On the importance of writing in your life

You know, sometimes I wonder why I do some of the things that I do. I ask myself whether I am pushing myself to read, write, train, or learn new things. However, after questioning/doubting what I do, two things happen. Either I do them one more time, and I remind myself why I do it, or I do not do it for a while, and I miss it or realize how important it is for me. I think the latter happened with writing a bit in the last two months. I miss it, and I would like to share how important I see that writing is for anybody in the current society and how it has helped me throughout the last years especially.

1. Writing allows you to organize the ideas in your head

2. Writing will make you a better student/employee/researcher/Manager/CEO

3. Writing leaves a mark that you can go back to and still feel it

1.- Writing allows you to organize the ideas in your head

Two posts ago, I gave five reasons why reading can change your life. One of the points I mentioned is that you need to read to write well, and you need the writing to think well. I have this feeling that thoughts are constantly popping out in my head. Nevertheless, it is not until I verbalize them properly, explain them concisely to a friend, or write them down that I can understand what exactly is going on. I believe writing is one of the best things one can do to organize one's reflections. I will give an example for which writing consistently has been extensively helpful in my life: discussing my next career step.

I have been thinking about what to do after the Ph.D. for a year and a half. Throughout this process, the tool that has helped me understand what was around in my head has been writing. I used it to write down my thoughts. To try to understand what I wanted to do, what frightened me the most, what I thought would be easier. I wrote about the risks. In short, I weighted in the different options through a keyboard. I also wrote about conversations with myself: asking myself questions about every one of the options and spending hours writing proper and thought-through answers. I am sure this is only one of the ways that writing has helped me regarding thinking well about a specific matter.

2.- Writing will make you a better student/employee/researcher/Manager/CEO

No matter what your work or position is right now, you will undoubtedly need to communicate with people. You will need to convey a message to people and make yourself understandable. And on top of writing helping you communicate in a conversation, many times, communication will be through a text:

• Are you a student? Then writing exams or essays is essential for your grades, and writing better will give you an edge.

• Do you work in a company? Then writing emails and making presentations is crucial.

• Are you a researcher? Then writing grants is central and will be even more as you climb the ladder.

• Do you have people in your charge? Then, maybe even more than ever, you need to transmit the right message. If you fail to do so, the consequences can be more significant than in the other options. Writing the right words will be fundamental (even if those words later come through a speech).

Transmitting ideas to people is a vital element in our society. Understand it and use writing to your advantage. If you improve your writing, you will be investing in your future.

Writing is investing in your future. Better if you start already. Let compounding act on its own.

3.- Writing leaves a mark that you can go back to and still feel it

I am probably the biggest fan of my blog. Not because I have high self-esteem, but more because I can relate to every word. I know how I felt when I was writing it, and I love to read one more time what my thoughts were at the time. I have probably read 5 to 10 times the blog about leaving Barcelona, the blog of my dad, or the 8 Rules for a Ph.D., and every time, I am happy with the words I wrote about my friends, my dad, or my advice for future Ph.Ds. I especially enjoy seeing how grateful I am to my close ones.

I love seeing that the blogs reach people, and they like it. There is no doubt about that. However, I do write for myself a lot of times. Sometimes what I like the most is my smile after reading something lovely I wrote about somebody. Or how I feel after accomplishing future objectives I wrote some months back. I think it is significant to understand that when you write things down, you are making yourself a favor in so many ways you cannot grasp now but may become apparent in the future. Start now to pursue that feeling!

It is important to understand that when you write things down you are making yourself a favor

Do you know what is super nice? And this helps me a lot for writing (maybe take it as a tip):

There are some moments when writing should be mandatory. Those serendipity moments where you like what you read, heard, or thought, and you find yourself being moved, inspired, or motivated by something or somebody. In these situations, you need to write down what goes through your head! You have to do that. Otherwise, you will forget about it. Write it down, and when you have time, elaborate as much as you can on it, even if what you are writing does not make a lot of sense. Take notes! Some of the posts I have written are coming from moments like that. Take advantage of those moments because inspiration is perishable.

Inspiration is perishable. Take advantage of it and write things down!

List of Books I read in the last months (April-June)

1. The Psychology of Money. Morgan Housel

2. The 5 am Club. Robin S. Sharma

3. The almanack of Naval Ravikant. Eric Jorgenson

4. The Monk who Sold his Ferrari. Robin S. Sharma

5. The Alchemist. Paulo Coelho

6. Surrounded by Idiots. Thomas Erikson

7. Tuareg. Alberto Vázquez-Figueroa

8. Cupido. Jilliane Hoffman (German)

9. Match. Harlan Coben

10. In Deinem Namen. Harlan Coben (German)

Thank you for reading the blogs, and feel free to follow me on Twitter if you want to know more about me.

From a friend,

Pepe