[grozmovoi]

> It lets me clear my mind of all of the random things that pop up so I can focus more on the tasks at hand.

I think this is key here. It's the same for me. If I don't dump my thoughts int o an organized form they will nag me. When I write them down (and about most of them, I forget or delete later), it allows me to work on the task at hand. If I don't, I end up thinking about all the avenues of exploration of those ideas, todos, etc...

It's akin to how instead of keeping those thoughts in RAM I put them in my SSD. RAM is just for what's happening now.

[jwells89]

Yep. It’s an interesting effect. I think half the reason things get stuck in my head like that is because they’re interesting and I don’t want to forget them, so my mind keeps wandering its way back to them. “Hey, what about that fun idea?”

By writing them down I no longer have to worry about them being forgotten since I can always scan over my notes when I’ve got spare mental bandwidth to work with, which stops my mind from wandering.