Memory is tricky. For example, have you ever called a client and promptly forgotten the reason for the call once she answered? Or, did you struggle to recall the name of the person shaking your hand right now even though you clearly remember the conference at which you met? What is the deal with our brains??!
The Science Of Memory
Well, a lot. Memory requires quite a bit of brain power and processes, and it involves your whole body. Scientists believe we all carry 80-100 billion nerve cells, or about as many stars as there are in the Milky Way[1]. When we commit something to memory, we are using information carried to our brains from our senses, all five of them.
So, any trick to helping our brain remember is going to go far to improving our memory. And you have one of the greatest tools around – your Best Planner Ever. Studies show that writing with pen and paper makes a difference in our ability to remember information.
Daily Planners Improve Memory
When you put notes into your daily planner, your brain engages some of those billions of nerve cells to make the note. You are processing the information: the act of writing in your daily schedule planner is causing you to think about the contents of your note, reframing it into your own words[2]. You won’t forget that meeting topic name so easily!
Studies show that “taking notes with a pen and paper, rather than a laptop, leads to higher quality learning, as writing is a better strategy to store and internalize ideas” [3]. By contrast, using a laptop to compute notes creates shallower processing, transcribing the information without actually thinking any further than “copying” it down.2
Remember To Use Your Best Planner Ever
Further studies support the need for writing by hand in order to recall information, claiming that “writing is a better strategy to store and internalize ideas in the long haul” 3. Also, then you have a reference to check when you put notes into your daily planner; your daily planner makes it easy to check your notes and remind yourself.
So how can your daily planner prevent memory gaps? Is it as easy as grabbing a pen and jotting down the name of your contact or a meeting topic for your call? Simply, yes.
The function of writing sends messages to your brain via pathways from your eyes that see the paper and your hand that moves the pen, creating a longer lasting sensory memory. “. . . writing by hand allows the brain to receive feedback from a person’s motor actions, and this specific feedback is different than those received when touching and typing on a keyboard” 3. You actually create a stronger memory when you apply touch and sight to the action of writing notes.
Even in this digital age, taking notes with your Best Planner Ever serves a more important function. If you want to be organized in mind and body, your thoughts as well as your actions, “using pen and paper, not laptops, to take notes boosts memory and the ability to retain and understand concepts” 3.
This means that right now, in your daily planner for women, you have the most powerful tool for improving your memory at your fingertips – literally.
[1] Whitwam, Ryan. Simulating 1 second of human brain activity takes 82,944 processors. ExtremeTech. 2013.
[2] Mueller, Pam and Daniel Oppenheimer. The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard
Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking. Sage Journals.2014.
[3] Borelli, Lori. Why Using Pen And Paper, Not Laptops, Boosts Memory: Writing Notes Helps Recall Concepts, Ability To Understand. Medical Daily. 2014.