Going left handed if you are right handed can be an interesting and intelligent challenge. If you succeed, you will become ambidextrous (a person who can use both hands equally naturally), like many historical figures such as Einstein, Michelangelo, Harry Kahne, Tesla, da Vinci, Fleming and Benjamin Franklin. Being ambidextrous gives you many benefits. For example, you will have an advantage at billiards because you will be able to hit with both hands, and you will not be uncomfortable with shots that are normally difficult for left- or right-handers; you will have an advantage in tennis because in emergency situations you can play a forehand with the left. Learning to use your left hand takes time and patience, but it's doable with commitment and an open mind!
Steps
Part 1 of 2: Practice writing
Step 1. Practice every day with your left hand
You won't be able to use your left hand in a day - this process can take months or even years. So if you want to learn how to use your left hand, you will need to practice every day.
- Set aside time each day to practice writing with your left hand. It won't take long; even 15 minutes a day will help you improve at a satisfying pace.
- In fact, it's best not to practice for too long, as you'll likely just get frustrated and give up on your intent.
- Doing a little practice every day is the best way to progress.
- Practice drawing letters in the air. Try this exercise with your right hand first, then switch to the left imitating the movements. Move on to paper proofs later; you will have to practice a lot to prepare your muscles.
Step 2. Keep your hand in the correct position
When you are training to write with your left hand, it is important to hold the pencil or pen comfortably.
- Many people have a tendency to hold the pen too tightly, using their hand as a claw. However, this creates tension in the hand, and will cause you to tire and suffer from cramps. If that happens, you won't be able to write well.
- Keep your hand loose and relaxed, using the same gestures you use with your right hand. Make a conscious effort to relax your hand every few minutes as you write.
- The materials you use to write are very important for the convenience of writing with your left hand. Use high-quality lined paper and a good pen with fluid ink.
- Tilt the paper to work on it at an angle of 30-45 degrees to the right. Writing at this angle should feel more natural to you.
Step 3. Test the alphabet
Start by writing the alphabet with your left hand, in lowercase and uppercase letters. Do this slowly and carefully, focusing on the perfection of each letter. Accuracy is more important than speed for now.
- As a touchstone, you should also write the alphabet with your right hand. This way you can try to perfectly imitate the letters written with your right hand.
- Don't throw away the test pages, but keep them in a folder. When you get frustrated and tempted to quit, you can look at these sheets again and see your progress. You should renew the motivation to continue.
Step 4. Practice writing sentences
When you are tired of writing the alphabet, you can start writing sentences.
- Start with something as simple as "I'm writing this sentence with my left hand." Remember to go slow and focus on accuracy and not efficiency.
- Try to write the phrase "Few sforzan that stem of vine" over and over again. It is a pangram and as such contains all the letters of the alphabet, it is great for practicing.
- Other phrases that contain all the letters are: "Lunch of water makes crooked faces" and "That crooked fez covers the front".
Step 5. Use a book to learn to write
When children learn to write for the first time, they use educational books where they can trace the letters on top of the dotted lines. This helps them control hand movements and improve accuracy.
- When you learn to write with your left hand, you are basically teaching your hand and brain to write again, so using one of these books isn't a bad idea.
- You can also use copies of other phrases to make sure the letters you write have the correct proportions.
Step 6. Try writing backwards
In the Italian language, and in many other languages of the world, the writing is from left to right.
- This is natural writing for right-handers. It also helps to avoid smearing the ink by moving your hand across the page.
- For left-handed people, however, this movement is often unnatural and can lead to ink smudging. For these reasons, left-handed people often feel more comfortable writing backwards.
- In fact, the famous artist Leonardo da Vinci was left-handed and often wrote notes and letters in reverse. They could only be deciphered by holding the card in front of the mirror and reading its reflection.
- Practice writing backwards with your left hand - you might be surprised at how easy it is. Remember to write from right to left. You'll also need to write the letters backwards for true backwards writing!
Step 7. Draw
Even if your goal is to write with your left hand, you can also benefit from drawing. You will improve your hand control and strength.
- Start with something simple, such as drawing simple figures like circles, squares and triangles. Then move on to the objects around you, such as trees, lamps and chairs, then if you feel particularly confident in yourself, people and animals.
- You can try to practice drawing the upside down (inverted) subjects with your left hand. This will allow you not only to improve your writing skills, but it is also a great brain exercise that will encourage creative thinking!
- Many great artists, such as Michelangelo, da Vinci, and Sir Edwin Henry Landseer were ambidextrous. This allowed them to switch from hand to hand while drawing if their hand got tired or if they had to work at a particular angle. Landseer was famous for being able to draw with both hands at the same time.
Step 8. Have patience
As mentioned earlier, learning to write with your left hand is a process that takes time and dedication. You will need to be patient and avoid giving up too easily.
