66: 6 Simple Tips to Improve Your Handwriting

As we type more and write less, handwriting has become a lost art. And for the people who are always in a hurry, me handwriting takes on a more frenetic look. You have the handwriting of a serial killer. Well, thank you, Ms. Clary. Guilty as charged. So if you're like me, you spend most of your time communicating the written word from a keyboard or from your fingertips on your phone. And when the time comes to write a note, you have to find the then tap into those unused skills from your youth. It's like zipping around town in your car all day and then someone asks you to go somewhere and hands you a skateboard. Okay, there was a time I was quite good at this, but now I'm rusty and this could get ugly. Know what I'm saying? Handwriting is no longer easy for many of us. If you listen to episode 61, how to Write an unforgettable thank you note, or the bonus episode, how to address a holiday card. The that was in December. Both links are in the show notes. Both of those episodes discuss the importance of writing a personal card. How to make it even more personal. Handwrite the note. How to make it even better. Write legibly. Not like you're writing a ransom note. So in the episode this week, six simple tips for improving your handwriting. Were you aware that last week we celebrated National Handwriting Day? It was on January 23rd. Why January 23rd? Because it happens to be the birthday of the person who had the largest signature on the Declaration of Independence. John Hancock wanted to make sure King George III could read it. So today his signature, if you didn't know, this little factoid, is the only one still legible on the document. So why do we need to have legible handwriting? What's the benefit other than making something easier for someone else to read? Here's some Data from Pilot Pen. 68% of people feel more confident when handwriting their to do list. Ding ding. I agree with this one. I use an online management program called Trello. It's how to organize my day to day and my short term and long term projects. But in addition, I must write down a to do list. I use the full focus Planner. It's by Michael Hyatt, but it gives me my, you know, my top big three that I have to accomplish that day and then a list for other tasks. Physically crossing off completed items on a to do list is linked to that feeling of accomplishment and it gives you that neurological incentive to tackle the next task. Would you agree? 60, 80% of you said yes? Now 44% of people say that having more pens on their desks in a variety of colors and point sizes and inspires their work. I have no idea who these people are because maybe it's an OCD thing. I fall on the 56%. A handful of pens is plenty. Give me my black, my blue, and my red and a highlighter and I am gtg. I'm also linking the pens that I use in the show notes, but they, they're called zebra and I get them at Staples. Next, learners who take notes by hand do better at thinking conceptually. So when you're listening to instructions, when you're understanding the material, it's easier to do it if you write them down. So if you are an adult learner or you do professional development and they have booklets, it's still good. It's not as antiquated as you think because people like the feel of paper and people like to write things down, but it's good to have that hybrid of both. But we don't want to completely abandon the writing and because it does help with the, with the learning, makes it stickier. And lastly, how about this stat? 88% of real life lovers hold on to handwritten love notes. And yes, the stat was written as lovers long after receiving the note. So if you are in the 88 percentile of people who still have a love note from someone you've loved, you are in good company. Now, here's another stat for the journaling crowd. So those people who write out their goals and dreams and hopes are 33% more likely to achieve them due to the more personal nature of handwriting. Now again, I fall into the other category, the 67%. I'm not a journaler. I know, I don't dispute the benefits, but frankly, who has the time? One thing that it does help you with, of course, is your handwriting. So not only do you get the benefit of, you know, like writing out your goals and your dreams, but the writing, the handwriting portion is gonna help as well. And last thing to think about, we need writing. We don't wanna completely obliterate the practice because after all, who's gonna write songs for us? Lyrics. The lyrics to I wanna hold you'd hand Paul and John, they didn't write em on an iPhone, they wrote em on a notepad. So if you're listening at your desk, grab a pen and jot down these tips. And if not, you're in the car, you're walking around, they're pretty easy to remember. Okay, here we go, six simple tips. Number one, it's all in the prep. Get your hands on the right materials for writing. So before you start to write, you want to invest in the materials that will help you practice your penmanship. So find a pen or a pencil that feels very comfortable to hold and that flows smoothly without having to push it too hard on the paper. Once you find that perfect writing utensil, start experimenting with it. Different size nubs and thicknesses as well as the colors. I don't know if you're like me. I don't like really wide nubs on my pen. I don't know, it seems messy. People who are left handed I have two kids who are left handed and I do buy them these designed pens just for lefties so it doesn't smudge the ink. They are There are a lot of fast drying choices out there and again I'm including the ones that I purchase for my kids. Now, aside from your pen or your pencil, you'll want a notebook if you're someone who takes notes. Anything with grid lined paper is always helpful. This paper is useful when you're practicing your capital and lowercase letters because it allows you to track your progress as you go. Now how is this for a tip? You could buy a light box. Now people usually use a light box for tracing, but you could easily use it for your writing. You just place the graph line paper or the grid paper on the top and then put your card or notebook on top of that. Is there effort involved? Yes. But remember, handwritten notes, they may last for the ages and if it does, you want to make it look nice. Tip number two Check your posture. So sit with your back straight, your feet flat on the floor, legs uncrossed. This is a tip that I naturally do anyway cause I notice when my legs are crossed that I'm slanting too much. When I write, relax your arm and your hand and