A more poetic take on handwriting is that it looks like, what your voice sounds like. Of course, this is not entirely accurate and should not be taken personally. Many people have great voices, that help them speak very clearly in front of the public, but have crappy handwriting. There are others who believe that handwriting is a reflection of your personality, this sounds like a scam. Because there are so many things a person can be that does not show in one’s handwriting. In the olden times, good handwriting meant you were a respectable person and had class. Since today we use screens for almost everything, writing has become less important. Even in schools, there was a time when handwriting would be judged and graded but even schools are now adapting technology into their systems

While pen and paper are almost outdated, we use them for a lot of things. The written word has great power, and handwriting and calligraphy are considered as forms of art. Writing is easier than typing and is possibly the best way to take down lecture notes. When typing you are still paying a lot of attention to your screen, you might not be listening as well as you thought. Writing comes naturally to a lot of us, and that is why you need to improve it.

Many people want to improve their writing because they are working a job that requires better handwriting; many people improve it for the sake of writing better notes and taking up hobbies like journaling and calligraphy. So whatever the case might be, this is how to improve your handwriting:

Pick your reason

You might want to change your writing for a number of reasons maybe you are insecure about it or have recently been promoted and you feel like you’re under a lot of scrutiny. Whatever the reason might be, writing is an efficient way of noting things, to help you remember things. You might even think you need to improve your handwriting so your hand doesn’t cramp up. The point is there are several reasons to want to improve your handwriting, and there isn’t any right or wrong in this. Knowing the reason is going to help you to stay motivated and consistent throughout your time. It will help you set goals and work towards them; writing is one of those things that require practice more than anything else, so you are going to have to be consistent and true to yourself.

Choose your weapon carefully

If you are really serious about improving your own handwriting, then you have to have the right tools for it. Picking your tools will help you in getting better control. Sometimes the handwriting is really illegible because of the shape or size of the pen, sometimes the pen doesn’t have the right nib and sometimes the pen is too small. In order to know your type, you have to experiment for yourself, see which kinds of pens suit you there is a wide variety available in the market, so you can be sure you can find your fit. Whether you are right-handed or left-handed, you can be sure that there are several options to choose from. So pick a pen that writes the same thickness you want and one that gives you greater control and writes smoothly. This way you can assure that the pen is not the problem, once you perfect your writing technique – you can then use different pens, but for now find your pen and stick to it.

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How to get a grip

Now that you have the tools you need, the next thing you need to work on is how you hold this pen. Different people have different ways of holding pens, some hold them tight, between their index finger and thumb, some hold it with three fingers for better support. The first thing you need to know about how you should be holding a pen is that you need to keep your grip firm but light, don’t squeeze the pen for ink – let it flow out of it. Holding the pen tightly only strains your own fingers and restricts your speed. There is no right way to hold a pen, it should be well balanced, between your fingers is the only requirement, the most common way is to hold it between your index finger and thumb while resting it on the knuckle of your base finger. For lefties, use the special pens they make so that you can get a good grip.

Fix your posture

The nest thing is your posture, how you position the rest of your body so that you can ensure you get maximum speed and neat writing. When the question is how to improve handwriting for adults? The answer usually is that they need a better posture, because by this point in their life they have probably figured the best way to hold a pen, but no one ever thinks that posture can be important too. Your shoulders and spine need to be straight but relaxed, the fingers you are not using to write should be curled, and your hand should be resting lightly on the surface. Make sure that you have plenty of space in your working area to move your arm around. You will never get a beautiful script, if you write hunched down, without the appropriate amount of space. Pro tip – when writing your own paper do not change your alignment or position, when the next line is too low to write on, slide your paper up so that the lines become more accessible.

