Thinking in Writing

Definition

Thinking by writing is the practice of translating one’s thoughts into written form.

Practice implies consistency.

Much of the benefit of thinking in writing comes from continuous application, through the accumulation of written artifacts.
Even a one-time act of formalizing thoughts on paper will be beneficial.

Translation involves changing the form of presentation and organization of information.

Your thoughts

If you write down not thoughts, then this is not thinking; if not your own, then this is shorthand.

Written form.

In principle, you can expand the concept of written form to diagrams, graphs, diagrams.
It works in many directions.
Effective delayed.

Every activity must leave an artifact.

A person thinks a lot, engages in mental work, but after this work there is often nothing left.

Thoughts and decisions are forgotten and lost.

If you thought about something, but did not reflect the result of your thoughts in reality, then this is equivalent to a lack of mental work.

Human thinking is associated with models:

Models are stored in the head as images.

When transferring thoughts to paper, the presentation format and the rules for describing the model change.

You are engaged in formalization: transferring knowledge from a less formal form (images) to a more formal one (text).

All aspects of the mental model are explicitly carried out through consciousness.
- To write down a thought, we have to go through every aspect of it.
- What is not written down is not realized.
- It’s a difficult job.
- She needs to learn by doing.
- Without practice, most people are unable to use written language.
An alternative model to your mental model is built.
- Several models can be compared, differences and common parts can be identified. Can clarify each of the models by comparing it with another.

The result of formalization is a personal external knowledge base.

People forget.

Forgetfulness brings problems:

Slows down decision-making. What has been forgotten must be remembered for a long time or looked for in external sources.
It makes it difficult to track the real picture of the world.
It weakens the ability to adapt, and therefore competitiveness.

An example of forgetfulness is the inability of people to remember the causes and consequences of decisions made six months ago or more.

The knowledge base saves your thoughts and increases the quality and speed of decision-making.

The knowledge base appears by itself, as a result of practice.

An external knowledge base relieves the brain.

There is no need to constantly replay the same thoughts.

The effectiveness of a personal database can be multiplied by making it public.

When we do public work, we try harder.

Well-executed formalization of thoughts leads to better models.

A public knowledge base makes discussions easier.

Giving a link to ready-made arguments is faster and easier than writing them out again each time.
Compared to extracting knowledge from your head, your arguments will be fuller, clearer, more convincing and, most importantly, more stable.

You can develop a personal brand.

By translating thoughts into written artifacts, you practice communicating ideas to other people.

Even if you write on the table.