Left-Handed In A Right-Handed World
October 15th, 2009
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We all know we live in a right-handed world. Every day, we use countless things that were designed for right-handers: refrigerators, microwaves, can openers, coffee mugs, corkscrews, notebooks, phones, scissors, cameras, and so on.
This arrangement creates two kinds of people: those who use everything the intended way, and those who have to figure everything out. Of course this affects the way we look at appliances, but in a bigger sense, can it affect the way we look at the world?
In David Wolman’s book A Left Hand Turn Around the World: Chasing the Mystery and Meaning of All Things Southpaw
“Lefties can never accept the world as it is presented to them, always reconfiguring spatial arrangements, implements, and the like from right-oriented to left-oriented. My guess? The same thing happens conceptually, and lefties are often re-imaging ideas and concepts because of their proclivity not to take things at face value.”
Ask a right-hander how they write, and they’ll just show you. Ask a left-hander how they write, and there’s a good chance they’ll say “Well, I can do it this way, or maybe this way, or sometimes this way…”
Because they can’t just accept what’s presented to them, they’re forced to figure out their own way, and this mentality may extend beyond figuring out how to use a right-handed guitar or field hockey stick.
Which way is better? Well, there are obvious benefits to doing things the direct and efficient way. But if you get in the habit of doing everything on autopilot, you might get lazy and miss out on what can be gained from a novel approach.
On the other hand, there are obvious benefits to working out alternative solutions to problems. But if you insist on bypassing the standard route every time, you can get really burned out from overcomplicating things.
There’s room for both approaches: following a tried and proven path, as well as forging your own. And that’s true regardless of which hand you use.
For more stuff for lefties and righties alike, check out my ebooks Ambidextrous (for right-handers) and Ambisinistrous (for left-handers).
October 16th, 2009 at 12:09 am
As a lefty, I support this idea wholeheartedly…we’re the only ones in the right mind (ha!),
October 16th, 2009 at 2:41 am
Greetings Hunter,
Being a lefty I can appreciate this post. Nothing like explaining to folks that you need sit on the outside of the table because your “wandering elbow” might knock their drinks in their laps.
Or people looking at you in a puzzled way because you’re writing in a spiral notebook upside down because the spiral is in the way if you use it right side up. The joys of being a lefty.
October 16th, 2009 at 6:30 am
I’m left-handed and my boss is left-handed, and he’s actually hired three more lefties for our 20-person IT team, so we have nearly a whole left-handed side of the table when we go out. Lefties are cool, no doubt about it.
As for the innovation/adaption thing – yes – it is great to have that spark of innovation, but it’s also good to know when to just take things as they are or maybe improve incrementally. A balance is something I still seek.
October 16th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
I am a right handed person that knows lots and lots of left handers I love learning from them – they have so much to show me!
October 17th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
A British study showed that left handed people score higher on IQ tests. Most of the left handed people I know seem to be a lot more creative also. I play basketball and I’ve never met a left handed player that cannot shoot!
You guys have so much going for you, I guess making everything for righties is our way of compensating
Great post
October 18th, 2009 at 8:56 am
@Ralph You are a gentleman and a scholar and one of the most awesome righties around!
October 19th, 2009 at 6:18 am
Thanks cb!
October 20th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
I had a left-handed boyfriend who taught himself to play guitar. He just got a regular guitar, flipped it, and taught himself the chords.
Maybe a lot of people do that; I don’t know (not playing the guitar myself). But it is a testament to the resourcefulness, creativty and adaptive spirit of the lefty!
Rock on, left handed friends!
May 12th, 2010 at 9:46 am
im mixed left handed although i used to do EVERYTHING like a lefty i now do a bit right handed too, but my mum if FULLY left handed and i enjoy being different
May 30th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
it is sooooooooooooooooo hard being left handed just wait my fellow lefties its gonna b a left handed world and we will b accepted