The Secret Life of Knots: How to Tie a Shoe Lace so it Doesn't Come Undone

It's all about shoelaces. Shoelaces and grandmothers. Everyone's got shoelaces and everyone's got a grandmother. But some grandmothers are wiser than others about shoelaces There are several million people walking around on the face of the Earth who are self assured, confident, and ready to take on any challenge that comes their way. I'm one of those people now. That's because now I don't worry anymore about my shoelaces coming undone as I walk through life. Knowing your shoelaces won't come undone is like having the weight of the world being lifted off your feet, I mean your shoulders. And that's because I learned the secret of tying my shoelaces correctly, so that they can't come undone during the course of the day. I didn't learn the right way to tie my shoelaces from my grandmother but that's OK. And to think I used to tie my shoelaces the way billions of people still do, the wrong way.

The rest of the world's population lives precariously, not knowing if their next step will be their last. Not knowing if they will fall flat on their face because their shoelaces have come undone. Even if they don't fall down once a day they're never in a good mood. It's because they know it's just a matter of time before they have to stop what they're doing, bend down and re-tie their shoelaces. Their laces do come undone and they do have to bend down to re-tie them, two, four, even five times a day depending on the type of shoelace used.

Here is the wrong way to tie your shoelaces. Entire Left lace crosses over Right lace. Then bring Left lace under the Right lace. Hold end of Left lace in right hand, hold end of Right lace in left hand. Pull both ends at the same time and tighten. Then make your traditional bow to finish up the process of tieing your shoelaces the wrong way. But your bow will not look quite right. One side of your bow is down towards your toes and the other side of the bow is up by your heel. Look at it, it's crooked. And, most importantly your shoelaces will tend to very often come undone because of the way you tied your knot.

Here is the right way to tie your shoelaces. It's called a Granny knot. Entire Right lace crosses over Left lace. Then bring the Right lace under the Left lace. Hold end of Right lace in right hand, hold end of Left lace in left hand. Pull both ends at the same time and tighten. Then make your traditional bow to finish up the process of tieing your shoelaces the correct way. Your bow will look perfect. The bow won't look crooked on your shoe. It will lie perpendicular to the length of your shoe. And, more importantly your shoelaces will not come undone because you tied them in a Granny knot. You tied them the right way. The only difference is that with the Granny knot you always start with the Right lace always crossing over the Left lace

It is called a Granny knot because someone's Grandmother taught them how to tie this simple knot for shoelaces that won't come undone. They were forever grateful and named the knot after Granny.