Get your pencils, markers, and pens ready because September 25 is National Doodle Day.
Doodling has many benefits – it’s associated with more effective learning, increased productivity, and better performance. And the good news is that you don’t have to know how to draw to start doodling.
Here are some cognitive and emotional benefits:
- Doodling Helps You Concentrate.
Doodling helps you concentrate because it requires enough cognitive effort to keep you from daydreaming, and yet not enough to prevent you from paying attention to what is going on around you.
- Doodling Can Help Spur Creative Insight.
Doodling is thinking in pictures. The next time you’re stuck on a something, try expressing the problem as a doodle and notice what ideas pop up into your mind.
- Doodling Can Help Process Emotions.
While journaling is a great way to get in touch with your thoughts and feelings, you can get even better results if you add doodles to your journal entries. After all, doodles can help you to recognize and express your emotions.
- Doodling Alleviates Stress.
The repetitive motion of moving the pen across the page, making the same shape repeatedly is relaxing. When you’re just drawing a continuous line and shading in wherever the mood strikes you, there are no mistakes. Simply relax and enjoy the movements.
- Doodling Can Be A Creative Outlet.
Creativity is proven to boost relaxation, happiness, and even problem-solving skills. If you’re looking for a simple creative outlet without a steep learning curve, start doodling for five minutes a day.
- Doodling Can Help You Learn Better.
If you find your mind wandering during a lecture, start doodling in the margins of your notes to bring your mind back to the attention sweet-spot so you can listen to the speaker, and learn.
- Doodling Helps Big Picture Thinking.
The next time you feel yourself drowning in details, stop for a moment and create a doodle that represents whatever it is that you’re working on. It’s highly likely that you’ll find yourself regaining perspective.
At Money & Clarity, we like to give our clients creative ideas for their retirement. We also offer some “big picture thinking” to help you create the retirement of your dreams.
Give us a call at 513-563-PLAN (7526) or book online. We’ll look at your portfolio and identify areas you can capitalize on for your retirement. And if you’d like, we’ll use some colorful markers to demonstrate it. We won’t mind if you doodle in the margins of your notes.
Regards,
Nikki Earley, CFP®
