Many people think handwriting is no longer important. We frequently use computers and cellphones to talk to one another, and some individuals can easily go days without putting a pen to paper. While the art of handwriting may not be as appreciated as it once was, having and using good penmanship will make you stand out. Handwritten birthday cards for clients are much more likely to be remembered than quick, impersonal emails. To improve the legibility of your writing, follow these tips – if done right, your mail won’t end up at the special postal decoding facility.
Go slowly
Did you often find that the notes you took in school were useless? It’s not that they didn’t contain helpful information, you simply couldn’t read your own handwriting to decode the message. Speed is often the culprit of messy handwriting. When you start writing, take a moment to slow yourself down. Make every pen stroke with intention. Keep your mind on the page with your eyes following each move of your wrist and fingers. This can prevent you from grammar and spelling errors and make your writing much more legible (both for yourself and for the recipient).
Use your wrist
People often don’t realize that the way their handwriting appears is due to their hand positioning as they write. Tight letters that are written close together tend to be the work of someone who’s using their fingers to write. For a more free-flowing style, you should actually be relying on your wrists for the bulk of your movement. Keep your fingers steady and try to focus your movement at the wrist, guiding your pen along. This will also help prevent finger muscle cramps and keep you from tiring out while writing business thank you cards.
Practice
If you have truly terrible handwriting and want to improve, the best way to do so is to practice. I don’t mean getting out the red and blue dotted-line paper and writing out your ABCs – instead, just make an effort to write more. If you normally put thoughts you could jot down on your phone or tablet, opt to carry a notebook and write them out instead. Everything from to-do lists to party invites will help you become a more legible writer.
Where does mail that is nearly illegible go?
According to Slate, if you’ve ever addressed an envelope in a hurry and worried it might not be readable, your mail may have ended up in Utah. The United States Postal Service Remote Encoding Center, located on the very edge of Salt Lake City, is the only place in the country where hastily written mail ends up when no one has been able to decode its addresses. Here, workers complete eight-hour shifts where they take a mere 10 seconds to decipher the address and then send the mail on its way. More than 5 million pieces of mail go through the facility on a daily basis. Workers figure out your messy writing, readdress the envelope, and off it goes to the original destination. If you try the tips above, however, your mail may never make a detour to the Utah facility again.