Shorthand Writing
Write at the speed of speech. Look like a Victorian spy doing it.
Shorthand is a system of rapid writing using simplified symbols instead of letters. Journalists, court reporters, and secretaries used it for centuries to write as fast as people speak. Learning it feels like acquiring a superpower and a secret code simultaneously. Your notes become unreadable to anyone else, which is either a feature or a bug.
How to start
- 1Pick a system: Teeline (easiest for English), Gregg (elegant curves), or Ford Improved (simplified).
- 2Learn the first 10 letter symbols. Practice writing them until they feel natural.
- 3Write three familiar words in shorthand. Your name is a great start.
- 4Practice for 10 minutes a day with a simple sentence drill.
- 5Try taking notes in shorthand during a podcast or YouTube video.
What you'll need
- NotebookEssentialFree
- Pencil or penEssentialFree
- Shorthand textbook or free PDFNice to haveFree
Where to learn more
Plot twists
Ways to spice this up when the basics get boring.
- Write your diary in shorthand. Nobody can read it but you.
- Create your own shorthand system optimized for words you use most.
- Race a voice-to-text app. See who captures a spoken sentence more accurately.
- Write love letters in shorthand. Peak romance and secrecy.
Learning a few symbols a day is bite-sized enough to stick. And writing in shorthand during meetings gives your hands something to do while actually being productive.
Samuel Pepys wrote his famous diary (1660-1669) in a shorthand cipher. It took scholars decades to decode it after his death, revealing scandals, the Great Fire of London, and his honest opinions about everyone.
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