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This page shares something I learned a couple of years ago. It has dramatically transformed a small part of my life.

It also illustrates a wider point about behaviours that contribute to success.

How do you tie shoelaces?

I cannot remember when my parents first taught me to tie my shoelaces. I suspect that I must have been aged five or younger.

All my life, I have regarded it as normal for shoelaces to gradually loosen during the day and to need tightening even if they have not become undone completely. I never thought about why they loosen.

By chance, a couple of years ago, I watched a short video on YouTube whose title was something like “All your life, you have tied your shoelaces incorrectly.” I didn't bookmark it and when I tried to find it again while writing this page, I failed.

I have found an even clearer video on the same point which you can watch below. (The second part of this video is about lacing trainers, which I am not commenting on.)

Tying my shoelaces the new way felt very strange at first because for nearly 70 years my fingers had tied shoelaces one way. It was a conditioned habit. Gradually, I got used to it and now tie my shoelaces this new way by reflex.

Since I started tying my shoelaces the new way, they never loosen, and they never become undone. That saves me one or two minutes most days. Over the years, these time savings add up.

Video

Why it works

Once you think about it, it is obvious. Although the video does not use the terminology, the standard way that we are taught to tie shoelaces produces a granny knot, illustrated below.

If you know anything about knots, you know that granny knots gradually work loose.

The new way of tying shoelaces produces a reef knot, illustrated below.

Equally, I have always known that reef knots are secure. When I tie string and want to ensure that the knot will not loosen, I tie a reef knot.

For nearly 70 years, I had never thought of applying this knowledge to shoelaces or thought about how to generate a reef knot when tying my shoelaces. The diagram below shows the end result with shoelaces, since you unfasten them in the normal way by pulling the loose ends.

The wider point about behaviours that contribute to success

I often speak to secondary school pupils for the charity Speakers for Schools. The speaking, and even more so responding to the pupils’ questions, has led me to reflect on why my life has been relatively successful compared to most other people. (If you have been a partner in PwC, you cannot deny that you have been relatively successful.)

All my life, I have been open to change.

That applies whether the impetus for change came from an unsolicited source (such as seeing a YouTube video at random) or was been something that I sought out (learning how to do sound editing because I wanted to create the self-advancing PowerPoint presentation with sound that is on my page "Lecture: The Quran recognises religious freedom").

While you would expect everyone to be open to change, that is not true. I know many people who are not interested in changing. They tend not to be successful.

Every single one of the pages in the “Success Tips” segment of this website is about doing something that is probably different to what you have done before.