How Writing Benefits Your Creativity

{ x } – Start Writing to Release Your Creative Potential

This article was originally published on The Startup.

When I started writing I didn’t expect serious changes in my life or career. My goal was to help other designers by sharing my experience. It turned out that my solution to start writing has more benefits than expected.

Research by Laura King shows that people feel happier and healthier when they write about achieving future goals and dreams.

“Even blogging undoubtedly affords similar benefits” to private expressive writing in terms of therapeutic value.”

— Gregory Ciotti in Help Scout

Maybe this is why there are 650,000 in-house writers and just over 1 million freelance writers globally according to Words on Words stats.

Once I started writing, I wasn’t prepared for all the wonderful benefits. I just started my day with an article idea and structured my thoughts into a valuable post.

Everything changed when I realized that my creativity increased along with how my brain works now. If before I struggled to find ideas and implement innovative solutions as a designer, now I was like thunder with ideation.

If you’re thinking about whether to start writing or not, I’m here to share with you my journey. You can read and expect the same results with your writing routine.

You can use these benefits for your own needs and create your writing routine or even a side hustle.

Level-Up Your Creativity

Before you even realize it, you’ll start having ideas. They might bubble up in the shower, in the middle of driving to work, in the middle of a conversation with your friend.

Before my writing routine, I spend time finding inspiration and thinking about how to use it for my projects.

As a designer, I used many platforms like Behance or Dribble to start my work process.

This research showed that inspiration plays a key role in creative processes.

“A society that has lost touch with its creative side is an imprisoned society, in that generations of people may be closed minded. It broadens our perspectives and can help us overcome prejudices.”

— Jessica Carson in YOUTH

Everything changed when I start writing. Ideas started to generate in my mind automatically in every aspect of my life.

My ideas might be about needs, desires, goals, things to improve, work projects. I started to document these ideas in a journal. After a while, I had a solid library of hundred headlines.

While writing seems to be a different niche, my mindset shifted from being just a designer to an entrepreneur.

I started to think about things differently.

If before I thought that building a solid career is the best choice, now I have a different direction. Rather than expect for promotion, a dream company, I want to have my side hustle or create a business.

In this world of efficiency, you have to meet the deadline for your dream, time matters. To use time efficiently, ideas are starting points of your big goals.

This is why writing can help you to release your full potential of thinking in a new way.

When you work in the corporate world, you only use those skills that require your job. Yes, you can develop your knowledge, but it’ll be in your area only.

With writing, you can connect to different industries and circles. It’s like a different planet for your creativity.

Generate Ideas on the Go

I used to think about new ideas as a process of deep research. My lovely part of the research was to find inspiration and then start generating ideas.

When I started to write, my ideation process has changed.

“Exploration happens best by accident, not by following a schedule,”

— John Stilgoe in Fast Company

I often found myself generating ideas during walking, cleaning my apartment, or doing other routine activities.

What seemed to be a part of simple life, started to give me ideas on the go.

It wasn’t s a common situation for me before writing. Now I experience a hundred ideas daily because my brain works in a new way. I start writing with a huge library of headlines now.

When I analyzed how writing changed my ideation process, I found that creating articles boosts my imagination. It’s a trigger to find innovative ideas in simple things.

I remember the first time when my ideation process suddenly changed.

I sit down and started to think about what I’m going to write about. Before I read a lot about entrepreneurship and startups, so wanted to write an article about them.

Suddenly I had a headline idea. I immediately remember my experience and how to translate it into a valuable reading. I didn’t need to find inspiration and do research.

The idea came to my mind because my imagination worked with a clear picture in my head and quickly combined it with my experience.

If you start writing, your creativity will give you ideas from the simplest things, like cooking, watching TV, or talking to your friend.

You never know when your next big idea will come. But it’ll be a frequent situation when you need to write down your ideas on the go.

Experiment Everyday

Experimenting is a trigger for all changes you see in your life. Technology, business, and your needs require you to be innovative to get results.

“Innovation is defined as the introduction of something new or different. The act of innovating leads to the introduction of new ideas, devices or methods.”

— Theodore Henderson in Forbes

I work in the tech industry and see how experiments are important. Let’s take startups as an example.

They need to provide unique products or services that weren’t created before. Apart from the new idea, they test the business model, gather user feedback and improve their business model. Experimenting is a part of the startup lifecycle.

Similar to startups, you also need to experiment. It doesn’t mean that you need to leave your job and start crazy things.

