2 min readFeb 28, 2026 06:20 AM IST First published on: Feb 28, 2026 at 06:20 AM ISTEileen Gu is the most decorated freestyle skier in the history of the Olympics. She is tough, bright, and fearless. She is also, it turns out, a journaller. In a recent press interaction, the 22-year-old responded to a query about her ability to respond thoughtfully to questions on any subject from “geopolitics to sports to aerodynamics”, by talking about the writing habit that helps her “break down her thought processes”.Because thinking is an activity that requires far more intention than merely allowing thoughts to drift in. Left alone, an idea or impression may well float out again and be lost forever. Writing is what makes the nebulous concrete; by forcing the brain to pay attention, it forces the assembling and synthesising of information, pinning down the elusive and making connections that illuminate and define. There is evidence to back up the assertion that writing clarifies thought and shapes understanding and perception. Multiple studies have shown a strong link between the physical act of writing and the creation and deepening of interconnections in the brain’s vast neural network, leading to better memory and comprehension.AdvertisementWriters, of course, have always known this: To write is to think. Indeed, Joan Didion once said that she never really knows what she is thinking until she has put pen to paper — a conviction echoed by other practitioners of the written word, such as Flannery O’Connor, Stephen King and Kurt Vonnegut. In the age of the intelligent machine, it is good to remember that it is these small acts of rigour — of observation, record and clarification — that really shape human knowledge.