The Benefit of Doodling Every Now and Then
Doodling is when you aimlessly sketch out pictures.
Sometimes, the doodles will be of concepts from the real world, while other times, they are fuzzy and ambiguous.
I’m sure you’ve doodled before.
Most likely, when you were bored.
Ms. Grushoff, your boring biology teacher, was yapping away about molecules.
You began aimlessly drawing things on your paper when you should have been taking notes.
It felt therapeutic, right?
Doodling is not something we only have to do as kids.
We can do it as adults too.
The Power of Pictures
Our mind processes information the best via pictures.
This is known as visual thinking.
If you were to close your eyes in a silent room and just observe your thoughts, then you would see images, not words.
Images are worth a million words to the mind.
A lot of communicators are unable to express themselves because they don’t understand the pictures in their mind.
They see the pictures, yes.
But they don’t understand it.
With doodling, you are grasping onto the pictures and bringing them to the real world.
This act requires practice.
It’s hard to grasp what you want to create.
The process of grasping is what we are going for.
Each time you grab a picture from your mind, each time, the pictures make more sense.
Does the Quality of Pictures Matter?
‘What if my pictures don’t look good, Armani?’
That doesn’t matter.
What matters is the process of grasping something from your mind.
More specifically, the process of:
- Identifying a thought from your mind.
- Acting on that thought.
Where a lot of people are passive observers of the mind, you are becoming an active engager!
This is a paradigm shift.
How well you draw does not matter.
It can be stick figures.
For me, I sketch.
I use a pencil to start off general with my images.
The more I am certain of what I’m creating, the more I’ll add depth to it.
If I’m not certain of what I’m creating, then I’ll just keep free-flowing it.
During certain moments, you’ll be clear about what image is being presented to you.
Other times, you’re just going with the flow.
Drawing & Journaling Parallels
Journaling gets a positive rep in the self-improvement world.
It’s seen as a great way to build your communication skills, improve your self-awareness, and become more introspective.
But doodling is viewed as something little kids do.
Very similar to the nonfiction-fiction debate for adults.
It’s seen as a good thing when adults read nonfiction books.
They are seen as being practical.
But when an adult reads fiction, other adults say:
‘What can you possibly get from a fiction book in your 30s?’
A LOT.
- Improved imagination.
- Better communication skills.
- Increased empathy.
- Ability to tell better stories.
Don’t let the general perception of drawing fool you.
It’s not only for little kids, adults can do it too.
Also, it’s easier to adopt doodling than journaling because it requires less cognitive effort in the initial stages.
You can pick up doodling while going through a tough time.
You’re feeling a lot of strong emotions right now.
Allow your emotions to lead the way.
Just like there is free-flow journaling, there is free-flow doodling.
You have no clue where the doodling session will take you.
You’re just letting your emotions lead the way.
Keep a Portfolio
At first, it’s fine to doodle on random pieces of paper.
But if you decide to make doodling a part of your life, then I recommend purchasing a drawing journal.
You can get one on Amazon.
Once you get a drawing journal, it’s easier to adopt a doodling practice that works for you.
Follow the emotions.
Let’s say you just bombed a speech.
How do you feel?
You struggle to express it in words, but you feel better expressing it via images.
You’re overwhelmed with feelings.
All you can draw is a sad face.
Once you draw a sad face, you’ll automatically feel better.
It’s weird, I know.
Why would a sad face make you feel better?
It’s because you are expressing that sad emotion.
We aren’t bothered by the event.
We are bothered by how we are unable to express our feelings of the event.
You can even do some mind control at this moment.
One moment, you drew a sad-faced emoji.
Then, you draw an arrow.
The arrow points to a smiley face.
This is you signaling to your mind:
‘You are sad now, but you’ll be happy soon.’
When you have a portfolio, you can look back at your past pictures with a new interpretation.
When you were initially drawing those pictures, you didn’t know what they meant.
But as time passes, you can go back to the past and psychoanalyze yourself.
How I Doodle
The main time I doodle is before speeches nowadays.
Since I create so much content for the ArmaniTalks brand, I can’t commit to another content creation practice.
So, the day before I give a speech, I’ll just aimlessly doodle.
It feels therapeutic for me.
I’ll draw stick figures, a microphone, and fire.
No clue why, but fire makes me feel bold and confident.
When I draw fire, I feel more locked into my speech.
Others don’t have to understand my pictures, only I need to understand them.
If you doodled as a kid, don’t think it’s a waste of time as an adult.
Leonardo DaVinci’s journals were packed with words and images.
Doodling every now and then allows you to learn the art of:
- Identifying a thought.
- Bringing that thought to the material world.
When you do that, you will be capable of expressing yourself better in the future.
If you decide to adopt the doodling practice long term, then keep a collection of your drawings.
Right now, you have no clue why you are drawing certain images.
But in the future, these images will make a lot of sense.
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