Why You Should Write The thinking mind is like the eye. The mind likes to wander. It'll constantly skip around and change focus unless it has something to tie it down. Think of meditation, and how the mind hops between the surface of various ideas like a stone skipping across water. It goes from one idea, to the next, to the next, to the next... Writing is the opposite. Yes, it's hard (and that's why it's so useful). Focusing on a single topic for a long time is arduous because it forces you to resist the mind’s natural impulse to skip between topics. The writing mind is able to go deep because it keeps the focus constant. You can explore ideas with levels of logic and rigor that the thinking mind can’t achieve on its own. The thinking mind moves horizontally. The writing mind moves vertically. If your thinking on a topic feels superficial, it’s probably because you haven’t written about it. Maybe you're skipping between ideas, abandoning unfinished drafts in your Google Doc instead of anchoring yourself and pushing through when you get stuck. And so, without an anchor for your thinking, you’re stuck with shallow and superficial thoughts. Only when you commit to deliberate writing can you begin to explore an idea with the vertical depth that unlocks clarity, insight, and true understanding.