Incessantly, the voice speaks, confused stuff, without connection. Suddenly, it shoots up from the depths of the subconscious, this mysterious supercomputer that eludes my direct control: an idea. Ideas are invigorating, they feel exciting. Within them slumbers a potential - something valuable that I (and only I) can realize. Ideas are fleeting; they remain in memory only for a moment, in the working memory of the brain. This is where it's decided whether I forget the idea in a moment of carelessness, follow it with blind activism, or first examine it more closely. > Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and happiness. [^1] [^1]: Stephen R. Covey: „The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People“ Unpacking an idea to examine it requires a certain effort to dive from its surface into the depths. The subconscious only delivers the impulse, not a complete plan with context and explanation. The conscious part of thinking must answer the question of whether it's just a shell filled with hot air, or whether substance lies within. All too often, ideas appear brilliant on the surface but burst like soap bubbles as soon as you try to dissect them. It is writing that penetrates the brilliant appearance of the idea, makes it transparent, so that I can examine it from all sides. Writing slows down thoughts, makes them complete. Writing is precise in an unforgiving way; all uncertainties and gaps are revealed. The imperfection and meaninglessness of an idea floating through the head as a promising bubble has no chance on paper. Words transform the idea into something substantial. An idea either disintegrates, or its full potential comes to light. > If writing down your ideas always makes them more precise and more complete, then no one who hasn't written about a topic has fully formed ideas about it. And someone who never writes has no fully formed ideas about anything nontrivial. [^2] [^2]: Paul Graham: [„Putting Ideas Into Words“](https://paulgraham.com/words.html) If I skip writing down the idea, I fall into blind activism. I chase a phantom, never quite grasping it, because its form constantly changes. Only writing materializes the idea, makes it tangible for me. *Note: This post was originally written in German. Anthropic's LLM Claude helped me to translate it into English while retaining my original style. You can read the German original here: [Warum ich schreibe](Warum%20ich%20schreibe.md)*