If this sounds interesting, make sure to check out Spacemacs[0], which uses a similar principle (tapping a leader key - space), but transforms the editing experience in a much more radical way (evil-mode and such).

I've used Spacemacs for a while, and was quite happy with it, but I wanted a more lightweight editor for the terminal, something I can use on servers and embedded devices without installing an entire Emacs and a zillion packages. So my Emacs setup is much more standard nowadays, and I use mg[1] otherwise.

[0]: https://www.spacemacs.org/

[1]: https://man.openbsd.org/mg

https://github.com/doomemacs/doomemacs

Also, don’t use pinky for controls —— home row mods all the way.