Do Things the 'Inefficient' Way

After losing his right arm in World War II, Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii taught himself to do everything left-handed. Both the basics and tasks requiring remarkable precision.

In Congress, where many senators delegated "minor" work to staff, Inouye insisted on personally reading every constituent letter, even spending hours mastering left-handed writing to send personal responses. When asked why he didn't use form letters like his colleagues, he would say, "Each letter represents a person who took the time to reach out. How can I give them less than my best?"

He applied this same focused presence to tasks others considered beneath a senior senator, from organizing his own filing system to making his own coffee. He believed that excellence wasn't related to the task's importance. To him, excellence meant bringing your full attention to whatever was in front of you.