writing to know what you think

 


I am on the board of the Northern New England chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) and am currently the education coordinator for the chapter. I was asked to prepare some options for a possible event in June. I had a bunch of thoughts in my head and felt like I knew the direction I wanted to push the board to go in until I actually sat down and wrote out the options with expected costs and risks. In the process of writing everything down, I changed my mind. I realized I hadn't really thought through the option I thought I wanted to push for. Once I actually went through the act of writing it down and clarifying it, I realized there were two better options. We wound up choosing not to have the event after all, but it was a good process. 

The process of writing is a fabulous way of knowing discovering what you actually think. I often sit down with a vague idea about a topic that I want to write about, and it is only in the process of writing that I actually arrive at a full understanding of what I am thinking. As you try to clarify your thoughts, you discover connections you hadn't fully thought through, and disconnects that were not apparent until you tried to articulate the whole. 


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