Putting Ideas Into Words

Ideas can feel complete. It's only when you try to put them into words that you discover they're not. So if you never subject your ideas to that test, you'll not only never have fully formed ideas, but also never realize it.

—Paul Graham

“Writing is the process by which you realize that you do not understand what you are talking about. Of course, you can learn a lot about something without writing about it. However, writing about something complicated and hard to pin down acts as a test to see how well you understand it. When we approach our work as a stranger, we often discover ho... See more

Writing increases your rate of revelation. This is true irrespective of the subject because writing is a process of reflection, assertion, and iteration.

Writing clarifies your own ideas. Writing begets new ideas too. Writing lets you explore ideas in depth even if you won’t have time to act on them all. Writing shows people how you think and lets ... See more

The science of memory reveals why writing is such an effective way to learn. Putting ideas into your own words forces you to internalize them. Rather than memorizing disparate pieces of information, writing helps you deduce their logic and bring them together into a coherent whole. Moreover, the process of brainstorming, typing, and editing our wor... See more