Left-hand Mousing

Here's a little productivity hack for you monkeys. It's probably been raised on WSO before but wth. A bit of background - I work as an analyst at a boutique shop in Zurich. The vast vast majority of my waking hours are spent in front of a computer cranking models and reports (oh joy!). As much as I like to use keyboard shortcuts wherever possible, there are some things you just cannot do mouse-less. After a few busy weeks I started to get a bit of carpal tunnel or something in my right wrist from using my mouse, so much that it started to impede my workouts. I would even notice it when opening doors.

So I decided to switch over to left-hand mousing to let the right wrist heal. At first it felt absolutely retarded, and it was frustrating because it would take me 3x longer to do anything. But after about a week I started to get used to it to the point where I wasn't really slowed down by it. Now after 3 months of LHM I'm actually moving the cursor faster and more accurately with my left than with my right. But the greatest discovery was that LHM is 10x better for working with excel because you can always keep your right hand hovering over the number pad or the arrows on your keyboard. Simply I find it way more efficient.

Now not everyone is going to like this method, but give it a go and tell me what you think. At the very least if you can train those fine motor skills into your left hand you will have the benefit of being able to easily switch if you get an injury or if you're sitting at a lefty's desk. Plus, we all need something to keep us sharp when it gets a little dull at work, left?

21 Comments
 

I like this..... it'll make my day go by faster because it will take me twice as long to do anything.

Frank Sinatra - "Alcohol may be man's worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy."
 

Cool, glad this worked out. I'm trying it now and it does feel retarded but I have the time. Fuggit, let's get two mouses going and really blow minds.

Get busy living
 

I also recommend getting one of the Apple magic pads. It puts your hand in a different position than a mouse so it could help and you'll also not get the stranger feel.

When I first tried left hand mousing I think it was harder than trying to use a mouse on an inverted screen.

make it hard to spot the general by working like a soldier
 
Skinnayyy

I also recommend getting one of the Apple magic pads. It puts your hand in a different position than a mouse so it could help and you'll also not get the stranger feel.

When I first tried left hand mousing I think it was harder than trying to use a mouse on an inverted screen.

Who doesn't want the Stranger feeling?

[quote=patternfinder]Of course, I would just buy in scales. [/quote] See my WSO Blog | my AMA
 

My dad is left handed. Growing up I used to use the mouse on the left side all the time. Little did I know that I was building a valuable skill set for my career.

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We have a senior guy who is left handed but uses his mouse on the right because he said back in the 80/90's when he first started using computers, he learned on his right. Bizarre

 

I switched over to a trackball a few years back. Really helps the wrist and since its wireless, you can move it around so your arm/shoulder doesn't get fatigued

 
Blueapple

I switched over to a trackball a few years back. Really helps the wrist and since its wireless, you can move it around so your arm/shoulder doesn't get fatigued

not sure how trackball is supposed to be - how does that work w/ gaming and such? would be weird i bet...

speed boost blaze
 

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