Using Your ‘Unaccustomed’ Hand is Always Work, but Sometimes Worthwhile

By Lisa Hochgraf

How often do you get out of your usual habits and think or take action in new ways? If you’re like most of us, you don’t do this all that often.

During CUES’ all-staff strategic brainstorming session in April, session co-leader Scott Isaksen (the guru who leads The Creative Problem-Solving Group, Buffalo, N.Y.) had us all try two exercises to illustrate our habits–and the idea that we could choose to break with them at times.

You can try these, too.

First, Isaksen asked everyone to sign their names using first their “accustomed” hand (for me, that’s my right) and then their “unaccustomed” hand. Here’s what my result looked like. While both hands were able to do the job, I think it’s pretty clear which hand was more comfortable with this task!

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