Wow. I really DO think better with a pen in my hand

Doodling -- messing about with your writing implement -- during "boring" times -- like meetings and speeches (and college chapel, and phone conversations) -- it's a way for the brain to stay more awake! It helps the doodler pay attention!

Bored? Try Doodling To Keep The Brain On Task

by Alix Spiegel

Listen Now [5 min 21 sec]

Then there's this. A new book.

'Presidential Doodles:' Oval Office Artists

by Robert Siegel

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All Things Considered, September 21, 2006 · The hand on the rudder of the ship of state, the finger on the nuclear button, has its frivolous, extra-constitutional moments, too. From the hands of presidents have come a wealth of improvised drawings on White House stationery, memos and Cabinet agendas.

They have been collected by the creators of Cabinet magazine and writer David Greenberg, in a new book called, Presidential Doodles: Two Centuries of Scribbles, Scratches, Squiggles and Scrawls from the Oval Office. Greenberg is a professor of history and journalism at Rutgers University.

The doodle at the top of the page is Herbert Hoover's doodle. Okay, yeah, I get that. But check out Ulysses S. Grant's idea of a way to keep his brain busy.