this question might sound overwhelming and absurd.

But the reasoning behind this practice is unarguable.

First, from the psychological perspective. Writing everything down gets things out of your head and therefore makes them separate from you. By ordering your reactions to the world and placing ideas and feelings in a concrete form outside yourself, they’re less threatening.

You own them. Now they belong to you rather than you belonging to them. This creates an inner peace that can’t be replicated any other way.

The second reason for writing everything down is more cognitive.

By minimizing thinking whenever possible, there’s less brain strain and more mental breathing room. Documenting your thoughts, feelings and ideas frees up your working memory and opens your mind to work more calmly and efficiently.

Compare that with the cognitive stress of making mental notes and just hoping your overwhelmed brain remembers things an hour, a day or a year later.

Another reason everything you know should be written down somewhere is from the creative perspective.

Writing down your ideas the moment you have them isn’t about quality, it’s about practice. It’s about strengthening your idea muscle. It’s about reinforcing the belief that you’re a creative person who has meaningful things to say that are worth capturing.

And it’s about training your brain to be better at collecting ideas so they’re easily accessible to execute down the road. Soon this process will becomes second nature.

Like breathing. It’s not something you deliberate consciously, it’s simply a matter of course.

You’ll notice this about all prolific creators. They don’t scream eureka, bound across the room and start furiously scribbling in their notebook like they’ve just discovered the cure for cancer. They calmly and joyfully transfer what’s inside heads into a more reviewable and objective format, and then return to what they were doing.

Breathing in, breathing out.

Another reason for recording everything is for collaboration purposes. By systematizing your knowledge and getting it out of your head and into concrete form, now others can use it when you’re not around.

Learning doesn’t have to be left to chance.

This can be particularly useful with groups of more than a few people. All knowledge management needs rituals, systems and tools to make it easier for people to use each other’s ideas as leverage. It lubricates the flow of information within the organization.

That way team members don’t have to drink from a firehouse, they can just grab a glass of water when they’re thirsty.

The final reason everything you know should be written down somewhere relates to openness.

Because writing things down relieves you of the necessity of remembering, it opens your mind to receive new ideas.

Remember the parable of the zen master and the teacup. A university professor travels across the world to visit the wise teacher. While the master quietly serves tea, the professor waxes poetic about zen. The master fills the man’s cup to the brim, but then keeps pouring. The professor watches the overflowing cup and blurts out:

It’s full! No more tea will go in!

To which the zen master says:

This is you. How can I show you zen unless you first empty your cup?

That’s why you write everything down. To empty your cup. To make room to receive more intellectual sustenance. Remember, unexpressed creativity doesn’t count.

The only difference between the clinically insane the creatively prolific is writing down what you imagine seeing.

If you don’t write it down, it never happened.

And if you can’t find it, it doesn’t exist.

What did you write today?