Do you doodle?

Do you doodle?

You might think doodling is just for kids or what people do when they're on the phone or bored in meetings but doodling can have many benefits. It can be a powerful tool that can help increase your creativity, focus, and cognitive capacity. Some of the world’s biggest, most creative companies like Disney and Apple have encouraged their staff to doodle as a way of increasing their creativity and productivity.??

Here are just some of the benefits of doodling and why you should try doodling too!

It stimulates different parts of your brain

Because you’re not thinking about what you’re drawing, doodling engages parts of your brain that you’re not even aware of. What you might consider mindless drawing can improve your memory, fact recall, and productivity.?The act of doodling means that the drawing isn’t so important to you, so you relax, your Inner Critic doesn’t get in the way, and more creative ways of thinking emerge.?

It can help with problem-solving

Those marks you’re making in the margins of your notebook are firing up different neural pathways in your brain. This can help you analyse information differently and come up with innovative solutions to problems. Doodling can also free up your brain to come up with creative responses to knotty problems. Drawing, sketching, making repetitive patterns helps to unfreeze your mind and declutter your thoughts.??

Doodling helps you focus?

You might think that doodling in a meeting makes it look like you’re not paying attention, but the opposite is true. Doodling can actually help you anchor to a task or pay closer attention to a discussion. The act of drawing disengages the part of your mind that’s thinking about the next problem, or what you might have for lunch. Instead, doodling helps to minimize distractions and focus on the key issue.??

It can help to relieve stress

When you're doodling, you're hardly even thinking about what you're drawing, you just do it. The repetitive motion of making patterns and shapes across the page can be quite relaxing and help you unwind. And, as you're just making it up as you go along, you won't have the fear of making any mistake either - it's just for fun and you can always throw the paper away after!

Doodling helps you deal with challenges?

If you’re dealing with big problems or challenges in your work, it can be hard to think in a free-wheeling way or to come up with outside-the-box solutions.?Writing, scribbling or making little sketches can help your whole brain focus on the problem at hand. If you’re trying to deal with a business challenge, doodling provides an emotional outlet for anxieties and feelings of being overwhelmed that would otherwise get in the way of finding solutions.??

So go grab a pen or pencil and some paper and doodle away! Don’t get hung up trying to draw anything in particular or let your Inner Critic get in the way - they don't have to be masterpieces. Just freestyle and see what happens. Give it a go!