If you’re anything like me, you appreciate getting something handwritten and personal in the mail from a friend, coworker, or family member. Especially during these past two years, I have found it to be a great way to still feel connected even from afar. While this often does take the shape of birthday or holiday cards, it is great to get a thank you card from someone. It recognizes something the person has done for you and solidifies the bond between you both. I have been known to even send a thank you card to people just to thank them for being a good friend in general. It doesn’t have to be for a specific thing they did for you and I think that can make the gesture even more poignant.

Handwriting thank you cards is something that feels special nowadays and shows you made time to sit down and think about what the other person means to you. This is a great habit to instill in college students as well, where we often see it take the shape of thanking scholarship donors. Fresno State has a great guide on how you can help students learn how to handwrite a good thank you note to donors. This activity will mean the world to the donors since the whole reason why they gave in the first place is to positively impact students, so being able to hear from those students is powerful.

Even if you don’t feel like you have the time to invest in writing out individual cards to people, there are options out there for you. You can look into tools that allow you to create personalized automated thank you cards for anyone you want. This is a great option to make sending out these cards an integrated part of your routine.

While handwritten thank you cards is a simple gesture, it is the thought that counts. The importance here is making it consistent and thoughtful. Having it be something you do just to check a box isn’t going to have the intended outcome. It must be genuine. There needs to be a specific gesture or moment mentioned in the note and there should be a consistent rhythm to sending it. For example, you could send a birthday card with a heartfelt message or a thank you for years of service. The patten can take a lot of shapes, but only sending a card to someone once that you want to nurture a long-term relationship with isn’t going to cut it.

When it comes to a new habit that can foster more positivity, writing handwritten thank you cards is a great cost effective way to do so not only in our lives but others as well. You can bring in a lot of creativity and it also is a fun task to do with your hands after a long day of staring at screens. I hope you are able to see the benefits of this effort and find a way to integrate it into your life.