Doodling at work could help you be more productive

The next time you’re stuck on a project, stymied by a problem, or just stressed out at work, you might want to break out a pen and paper and start doodling. Research shows those random shapes, lines, and figures scrawled on the margins can help memory and cognition, boost creativity, and even just help us relax. In the last decade, those benefits have spurred a growing interest in more sophisticated forms of the practice in classrooms and workplaces. Sketchnoting , graphic recording , infodoodling, and other visual thinking applications, which combine words, pictures, symbols, and sketches, all aim to help people process information in a similar way to doodling. “It’s such a simple tool,” says Sunni Brown, author of The Doodle Revolution , which documents the benefits of doodling and visual language, “but it has so many implications and so many areas where it makes a real difference for people.” From the earliest age, we’re taught to sit at attention when someone is speaking to us. Scribbling random pictures in our notebooks has long been considered rude or disrespectful—just ask your middle-school history teacher. But Brown realized something as she traveled the world for work: people doodle everywhere. “I noticed this universal thing happening that seemed to be very useful, powerful, helpful, and natural, but it had no place in any of our institutions,” she says. “There was a disconnect there.” ‘Like having chocolate’ Expectations that we only need to listen to learn can make it difficult for some to distill information, especially for visual learners who absorb information best when they can see it. Doodling can help. When we doodle, according to research, we actually pay attention and remember more information . The practice can enhance memory in older adults. It can help with mental health , and […]

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