Instead, keep your stability, but be open to making valuable changes in your life.

According to the Dollarsprout survey, 57% of respondents have a side hustle, and 65% of them are aged 18 to 34.

Zapier’s report revealed that 24% of Americans plan to start a side hustle in 2021. Many people today start a side hustle because of different reasons. Some need it as a hobby, while others create a business from it.

Writing can be a great starting point for your side hustle because it doesn’t require any investments. All you need is just a bit of time and patience.

If you compare writing to other side hustle types, you’ll see that writing is the best choice because you’ll boost your brain and creativity.

Both of these factors will lead you to think extraordinary. Don’t believe it?

I also didn’t believe that writing can change my mindset. But after writing a couple of months, I saw the changes. When you start writing, you’ll also read way more than usual.

You’ll learn new things, find new information all the time. When you’re surrounded by a creator economy, you might get to the point of why not to experiment as others do?

If you already have a solid income, you can spare a couple of hours to start a writing hustle.

This is what I did. I created my design publication and help people to learn UX/UI design. I didn’t expect anything from it, but it started to grow organically.

Today, it’s my side hustle that became a reality with writing and an experimental mind.

You also can experiment with writing and see results you didn’t expect to get before. It’s up to you.

Think Extraordinary

Have you thought about why your parents and the school asked you to read a lot when you were a child and a teenager?

Brain networks can be reconfigured for days and this may help shape a child’s brain.

No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.” — Confucius

When it comes to writing, you’ll get even better results.

When I started to write, I changed my mindset from a usual worker to a content creator. I started to think extraordinary.

I used to watch many YouTube videos and admire about people who created all these amazing channels.

Suddenly, I asked myself if I can be one of them. Before writing, I thought it’s not for me.

After almost two years of writing, I connected with many YouTubers and talked with them. Yes, writing can give you such an opportunity if you’re lucky.

After having a conversation with popular YouTubers, I understood that they all started from scratch. There were ups and downs. They also experimented and failed.

It led me to think that everything is possible for everyone. You don’t need to be super cool to start your YouTube channel. All you need is work and strategy.

Thinking above standards is a powerful benefit you’ll get from writing. I never expected that I can even think about creating a YouTube channel. Today, I’ve already planned my launch strategy and will record my first video soon.

Thinking extraordinary is one of the first benefits you get from writing. You won’t become the next Einstein, but you’ll see opportunities that you didn’t see before writing.

Learn the World From Simple Things

How do you learn new things? I bet you open your favorite app, social media, or read a newspaper to find what is going on today. Most of us are doing so.

“For many Americans, keeping up with the news is an activity that occurs throughout the day and across different formats, devices, and technologies.”

— American Press Institute

I was one of these people too. Since my writing started, I saw that I’m going throw an interesting transition.

Yes, I still watch videos and read the news, but there is something new — I started to learn the world from simple things.

Writing requires to be concentrated on your work. It means you need to find a calm place to create your articles.

When you sit in a quiet place, turn off all your notifications, and will dive into your thoughts, you’ll think in a new way.

During my writing process, I often look at my window. I don’t know why, but it helps me to structure my thought better.

When I was thinking about writing a new article and couldn’t find a topic idea, I was looking at my window as always.

I saw a couple that was near to my home. They were in their 20s, and it was clear that they’re dating. The guy accompanied his girlfriend to her home.

Suddenly I remember my dating life before marriage, dive deeper into my relationships before and headline idea bumped into my mind. I immediately started to write.

It was so simple to find a great article idea from just looking at the window. These situations became normal for me. I find ideas not from the online world, but from the things that surround me.

It was possible because of writing and concentrating on my inner voice. If you start to write, you’ll see this change too. Small things will help you to not only create great articles but also think about your life in a new way.

Final Thoughts

Writing is an amazing opportunity to boost your creativity. If you struggle to come up with ideas for your work, business, or side hustle, it’s time to make changes.

Creating articles is a great tool to think extraordinary, structure your thoughts, and enjoy this process.

You can start writing to train your brain, create a side hustle, and maybe a whole blogging empire like Zulie Rane.

If you’re ready for your new journey, start writing today and watch all the amazing changes that will happen to you during article creation.


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Olha Bahaieva Avatar

Olha Bahaieva / UI/UX Designer, Medium Author, Public Speaker @ Toptal

Olha Bahaieva is a senior UI/UX designer, Medium author and public speaker at Toptal.

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