You're absolutely correct. I had the opposite problem to the article author: in high school, my handwriting was neater than it needed to be, but too slow. So I

You're absolutely correct. I had the opposite problem to the article author: in high school, my handwriting was neater than it needed to be, but too slow. So I made a conscious effort to mimic one of my teachers, whose handwriting had a good balance of legibility and quickness. I noticed that she ligatured a lot -- changing the form of one letter so it would flow smoothly into the next -- and so I tried to do the same. It worked: I was soon able to write quite a lot faster; and it stuck: years later, I still write mostly the same way. A similar change happened in college and graduate school: my science education (see username) required distinguishing a lot of characters most people don't need to distinguish often, like 'ω' and 'w' and 'v', or 'x' and 'X' and 'χ', and between '2' and five different forms of 'z'/'Z' (that one happened during statistical mechanics class...). With just a little bit of conscious effort, I could permanently change how I wrote letters. I didn't even need to explicitly practice: the natural use during note-taking and homework assignments form was plenty sufficient, at least for me. Your nervous system really can reprogram itself! A couple semi-related tips for anyone who wants better handwriting: 1. Just go slower. Your handwriting is probably perfectly legible to others if you allow yourself the time to do so. 2. Realize when it does and doesn't matter. A doctor writing a critical prescription by hand (not that they do that these days) is very different from scribbling on a sheet of scratch paper that you'll throw out as soon as you've figured out what you're doing. 3. Try a fountain pen or felt-tip marker. These require zero pressure to write, just contact. That makes things take a lot less effort, so your muscles can work on shaping the letters instead of pushing a pen. Rollerball pens aren't half bad, but fountain pens are still the gold standard for a reason.