Doodling is fun especially when you're sitting at your office desk doodling instead of working. After all doodling is more fun than working. Now if only we had some sort of scientific proof that doodling actually made us more effective at our jobs... Hold on just a minute. We do. There's actually a lot of evidence that demonstrates the benefits of doodling at your computer desk. An article in The Lancet a neuroscience journal discusses the concepts behind these benefits. Here are some of our favorite takeaways from the article.
If it's good enough for the President of the United States...
If we put our political beliefs aside we can hopefully acknowledge that a person has to be fairly sharp in order to sit at the Oval Office desk. That's why it's worth noting that well over half of US Presidents made a habit of doodling at their desk. If President Franklin D. Roosevelt had been lucky enough to work at a high-tech standing desk like an UpDesk UpWrite perhaps he might've used dry-erase markers to sketch out tactical military suggestions for General Eisenhower. And we'd guess that each of these aforementioned 26 Presidents doodled at their desk to help stay focused while staff members briefed them on the more mundane aspects of running the country.
Doodling and Decisiveness:
Doodling at your computer desk can alleviate undesirable mental states like boredom and indecision. Perhaps you're doing a quick sketch about the pros and cons of a certain decision (like whether your next office furniture purchase will be a SquaredUp standing deskor a PowerUp standing desk) or perhaps you're just relieving stress. Either way doodling seems to serve the same function as less-productive habits like biting fingernails or tapping your feet. But instead of just being a nervous habit doodling is also keeping the important portions of your brain alert which is why it can be so beneficial in the workplace.
Don't forget: Doodling improves short-term memory.
No matter our field of expertise we've all been in situations where we've had to remember a series of information. Maybe it was a list of people to invite to the sales meeting or maybe it was a list of running backs we wanted to draft for our fantasy football team. Psychologist Jackie Andrade suggests that doodling keeps our level of attention at a perfect level by preventing us from daydreaming or completely losing focus during monotonous tasks like keeping track of a repetitive list.
You might not be sitting in the Oval Office but it's still important for you to be able to focus at work. If doodling is your preferred method consider an UpDesk UpWrite for your next computer desk. Not only can you improve your productivity by doodling on your desktop you can improve your health by standing at your desk throughout the day. And that's good for focus too.
Happy Doodling and Happy Standing!