Put your shoulder into it

You were wondering “how I can make my handwriting beautiful?” – Well, we have got a secret for you. You should use your shoulder and not your fingers when writing to guarantee smooth, beautiful flowing writings. If you only use your wrist and fingers, then you are bound to cramp up by the hand, get bad results and even tire yourself out. Let your shoulders and forearms do the work, instead of your wrist and fingers. Hold the pen in place and then allow the movement to come from your forearm, and shoulder girdle, using the muscles you use when you raise your hand or rotate it. You are going to need a lot of practice to just engage that muscle group, especially if you are never in the habit of it. But it’s going to be worth it, you will have better control, and you will be able to write more efficiently.

Bring out your air pen

One method to engage your muscles is to write in the air, using your arm – held out in front of you, elbow bent, write large swooping letters. Your focus with this exercise should be on moving your shoulder while holding your forearm, wrist, and fingers steady. The muscle groups you should aim to engage with this exercise, are the same ones that should be used while writing – shoulder, arm, chest, and back. Once you are comfortable with the large swooping letters, write a little smaller letters in the air, you may also use a wall, blackboard or whiteboard to help yourself with this activity. According to experts, writing on a vertical surface requires you to use the same muscle groups and hence giving you better control and training your muscles. DO NOT rest your hand on the wall or whichever vertical surface you will be using, because that will shift your working muscles to the wrist and fingers.

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Bring out the big guns

You are finally closer to getting the answer to how I can make my handwriting better? So bear with me here. Now that you are comfortable in writing in the air and your muscles know what to do, it’s time you start writing on paper, but don’t just go into writing small letters, there’s much time to that. You need to start by drawing shapes, big swirls, X’s and O’s. Concentrate on bringing movement from the shoulder, focus on making smooth shapes, you may even use lined paper to bring more consistency to your writing. Once your larger shapes are looking good, go smaller, and then finally to letters and sentences. This stage is important because your body works on muscle memory when it comes to skills as basic as writing and you need all the training to get rid of the bad habit and build a newer, better, stronger habit.

Practice whenever you can.

Practice really does make perfect, and you don’t need me to tell you this. As an adult learning a new skill, you are going to have to practice frequently, you can write your own grocery lists and to-do lists for starters. You can ask your friends if they would like something in writing, you can offer to become your child’s term paper writer. You can even practice by writing general random sentences and words. Whatever you feel like, just remember to be consistent.

Bonus tips

– In order to concentrate on improving your handwriting, you must be clear about why you want to do it, what you want to achieve with that change. Perhaps a prettier aesthetic, perhaps that is more readable, perhaps that ceases to seem like children’s lyrics as an adult.

– Choose a pen, pen or whatever you use that is comfortable for your fingers, is not heavy and has a good touch. To be able to write well you have to learn to do it with a pen that really makes us feel at ease.

– Control the pen firmly but without squeezing, that it is between your fingers lightly but without it slipping or falling out.

– Your posture when writing is also very important to improve handwriting. You should sit with a relaxed and straight posture, resting your hand gently on the table.

– The place where you write should be clear, and it has to be a flat surface that allows you to write with ease and comfort.

– A good trick to improve handwriting is not to move your fingers or wrist when doing so, but to move your shoulder and forearm. This will make you gain fluency and precision, and with practice, you will get it done without you noticing.

– Practice without a pen, with an imaginary one, to take the peace of mind of the posture and the movements that you must perform. Practice everything you can, both without a pen and with it. There is no doubt that the best way to improve something is to practice it.

Remember to combine intellectual exercise with physical exercise. You should exercise outdoors by performing activities that include motor skills such as riding a bike or throwing the ball. In addition to helping to work your muscles, you will get the perfect balance between fine motor and gross motor, which will greatly help him to progress more and more in each activity. Also, remember that if you have more and more problems with writing, you should consult a professional who can help you.

Conclusion

There are people with a practically disgusting writing style that it is an almost impossible mission to understand something of what they have written. Although the letter goes in the personality of each one, the truth is that we should all try to make it at least understandable. Do you want to know how to improve calligraphy? Keep reading and you will see that it is easy to do so. So if you were wondering “can adults change their handwriting?” the answer is yes they can through consistency and developing better habits.