you can also shake your hand until it feels floppy. You know, loosen it up just like if you're going on a run and breathe. Now some children, I have one, my son will curve their arm around the page when they're writing. But there is a benefit to sitting up straight with your forearm just resting on the table with a gradual slant so that your arm moves the fingers rather than the wrist. The next tip and this is my top one. This is my common sense. I didn't even need to look it up. Tip for better handwriting Slow down. I write too fast, probably because I'm busy or I'm always trying to keep up with the speed in which I type but unless you're sitting and taking a timed test, the SAT or the act, or you're forced to rush for some other reason, there's no need to write at this galloping speed. I mean, think about when you write a check. Every time I sit down to write a check, I feel like I have to do it in like, three seconds flat. It's sloppy. Take the time on your letter formation. Take the time on the spacing. When you write quickly. Also, you tend to connect your words together. If a word has two T's to it, you're going to use one line that is from writing too fast. Type fast, write slow. Tip number four. Restrain your arm and your wrist. Now, most people write with their fingers, which means they draw the letters. Calligraphy artists and professional writers, however, don't use their fingers at all. So if you keep your arm and your wrist in the same position for every letter and every motion that that you make, you're not going to wiggle your arm and your wrist around. It's going to be very controlled. To practice, here's a great tip. Hold your pen and write big letters in the air. The muscles that you're using when you do that exercise are the ones you're going to be using when you write on paper. The same as if you picture yourself writing on a smart board or a chalkboard. You have to use your arm and your wrist to write, because if you were drawing the letters with only your fingers, the letters would be too small. Can you picture that now? So the same mechanisms that you use on a smart board standing up are the ones you're going to use when you write at your desk. So writing this way is going to make your writing more fluid. Now, a tip that I learned. I read an article and I have it in the show notes. It's from a calligraphy expert, and she said that she instructs her students to pull the pen, or rather than pushing it up and down the paper. Does that make sense? Can you visualize that if you pull the pen through your writing, as opposed to pushing it, you're going to have better handwriting? Because someone who is a finger writer, they're putting the full weight of their hand on the paper and then they pick up their hand repeatedly to move it across the page? Right, the thump, thump, thump of when you write. But if you are a calligrapher, you're going to let the letters flow freely. So once you get used to that way of writing, your fingers are going to move a lot less and it's going to allow your forearm to guide the pen and your shoulder to lightly push it. This tip works. I tried it. Next tip. You want to create uniformity, make your letters clear. You want to close your loops with the ascenders and the descenders. It sounds like a Disney program, doesn't it? The descendants. So the tips of your Ls to the bottom of your lowercase GS, they need to be consistent. So make sure that your baselines and your letter forms are consistent as well. Same shape, same size. A lowercase o should be the same size as a lowercase o. E. You also want to slightly slant your writing. If it's too slanted, it's too difficult to read. So think 5 to 15 degrees. So if you're left handed or right handed, if you're right handed, you're going to tilt it to around 11 o'. Clock. If you're left handed, you're going to tilt it to around 1 o'. Clock. You also want to check the height of your letters as well. So the correct height needs to be in relation to to every single letter. If the height of your letters are wrong, your writing is going to be very difficult to read. Now, for me, my ascenders and descenders, they are all over the place. My L, for example, is tiny. But my G or my J or my Y in Molly is all over the place. So it spreads out when. If you spread out your line, your descenders into lower lines, it's going to make your writing look messy or like, I don't know, a serial killer. And the last tip. Practice makes perfect penmanship. Pick up your pen when you're not in a time crunch and practice. Take the time to print out a set of grid lines. Or you can buy a book on handwriting. I've included some in the show notes. Or you can just write on lined paper. Take time to write letters individually and then move on to letters combinations. You can also write the phrase the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. If you Google how to improve your handwriting like I did, you're going to see this sentence and the reason why. It's because it contains every letter of the Alphabet. So it gives you a lot of opportunities to practice making every letter and as perfect as possible. There you have it, six simple tips to improve your handwriting. I hope you found it helpful and you'll be able to practice on any upcoming thank you notes that you now write after listening to my episode on how to write a thank you note. Hey, by the way, this episode was recommended by Dun dun dun a listener. They were requesting an episode on how to improve their handwriting. They thought they had poor handwriting and I thought, you know what? That's probably a universal challenge for many people. If you want to suggest a topic, you can head over to my website. So grab a pen and write down this URL. It's mollymcpherson.com podcast and right there you will see a button to request any topic you like on the show. And while you're there, you can also subscribe to my weekly emails. I share content from helping you how to become more confident in your communications to lessons learned from ripped from the headline events. These are the takeaways that you can bring into your next business meeting. So, for example, the takeaway from Harry and Megan. If you receive my weekly email, you would have learned a valuable lesson on what the Harry and Megan megxit means to consumers and a change in how consumers expect to receive products. You can sign up@mollymcpherson.com subscribe you can also follow me on Twitter and share any of your handwriting tips. You can find me at Molly McPherson. That's all for now. Thank you so much for listening. We'll chat with you next week. Sam.