In school, you’re taught to write notes, assignments and tests in order to achieve a passing grade. But more than that, writing as a practice can serve you well in later life for various reasons. Here’s why writing is an important life skill:
Can Help You Organize Your Thoughts
The first reason why writing is an important life skill is because it can help you organize your thought process in some situations. In my case, I find that I’m able to think more rationally in times of conflict, distress and busyness.
This may be because writing allows you to fully engage in a specific topic, which requires focus. While focusing, you have to structure your thoughts into coherent sentences for your ideas, theories or analyses to make sense. If this is done habitually, like in school or a journal, the entire process can bleed into your mental framework in everyday life.
To that point, some studies concluded that people who were subjected to written treatments on tests were ranked higher in critical thinking skills than those who weren’t. This was of course measured in a school setting and doesn’t necessarily imply that it’s the case in all other settings, but the evidence still supports this idea. See more information on this here.
Can Make You a Better Communicator
In attempts to persuade, convince or generally explain a point, writing proficiency can help you do so more effectively. This is in reference to digital formats such as email and text messaging, although it also applies to face to face interactions.
It makes sense because writing increases your ability to communicate – another important life skill. You’re essentially training your brain to convey thoughts in detail. Furthermore, those thoughts are context and subject dependent, which further trains your ability to engage in real-life dialogue with relevant input according to the situation.
Can Relieve Stress
Conveying your thoughts through writing is essentially the same thing as speaking in that they’re both a form of outlet. In that sense, there’s a therapeutic element to writing that can relieve stress as a consequence. See here for more information on this and other ways to relieve stress.
This is especially true when you journal as you can write about anything that comes to mind, including problems you might be facing. When I was going through hard times, writing about them made me confront my perception of them and what I believed was the root cause. If the problem wasn’t as bad as I made it out to be, then I felt much better; but even if it was, the sheer act of articulating my thoughts made me more emotionally grounded.
However, if you find that writing is not a substitute for venting through face-to-face dialogue, therapy might be for you. Online Therapy offers qualified therapists who will help you from start to finish, plus call, video call, text, live chat and email messaging options to fit your communication preferences. Use the code THERAPY20 for 20% off your first month here.
Can Land You Opportunities
Writing is also an important life skill because you can use it to land important opportunities.
Employers, for instance may look at your CV and perceive you as intelligent or organized simply based on your attention to grammar – which could lead to an interview. Bloggers can build a large online audience through their valuable input on subject matters, but that is all predicated on vocabulary and grammar. Marketing copy writers use persuasive and strategic language to hook people’s interest in products or services.
Today, there’s more possibility than ever before to set yourself up for success through writing.