To this day, I have never lived it down. My LEHIGH friends still tease me about when I was 17 years old, sitting on my dorm room bunk, quietly highlighting a campus map to see where my classes would be.
To be honest, I was unapologetic. I love maps! I study them! So of course I’d highlight what I’m studying. Why wouldn’t I want to know where I’m going? Didn’t everyone do this? Why wouldn’t everyone do this???
Well they must have accepted the little nerdy streak in me because we have been friends ever since!
Anyway, if you’re not into using the humble highlighter as a mighty, game changing tool, perhaps you WILL be after you learn the obvious, and not so obvious benefits. Full disclosure: I currently have a bunch of highlighters sitting in my Amazon cart. Honestly, they’re the thing I’m most eager to have delivered! Silly, I know.
Like most people, and as a person juggling many jobs, schedules and information, here’s why highlighters are part of my process:
- The Important Stands Out.
No more rereading whole pages over and over. Eyes are instantly drawn to the key points. - The Brain Remembers.
Did you know color is a memory booster? Highlighting activates visual recall, so your brain makes stronger connections to what you’re studying or reviewing. - The Benefit of organization.
Using different colors for themes, tasks, or priorities turns messy notes into a clear system. (For example: yellow = definitions, pink = examples, green = action items.) - The Efficient Review.
Before a test, meeting, or project, you can skim your highlights instead of starting from scratch, having to go through all the materials again. - The Satisfaction in Use.
Therapeutic in action, and something so motivating seeing a page neatly marked with color—it gives a sense of progress, accomplishment, thoroughness. - The Portable and Useful Tool.
Books, notes, planners, calendars, even sticky notes—highlighters travel well and adapt to your workflow. Whatever that is…and wherever you are.
In short: highlighters aren’t just pretty markers—they’re little focus tools that save time, reduce stress and keep you sane. Learning (or working) can be more efficient, more visual, and maybe even a lot more fun. For all these reasons, highlighters are something I have to have.
FUN FACT: The “Hi-Liter” was invented in 1963 after Francis J. Hohn, of Carter’s Ink, accidentally discovered the translucent ink while experimenting with non-permanent markers for children. A happy mistake! And in the verbal sense (not how it’s spelled), Hi-Liter has earned a spot among the ‘Generic Kings’ like Kleenex, Xerox, Velcro, Thermos, Band-Aid, Frisbee and Q-Tips! Google it! (Yes, that’s another one!)
Click reply and tell me how YOU use highlighters! Or if any of this convinced you to start!