How to Write With Your Left Hand (if

Right Handed)
parts
1 Writing Practice
2 Retraining Your Brain
3 Strengthening Your Left Hand

Have you always wanted to be a leftie? Even if you're naturally right-handed, you can actually
learn to write with your left hand, and we'll show you how! Try the tips below, and soon
you'll be writing left-handed no problem.

Part 1

Writing Practice

Understand the complexities of writing with your left hand. Understand that to
control your non-dominant hand, your brain will have to form new neural connections.
[1]

o This is not a fast or easy process, so you will need to be prepared to put in
many hours of practice if you plan on becoming ambidextrous.
o Developing these motor skills will probably give you a whole new appreciation
of what babies’ lives are like.

Start slow. Begin printing the alphabet in both capital and lowercase letters, then
move on to sentences. When printing becomes comfortable, you can start practicing
your cursive.

o If your writing is very messy in the beginning, start by tracing large text out of
a book or magazine. It may also help to buy children’s paper, which has widely
spaced lines for large printing and dotted center lines to control the letter
proportions.
o Another good thing to do is to observe the way left-handers write or just ask
them for some tips.

Practice writing every letter. Write "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"
or "Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs" or even "The five boxing wizards jump
quickly" over and over to improve left-hand neatness. These sentences are good
because they use every single letter in the English alphabet.
 o You should also practice writing the most common words in your language
and your name, as this will teach your muscles common letter combinations.
Lists of the most common words in each language can be found on Wikipedia.
o Be prepared for the fact that your left arm and hand muscles will be quite sore
after writing practice. This is because you are training certain muscles for the
very first time.

Draw basic shapes. Drawing basic shapes will help to strengthen your left hand and
give you more control over the pen or pencil.

o Stick people, square houses with rectangular chimneys, round-headed cats with
triangular ears…the goal here is to become more dexterous, not to produce a
Rembrandt.
o Try coloring them in as well to make you feel more comfortable with your left
hand.
o Also, try to draw straight lines from left to right using your left hand. It will
teach you to push, not pull.

Learn mirror script. For left-handers, it is easier to pull the pen to the left than to
push it to the right. Therefore, writing backward with your left hand is easier than
writing forwards.[2]

o You can just write backward (from right to left) or you can practice mirror
script, where the letters themselves have flipped around.
o Writing backward is also helpful because you will not smear the ink or tear the
page when you write with a pen—however, it will not be that easy for others to
read, so try to save it for your diary (just like Leonardo da Vinci!)

Use the right kind of pens. Liquid ink pens and especially gel pens are worth trying,
as they require less pressure and strength when writing.

o This makes writing more comfortable and leaves your hand less likely to
cramp up at the end of your practice session.
o Be sure to use quick-drying ink though, or the text may get smudged as your
left-hand moves across the page.

Be realistic. Don't expect results in just one day. It takes lots of time to get achieve
neat, legible writing with your non-dominant hand.

Part 2

Retraining Your Brain

 1

Resist the urge to lead with your right side. You may be surprised to discover how
deeply ingrained this habit is—both physically and mentally. Breaking it will help
your brain cope with attempting more involved tasks down the road.

o If you open doors with your right hand by default, start opening them with
your left.
o If you usually take the first step on a staircase with your right foot, do it with
the left.
o Keep working at it until leading with your left feels natural and easy.

Do simple, everyday tasks with your left hand. Good activities to start with include:

o Eating your food (especially using a spoon).

o Blowing your nose.
o Scrubbing dishes.
o Brushing your teeth.
o Dialing phone number and writing SMS on a cell phone.

Practice more precise movements. Now that your left hand is comfortable with
sloppier movements like scrubbing and brushing, begin refining your hand-eye
coordination.

o Tracing is a great place to start: having a defined edge to work with will help
force your eye, which is visually tracing the outline, and your left hand, which
is physically tracing it, to work in sync.
o Trace your right hand onto a piece of paper. Pushing the pencil against 3-D
contours will help guide the left hand.
o Graduate to tracing 2-D images. You can think of this as taking down the
gutter guards at the bowling alley.

Tie up your right hand. The hardest thing is to remember to use your non-dominant
hand consistently during the day, so you need a good way to remind you not to use
your dominant hand.

o The thumb is used in almost every situation you use your dominant hand. Not
being able to move it freely is an excellent way to make you aware of all the
times you are using it—so try tying your right thumb to your right index finger
with a piece of string.
o You could also try wearing a glove on your right hand or putting your right
hand in your pocket or behind your back.

Part 3
Strengthening Your Left Hand

Practice throwing a ball. Throwing and catching a ball with your left hand is a fun
way to strengthen your left hand while also improving your hand-eye coordination.
Simply squeezing the ball firmly in your hand will also help to strengthen the fingers.

Play racket games. Playing tennis, squash or badminton while holding the racket in
your left hand is a great way to strengthen the hand, which will give you greater
control when writing.

Lift weights. Use a small 5-pound (or less) weight and lift it with your left hand. You
can also try to exercise each finger individually by lifting a very small weight with
each finger of your left hand.

Use your left hand to operate the controls on your computer. Switch the controls
on your mouse if you want, but you can still use your mouse with your left hand with
the default controls. Also, try pressing the spacebar with your left hand. It's harder
than you think!