Thinking on paper as one of the success skills.

Thinking is the one of the important act and do it effectively you need two simply things pen and paper. Tools for thinking are very cheap but you can earn much more money from thinking than from other job.

Capture the idea.

By writing down your idea you not forgot it. When it is on paper you can work on it. By writing you also make space for new ideas. It is because you do not need to keep longer this though in your short memory. The consciously you can start thinking about something else. But by writing you said to your subconscious that this is something important and some part of your mind still working on this. When I brainstorming very often I make numbering list and just after writing one point I write next number for the next idea even if I don't know it yet. I make the space for the idea not only in my mind but also on paper.

Slow down - think clear.

We are thinking all the time one thought after another. When we write, we can slow down the flow of our thoughts and we can easier back to the written topic. Thanks to that we can think more clearer.

Make better decision.

When we have to make decision, sometimes it is good idea to write down all pros and cons. You can not only write down two columns but also add the weight for each line. For example in scale from 1 to 5 how important it is for you. Not only you make this decision more confident but also you can explain why you make it.

Visualize better.

Writing your idea move it form your inner to your outer world. You can see this idea on paper. It immediately become more real. This is why writing your goal is so important to achieve it. It is the first step.

"Goals that are not written down are just wishes." - Fitzhugh Dodson

Plan

With pen and papers you can make plans of your day, week and so on. Just writing your daily task list every time before you start work increase the chance that you finish more task in shorter time. What is important when you have your to-do list on paper you can prioritize. For example you can use Brian Tracy A-B-C-D method. Where A stands for very important, B - important, C - nice to do, D - delegate, E - eliminate.

The importance of the process of thinking on paper summarizes well the following quote:

"Writing means many different things to me but one thing it is not: writing is not the transcription of thoughts already consciously present in my mind. Writing is a magical and mysterious process that makes it possible to think differently." – Lynn Hunt ("The Art of History: How Writing Leads to Thinking")