As you contemplate many of the changes described in this book, you will probably be able to come up with reasons why a particular technique will not work for you. The point, however, is not to see how many objections or excuses you can dredge up. The point is, instead, to find the necessary changes you need to make to become a computer athlete.

There are different strokes for different folks—while some of these changes, like using a foot pedal, may be too extreme for you, they will work for other people. In fact, the worst thing anyone can do is to make fun of people who use foot pedals, put their keyboard on their lap, or use some other unconventional technique to help themselves avoid computer-related pain. For example, when I worked at Microsoft as an intern, my mentor told a senior manager of Microsoft Office that I used Dvorak and a foot pedal. The manager was very surprised and commented, “Whoa, freak.” Fortunately, I was used to people’s initially negative reactions to my foot pedal or my explanation of the computer athlete idea. On the other hand, many other people have responded very positively to my techniques, including physicians, chiropractors, entrepreneurs, computer programmers, and especially the CEO and CTO of the company I worked for while writing this book.

So that you can meet people’s skepticism with confidence, I will walk through several common objections raised about the techniques described in this book. Most objections are related to equipment and usage; stress management, strength and conditioning, nutrition, and self-awareness and self-care are not easily observable when you are at work.

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