Peyton Manning Tribute and The Power of Handwritten Notes

If you watched the NFL Draft on Thursday night, you may have caught Gatorade’s commercial tribute to Peyton Manning. If you didn’t, you can see it here:

As I watched it, the one thing that jumped out at me was that all of these people who had handwritten notes from Peyton that they had kept over the years and were now reading from them.

It got me thinking about how often we bother to actually hand-write anything. How often I need to let someone know that I’m thinking about them and send a quick email, or Facebook message, when a card with a note would be something they could hang on to and pull out anytime they think no one cares. Or about the number of people who help me professionally who get a quick thank you on the way out the door instead of a thank you card that would ensure they remember me and leave with a positive impression of our interaction, and really, when it comes to networking, what better way to make a lasting impact on people than to send something tangible like that?

I think it’s high time I stocked up on thank you cards and stamps, not to mention “thinking of you” cards and stationery. I don’t want the appreciation I have for people to get lost in the digital noise of their lives, I want them to be able to keep it.

And if you want to truly stand out in your career, this is one way, and it’s a way that most people won’t bother with.

If you struggle with what to say in thank you notes, you could do worse than check out this podcast from the Manager Tools folks.

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