Nearly five years ago, I was working in Singapore when one day I decided that I should use my left thumb to type on the space bar. After all, it wasn’t getting much use and there was a spot on the right half of my space bar that was getting worn out and shiny from all the use. Might as well even it out a bit, right? I started to train myself to use my left thumb for the next couple of weeks. At first, it really slowed me down – not only did I have to think about putting my left thumb down, I had to think about stopping my right one from coming down. All of this thinking took time, especially if I went at my normal pace typing, since my right thumb would come pounding down before my left even had a chance to react.

It took about two weeks for it to become a pretty normal adjustment for my body. I was a lot faster and pretty much typed like I had before again. By one month in, it was complete second nature to me and I didn’t even think of it. Five years down the line, I sometimes remember that I started off typing with my right thumb, but it’s pretty much a distant memory to me. I’m trying it now and I find that it slows me down and I have to stop quite a bit more. I also create more typos the moment I try to speed up. Perhaps my next challenge should be to use both thumbs, either at the same time or alternating. I like to force my brain to rewire some habits every now and then, to keep it from automating the same habits. Recently I’ve been trying to brush my teeth with my opposite (in my case, right) hand and it’s been challenging. I just don’t hold the toothbrush as well with my non-dominant hand! Still, switching over could be nice to balance out my sides, so I’ll try it.

Have you ever attempted to switch sides on a habit? You should give it a shot!