Even if you have no artistic talent, doodling can be a creative outlet that stimulates your brain. The act of drawing forces your brain to become attentive, to truly perceive what you’re trying to capture with your pencil. But what’s less well-known is that doodling—long dismissed as a mindless activity that you do while you’re doing something else—has brain benefits. A study published in Applied Cognitive Psychology showed that doodling helped people remember information, particularly if the information was tedious. In other words, the doodling helped people focus their minds. Without doodling, their minds were likely to wander and subjects did not pay attention to what they were learning. According to one researcher, doodling is a type of visual language that can help people access ideas and thoughts they wouldn’t otherwise have, so it’s a boon to creativity as well.