The Power of Doodling

Doodling is often frown upon. Is it really that bad? [Pic]

At one time or another, we doodle. I doodle quite a bit and have been doing so with a tinge of guilt.

Doodling is often seen as a time-wasting habit, especially at formal meetings or lectures. When you idly scribble on your notepad, you are in a way telling people around you that you are bored. Such perceived lack of respect often put doodlers in a bad light. After all, the word 'doodle' has its origin to mean 'a simpleton or fool', so how good can doodling be?

Compared to those who appear to be listening attentively, doodlers are the visibly distracted lot. They are expected to be daydreaming and therefore not paying sufficient attention to what goes on around them.

That was what I thought, until I came across a research paper, "What Does Doodling do?" written by psychologist Jackie Andrade.

Your mind naturally wanders in boring meetings. [Pic]

The research

In her study, she asked 40 people listen to a piece of somewhat boring voice recording. The participants were later told to write down names of people and places they heard in the voice clip.

While listening, half of the participants were required to shade in shapes on a piece of paper to help them relieve their boredom. The other 20 just sat there and listen. On average, the doodlers could recall 29% more names.

It's not so much that doodling is good for
your concentration, but that
daydreaming is bad.  [Pic]

This is what happens to your brain...

When performing dull tasks, your mind tends to wander off. In other words, you daydream. As innocent as it may sound, daydreaming is demanding on brain processing power. When you daydream about a vacation, your brain will execute a series of activities such as planning and evaluation. You begin to think of possible destinations and draw up traveling itinerary.

Andrade explains that when you doodle, you minimize daydream. In that way, doodling can in fact aid concentration.

Compared to daydreaming, doodling does not tax your brain power as much. It keeps your brain occupied enough so that your mind does not wander off. However, it does not take away so much energy and you would still have enough to perform your main task.

In fact, it is believed that doodling can help to release a powerful creative force when handling complicated ideas. And so the saying goes, "Creative minds are rarely tidy." Doodling can also be used to relieve stress as it helps to direct your mind away from unhelpful thoughts.

People who doodle are in great company.
Da Vinci is one of the well-known doodlers. [Pic]

Famous doodlers include Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Vidal Sassoon and Bill Gates. Perhaps, the most famous of them all is Leonardo da Vinci.

There you go, doodling is not as bad as you think. The next time you doodle in meetings or lectures, you can confidently say that you are paying attention.

"Be master of mind rather than mastered by mind.” (Zen Proverb)