- Remember that it took years to learn to write with the right hand as a child, and while it won't take that long to learn to write with the left hand (some of the skills are transferable) the learning process will take time.
- Don't worry about speed initially; keep practicing with as much control and precision as possible and you will become faster and more confident.
- Keep reminding yourself what an impressive and useful ability it is to be able to write with both hands. Staying motivated is the biggest challenge you will face in becoming left handed.
Part 2 of 2: Strength Training
Step 1. Do everything with your left hand
Skills have been automatically transferred from right to left hand in your life, so it won't be that hard to start doing left handed things. Since skills somehow also transfer from one activity to another, you will gain the ability to do something with your left hand faster if you do everything with that hand. Be patient. It is believed that the older you are, the harder it is to become left-handed or right-handed, but that's not true. The older you are, the more time it takes your left hand to reach the same skill level as your right, but the less time it takes to achieve an absolute amount of dexterity. The most important and simple thing you can do to strengthen your left hand is to use it to complete all the actions and activities for which you normally use your right hand.
- Make an effort to brush your teeth with your left hand. You will also be able to comb your hair, drink a cup of coffee, spread jam on bread and open doors with your left hand, as well as any other daily activities that come to mind.
- Also try throwing darts (in a safe environment), playing pool, or throwing and receiving a baseball with your left hand.
- If you have trouble remembering to use your left hand, and keep using your right by mistake, try tying the fingers of your right hand together. This will prevent you from using it and will force you to use your left hand.
Step 2. Lift the weights with your left hand
One of the best ways to strengthen your left hand and arm, and correct imbalances in strength between the dominant and non-dominant side, is by lifting weights.
- Hold a dumbbell in your left hand and do exercises like bicep curls, kickbacks, hammer curls, and dumbbell lifts.
- Start with light weights, then move on to heavier ones as you get stronger.
Step 3. Learn to become a juggler
Learning to juggle with three and then four balls is a great way to strengthen your left arm and hand, while also letting you learn something to show off at parties!
Step 4. Practice bouncing a ball
A great exercise to improve ambidextrousness and strengthen your non-dominant hand is to take two ping pong rackets and two balls and bounce them simultaneously with both hands.
- Once you have mastered this skill, you can try using two smaller rackets or even two hammers.
- In addition to improving the use of the left hand, it is a fantastic exercise for the whole brain!
Step 5. Choose a musical instrument
Many people who play instruments (which require the use of both hands) are already somewhat ambidextrous.
As a result, learning to play a musical instrument - such as the piano or flute - and practicing every day will help strengthen your left hand
Step 6. Go swimming
Swimming is another ambidextrous activity, and has been proven to help balance the hemispheres of the brain, allowing you to use your non-dominant hand more smoothly.
Go to the pool and do a few laps to strengthen the left side of the body and get a great cardiovascular workout
Step 7. Wash the dishes with your left hand
Always washing dishes with your left hand is a safe and easy way to improve the dexterity of your non-dominant hand. This can be fun and beneficial in the long run as well as getting you clean dishes.
Step 8. Start practicing more complex motor activities such as mirror writing, playing pool, and eviscerating shrimp now that you have practiced the simpler activities
- It will take many years for you to become as proficient with the left hand as with the right, but probably less than two months to reach a comparable level of skill. When you are skilled enough to be able to do the activity with your left hand, you will not have to be eager to improve further with that hand just because you are even more skilled with the right hand. You can skip steps 2-7 if you want to become ambidextrous faster and can endure the boredom of having to perform tasks very slowly in the beginning.
Step 9. Remember to always use your left hand
Using your right hand is so natural to your brain that you will do it automatically, without thinking. This can be a problem when trying to become left handed. To overcome this problem, try to invent a system to remember to always use the left.
- For example, write the word "left" on the back of your left hand and "right" on the right hand. This way you will have a visual reminder every time you pick up a pen or complete another task.
- You could also try wearing the watch on the right wrist and not the left. This will greatly help your subconscious to understand that you are trying to change sides.
- Another thing you can do is put stickers on your phone, fridge and doorknobs. These cards will remind you to use your left hand whenever you do something.
Advice
- Be patient! Take your time to achieve your goal of becoming left handed.
- As you learn to write, adjust your posture to use your left hand.
- As you begin to use your left hand more, avoid using your right as much as possible.
- Use your left hand in normal daily actions such as having breakfast or playing ball.
- Use your right eye when writing with your left hand.
- Left-handed people often do some things differently than right-handed ones. For example, they have a tendency to tilt their heads to the left.
Warnings
- As mentioned in the advice be aware that it will take some time to achieve the desired result, do not be impatient.
- Do not drive in nails with your left hand until you have become ambidextrous.
- Don't try to cut a cucumber into very fine slices with your left hand using your knuckles as a guide, and especially don't try to do it quickly unless you are fully ambidextrous, or you will risk cutting yourself.
- This process of change may initially confuse you so take your time.
