Writing is not a special skill that not everyone has to master. Sure, some of us are naturally better at crafting words. But unlike painting, writing is a basic skill. Everyone has to master the art of crafting words, maybe not into something poetic, but logical and constructive is enough. The most important purpose of writing is to make people understand your message, your thoughts, your voice.
Besides, writing skill got its own perks.
1) Any decent paying job would involve writing. Professionally.
Sure, everyone can ‘write’ if you refer it to the ability to gather some letters and make some word or sentence. But writing well, is another thing. It’s a painstaking process of contemplation and thinking. Not everyone can do it, but everyone needs to do it. Any blue or white collar jobs, for example, require the employees to at least write e-mails, reports, agreements and letters as part of the job routine. You can’t write an e-mail to a client with the tone you use to message a friend, that will be disrespectful. This is why writing is a basic professional skill that everyone needs to master.
2) Organizes your scattered thoughts
Have you ever seen a film script or transcribe a record? When spoken, the sentences are perfectly understandable. But when it’s transcribed, it looks a bit scattered, doesn’t it? That’s what differs spoken words with written words. Words can be less organized as it is spoken, because the missing pieces are expressed in gestures, tone, and such. But you write it down, you can only fill in the gap with words. In order for the reader to understand, your words needs to be clear and systematic.
3) Improve your social skill
As mentioned above, writing requires you to organize your thoughts. In the long run, as you practise writing frequently, you will be able to collect your thoughts quickly and apply it to spoken words. This will improve your social skills as your words come out logical and pulled together. It will help you win negotiations, influence others and other purposes you wish to achieve as you speak.
4) Sharpen your critical thinking
Organized thoughts also helps with critical thinking. As we know, critical thinking is important for problem solving. Yet, critical thinking involves a complicated process of conceptualizing, analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating information. Therefore, writing can shape a way of thinking that is systematic and collected. Especially for learners who best process information visually, writing will be a great tool to help their critical thinking development.
5) Writing can be your most trusted friend
There are (and will always be) time in our lives when we feel so pressured and frustrated. We can talk to a friend, but we must choose carefully for those who are shut tight like a Swiss bank. Even when we have those kind of friends, it’s not impossible that they who won’t judge us or try to give us solutions when in fact, we only need to be heard.
Take a piece of paper (or open your computer, in that case) and start writing. If you’re lucky, eventually the tangled situation will fall into places and reveal to you a way out. Remember a Harry Potter scene where Dumbledore takes a thread of mind burden into a swirling pot called ‘the pensive’? Writing is quite like that, only much less magic.