Legend has it that Socrates feared “his students could be harmed by writing”. Using pen on paper would place their ideas outside the brain, meaning they would no longer in need to memorize them. 🤯
Fast forward two and a half millennia, our reality has strongly shifted:
Instead of fearing handwriting, many researchers and educators question the permanent use of typing on keyboards and screens. Leading research would have left Socrates stunned:
✅ We remember better when writing by hand. Pen on paper activates more senses and enables “more hooks for our memory and encoding”.
✅ Handwriting asks us to be attentive and think about “what and how” we write. Hence, we spell more accurately, learn more, and ultimately, get smarter.
✅ Research says, “Our hands have a unique relationship with our brain when it comes to composing thoughts, ideas, and concepts.” We tend to write more words, faster and express more ideas when creating pieces by hand versus keyboard.
Your pulse might be above average at the office by now! Inner voices of doubt or judgment might claim: “Nah, that’s not for me! Typing is so much easier, faster, and practical in my busy days.”
Being a left-hander myself, I struggled with messy ink and pens - leaving their unwanted marks everywhere. Hence, I also grew fond of my keyboard.
Still, the moment I opened my first MOYU notebook, I got curious to test my personal Top-3 Habits for work in handwriting. The following habits are for daily use, helping you work with more ease:
HABIT 1️⃣: NAVIGATE your work day (with more focus and ease)
Our mind can be our best friend, but also our worst enemy. Hence, getting distracted and experiencing negative mind-chatter (due to e.g. judgment, anger, doubt) stops 4 out of 5 people in a team from using their full (mental) potential. This leaves bosses, colleagues, clients and our loved ones behind confused, disappointed and even resentful.
As a trained expert in Positive Thinking and letting go of (unconscious) harmful habits, I know that our busy lives and packed work schedules distract us from what truly matters. Hence, to navigate your work days with more focus and ease, pick your MOYU notebook and test this habit:
- After you sit down at your work desk in the morning, briefly check your today’s calendar or task-list.
- Then close your eyes and take 3 intentional breaths, wiggle your toes like playing the piano and stretch your arms up with joy.
- Keep your eyes closed and ask yourself: What’s truly important today? Make notes. ✍️
- Then close your eyes again, take 3 intentional breaths and ask yourself: What just seems to be important but isn’t, and I can let go off? Make notes. ✍️
Use this inner wisdom to navigate your work day! Remember and focus on what truly matters. Let go of the outer or inner voices distracting you.
HABIT 2️⃣: REGROUP your work day (feeling ready for tomorrow)
Next to many researchers, I’m not a fan of making big strategies and plans - as we mostly hustle executing them. Our lives, business sectors, companies, teams, etc. have to be navigated instead and towards “the North Star”. Doing that greatly helps to be structured and organized.
One of my habits to stay organized at work is inspired by “Getting Things Done”:
After you finish your last meeting or task of the day, review your day’s schedule in the MOYU notebook and ask yourself:
- What is complete? Celebrate yourself!
- What is incomplete? If something still needs processing, schedule a time for it in your notebook calendar. ✍️
- What did you learn? Cheer to yourself and make notes. ✍️
Then, screen your upcoming work day:
- What is already prepared? Cheer to yourself!
- What needs to be prepared? Schedule a time to do it in your notebook calendar. ✍️
- Relax and start your evening.
HABIT 3️⃣: Grow with GRATITUDE (closing a day with positive energy)
On many work days, we might not get any positive responses. No kind feedback, such as “Well done!” or a simple “Thanks, that’s helpful!”. Feeling busy or pressured due to end-to-end meetings, big agendas, or over-committing again, we might lack the headspace. But that’s not all!
Not training our empathy muscle is mostly the matter. Studies among CEOs from globally leading companies show how troublesome it is for leaders to show self-empathy. Being very goal-oriented and success-driven, too many become high-functional. (Self-)empathy gets cut out.
Hence, training our very own gratitude muscle becomes self-empowering, calms your scarcity mindset, and helps shift into abundance! Test this favorite evening habit of mine:
After I slip into bed at night, I screen my work day from morning to evening and ask myself “What am I grateful for today?”. Make notes. ✍️
As our days are rich with experience, so many small to big moments of gratefulness can show! I’m mostly grateful for having nourished myself with homemade and healthy food, having been present and curious with my clients and loved ones, and having done one thing that felt unpleasant.
Creating a gratitude practice with your MOYU notebook will spark positive energy and ease you into falling asleep every night!
Bonus: If by any means you feel grateful for a colleague, your team, or a business partner, use your notes to share this positive feedback with them!
As a Behavior Change Expert and Habit Coach, I chose the above habits for you. Knowing that new beginnings can feel heavy lifting and the above habits mustn’t speak to you, I recommend you to:
❎ First, envision the kind of task you have to do (e.g. note-taking in a meeting, conceptualizing an offer, ideating a product concept) and reflect if…
- Intentionally stepping away from screens could benefit your creativity and thrive.
- Results have to be captured forever-ever or could be erased again.
❎ Second, decide if handwriting or typing is the best solution for your task, e.g.:
- Handwriting notes during a meeting helps you memorize your team’s tasks better.
- Writing an offer or product concept might be faster and easier on the keyboard.
❎ Third, be aware that for many tasks at work, a mix of both - handwriting and typing - could be an ideal solution, e.g.:
- You handwrite the offer’s concept into your notebook.
- Only then do you hammer away on your keyboard!
Let’s check out by asking you…
*️⃣ What surprised you learning about handwriting?
*️⃣ Which habit will you pick up on?
*️⃣ What’s your first step to get going, e.g. ordering your MOYU notebook?
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Eva Gruber supports curious leaders and teams that struggle to achieve positive, lasting change for themselves or their organization - and the leadership shift it takes. As an expert in Positive Thinking, Positive Leadership, and Habit Change, Eva guides them to manage hindering mindsets, beliefs, and behavior-stopping change. As a result, they step into well-being, healthy relationships, peak performance, and more. Because the secret of positive change is “not standing in our own way”.
✍️ Connect with Eva Gruber anytime, via email to hi@evagruber.org, on LinkedIn or her webpage.