As it turns out, paper doesn’t only just feel good, research shows writing by hand in some ways are superior when it comes to learning, creativity and productivity.

1. Increase your focusIt might feel like a no-brainer to ditch some of your digital devices, along with all their pings, blings and other attention grabbing qualities to make it easier to focus your mind on studying. After all, calm and quiet spaces mean a calm and quiet mind, right?But did you know that hand writing your notes, rather than typing, can also intrinsically increase your focus while studying?Research suggests that students who hand write their notes seem to think more intensely about the material as they write it due to increased focus.So, not only are we able to diminish pesky distractions by switching to hand written notes but also increase our focus on the information we’re supposed to be taking in.

2. Understand and process more informationOne thing is being able to concentrate more but research also suggests that we can take this one step further and actually increase our capacity to understand and process information on a deeper level.One study looking at students learning Algebra found that those taking handwritten notes experienced a higher degree of transfer of information than those typing.Supporting research suggests that typing notes leads to a more shallow processing of information, almost like your brain is in sleep mode! Whereas handwriting is more efficient at processing information overall.

What is “thinking?”According to Roger Martin, arguably the world’s #1 management thinker, “thinking” is when you look at the world through an existing model. It’s how we use learnings from the past to make sense of the present—which is critical when you’re, for example, driving down the highway. When another driver cuts you off, you instantly apply your past experiences to the present and swerve to avoid an accident. Your reflex saves your life. But here’s the rub: almost all thinking is what Roger calls “reflexive.” Which means our mental scaffolding for thinking is the past.

Actual “thinking” is not reflexive. It’s reflective.You are presented with information.You become conscious of which model you are using to evaluate the information (which “lens” you are looking through).And then before you react, respond, or give in to your reflexive nature, you pause and first consider which mental model you’re using to examine the information being presented. You train yourself to be curious, to ask why, to suspend your past opinions, beliefs, and mental models, and to open the aperture of your mind and consider something different.That’s “thinking.”(Which is very different from what most people do, which is play a game of  “I’m right, you’re wrong Ping-Pong—you talk, I talk; you talk, I talk—no one really listening or actually thinking.)Remember, what most people call listening is actually called “waiting to talk.”

For example: in 2008, the idea of Airbnb made no sense when evaluated through old mental models. As a result, nearly every venture capitalist said, “No way. You can’t rent out your living room as if it’s a hotel. That’s insane. Probably illegal. What if someone gets killed in their sleep, or raped? And you really think people are going to want to share a kitchen, or a toilet, with someone they’ve never met before?” Only a very small handful of investors (including the world-class firm, Sequoia Capital) had the courage and mental awareness to ask a different question—a “thinking” question: “What would need to be true for this idea to work?” And what they ended up concluding was that the idea of Airbnb didn’t make sense when evaluated through previously established mental models—but it did make sense through the lens of a new model (a model that was not unfathomable). In fact, it was likely a decade away from being completely acceptable—and thus, “worth the risk” (which helped Sequoia turn roughly $280 million invested over multiple rounds into more than $12 billion). (Every legendary business is a dumb idea. Until it isn’t.)

reevaluate your relationship with data

At its core, productivity porn is a form of procrastination. When we don’t feel like working, planning and reading act as illusionary substitutes: they give us the illusion of productivity. Buying the perfect bullet-point journal, researching the best Pomodoro apps, watching videos explaining how “that one productivity trick will change your life…” Instead of making us more productive, these are preventing us from getting work done

Going deeper, consuming too much productivity porn can sometimes be a symptom of lack of confidence. The process of learning from supposedly more productive people is akin to asking for permission to start working on an ambitious project.

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” —Benjamin Franklin

“The best thing a human being can do is to help another human being know more.”

“In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area) who didn’t read all the time – none, zero.”

One of the benefits of reading is that it allows you to master the best of what other people have already figured out.

Start books quickly but give them up easily.

Skim a lot of books. Read a few. Immediately re-read the best ones twice .

Anyone can make a subject complicated but only someone who understands can make it simple.