Handwriting & Signatures

First Impressions

(Draft -- You are looking at an early draft of this topic. It has not yet been proofed, and it will now doubt be massaged many times over for context, grammar, and clarity)

Whether you like it or not – people will judge you based on your handwriting and signature.

Signatures: I collect autographs of a lot of sports celebrities – and most of them have excellent signatures. Have you ever seen the signature of Richard Petty, Pete Rose, Willie Mays, Larry Bird, or Tom Landry? These are distinctive signatures that tell you that the person is a cut above the average.

I’ve signed thousands and thousands of contracts, and the signatures have ranged from the legible with character – to what looks like and X, the Mark of Zorro, or the seismograph of an earthquake. For humor – I long ago started taking these signatures and show them to my partners and managers, asking to describe the person just from their signature. In most cases, these people knew nothing of the person who had signed the contract – but in most every instance, sloppy signatures were thought to be of people disorganized and less smart than of those with a distinctive signature.

Take a look at your signature, and those of celebrities. Work on coming up with a distinctive signature of your own. Take your time when you sign a document. The difference between a signature that took three seconds instead of two is usually night and day – and it will only cost you another second.

Handwriting: The cold hard facts are that if your handwriting looks like that of a 4th grader – you will be thought of as intelligent as a 4th grader.

I went to drafting school back in the 70s – and on technical drawings, your text with all of the letters and number crisp and properly proportioned was as important as the actual drawing. What use is an isometric view drawing of an object having 30 different dimensions – if the person cutting having to make the object can’t read the instructions?

I print more often than write cursive – because I feel my printing to be easier to read and neater. I feel that in business and college – printing is as acceptable as cursive. I would suggest that if your handwriting is a liability for you – take the drafting student's approach to it. There are a million places on the Internet with instruction – and short manuals at bookstores and drafting supply stores.

Take the time to improve your handwriting and signature.