How to Become Ambidextrous
Don’t you just envy how left-handed people write perfectly? Or if you’re left-handed, chances are you often look at right-handed people, wishing you can write like they do. There’s a simple solution to this: become ambidextrous! Ambidexterity refers to how a person uses his or her left and right hand perfectly, without any difficulty. It’s considered a rare gift, but if you persevere, you can also master this skill. Here are simple tips on how to become ambidextrous.
Start With Everyday Tasks
Even if your goal is to write and draw perfectly with your other hand, it’s wiser if you begin with other smaller, and simpler exercises. After all, writing already involves much practice. You must first try to get used to using your less dominant hand. Keep it always in motion, by doing simple tasks, like talking on the phone, eating, shaking hands or even when you’re simply reaching for the remote. Whenever you feel the urge to use your dominant hand, switch immediately to the other. This requires a lot of conscious effort, but if you keep doing this, you’ll be closer to becoming ambidextrous.
Do this for tasks that make you feel comfortable, and which you can’t mess up.Other examples include putting on your makeup, cutting your food, or using scissors.
Exercise
For your less dominant hand to be as strong as your other one, you must improve it physically. Exercise regularly, such as by lifting weights or stretching. A few daily lifts in the morning, and several more at evening won’t hurt. If you start to feel that this other hand is as strong as the dominant one, you’ll improve balance and encourage regular use.
You can use small dumbbells for this. If you don’t have any, practice with a sealed glass mayo jar. Make sure you don’t drop it, though.
Practice Makes Perfect
If your aim is to improve your less dominant hand’s writing skill, you must go through a lot of practice first. Get some blank sheets of scrap paper, and practice writing on it. First, start with small doodles, and letters and numbers. While you’re doing this, observe how you hold your pen. Try to imitate how your dominant hand’s grip. This can be a bit awkward and tiring at first, but once you get used to it, it’ll be okay.
When you notice that you’re making improvement, try to write whole words and sentences. Angle the letters in the proper direction and opt for a smooth stroke, so your writing won’t be very shaky. One good idea is writing the sentence “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” over and over. Write it in bold, cursive, all caps and small caps. Since this sentence has all the alphabet letters, it’s good practice.
If you really want to improve your writing skill, keeping a free-writing journal is a good idea. It’ll let you practice movements, control, and little details. You can also note your progress.Just make sure the entries you write aren’t important, because you might not be able to read them later.
If it’s drawing or sketching you’re trying to master, begin by drawing very simple shapes. When you’ve already mastered the grip, find simple cartoons that you can copy. Keep repeating the drawing until you see your improvement.
A Few Reminders
If you still can’t resist using your dominant hand, tie it behind your back, so you’ll be forced to work with the other hand.
Never perform or practice with the opposite hand if it’ll put you or others at jeopardy, like handling a sharp knife.
Keep practicing. As long as you keep using the less dominant hand, you’ll master control over it.
Being ambidextrous is not easy, but if you do it successfully, you’ll certainly reap the benefits. Try these tactics, and you’ll be writing, drawing and doing a lot of other tasks with both your hands soon!