There are many benefits to writing regularly. Some of the most successful people in business such as Warren Buffet and Richard Branson use writing as a method to refine their thoughts. No matter what stage of your life you’re at, writing has its function. If you’re a student, you probably find yourself in a situation where you have several essays to finish, along with all the other coursework and exams.
To avoid feeling overwhelmed by the amount of writing, you can learn to appreciate the writing process. Writing down your thoughts, even if it’s just another essay for university, has a positive impact on your mental health. It helps you think more deeply, express your ideas, and use your creativity to produce something new.
Mistakes in writing can be costly if your company ends up losing business in the long term. Companies spend more than 3.1 billion on remedial writing training annually, and most of it is for current employees, not new hires.
This shows how crucial communication skills are for a successful business. Employees have to send numerous emails, write reports, and give presentations to rooms full of people. Many employers have started to take writing skills into consideration already in the hiring process.
If you want to read more about the psychological effects of writing, you can check our article on the benefits of writing to heal depression.
Not even a university degree can guarantee that people have sufficient writing skills. Being aware of the benefits of writing helps you appreciate the process and improve your skills along the way.
Here are five psychological benefits of writing an essay
Communicate better with people
If you’re not in the habit of writing regularly, you will find that describing your ideas, expressing feelings, and sharing information with others can be difficult. Your overall communication with people becomes easier when you know how to formulate your thoughts in written form, for example in an essay. Putting your thoughts into words helps you develop emotional intelligence.
You can use emotional information to guide your thinking and behaviour such as decision-making. This allows you to communicate complicated ideas more effectively. Everyone knows the feeling when you have a new idea that sounds great in your head but once you try to formulate it in writing, it seems to fall apart. Writing an essay is good practice to learn to formulate your ideas.
Improve your ability to learn
Writing requires you to be receptive and always on the lookout for new sources of interesting information and inspiration. You cannot write well unless you have something to say. Writing pushes you to read more books, listen to podcasts, and watch videos about different topics. Basically, you take anything you can get to collect more information and enhance your knowledge about different topics.
When you have more knowledge, it encourages you to think deeper and does even more research on your topics. The more you write, the more material you have to fall back on. You can always utilise your old ideas and build on what you have already written before. This leads to more useful and in-depth knowledge.
Declutter your mind
Do you know the feeling when you have too many tabs open on your browser? You’re trying to manage too many things at one time and you end up stressed and not achieving much at all. Writing gives you an opportunity to get ideas out of your head. After you write them down, you release space for new, fresh ideas.
Learn to present arguments
An essay should present claims that are backed up by strong arguments. Once you become more experienced in the essay writing tradition, you will notice that you’re also more prepared for an oral debate. Developing arguments in an essay is a good way to train your critical thinking skills and creativity. Simple claims without strong arguments that can support them have no real value.
It’s only when you learn to justify your claims that your words can be taken seriously. It all comes down to rhetoric, using language to convince or persuade. Strong arguments also lose their power if they’re not formulated properly. Essay writing helps you develop both, the arguments and how you express them.
Be more positive and happy
Writing can improve your outlook on life. An essay lets you express your opinions, and in some cases, you can also choose the topics that you’re passionate about. This has a positive effect on your motivation. If you can achieve enough motivation, you find yourself being happier and less stressed.
Good writing skills and career success are strongly linked to one another. Writing is also seen as a reflection of your personal brand.
Josh Carlyle is an experienced writer and marketing professional. As a business strategist, Josh is always eager to find creative solutions to different economic issues.
