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    Relearn How To Type (My Process and Progress)

    I don't know how to type correctly. I chicken peck. Look at this:

    chicken peck typing

    (this gif is like 5 years old so don't judge my laptop 😂)

    When I was young I learned to type pretty well just using two fingers, so I just ran with it.

    I currently type between 60 and 70 WPM (words per minute), so that's above average, but I want to get to 100 WPM. To accomplish this I must learn to type properly as my hands and fingers currently move at their maximum speed.

    Fast forward a few months into this re-learning process and I'm typing the "right way" now:

    relearn typing neville loop
     
    (Me typing in the proper way 1+ month into this experiment).

     

    Current Progress Words Per Minute:

    My chicken pecking typing speed was always between 60-70 WPM. Here's my current progress starting from scratch by re-learning to type the proper way:

    • Feb 3: 20 WPM (pleased with that number)!
    • Feb 4: 25 WPM
    • Feb 5: 25 WPM
    • Feb 6: 30 WPM
    • Feb 7: 32 WPM
    • Feb 8: 25 WPM
    • Feb 9: 30 WPM
    • Feb 10: 29 WPM
    • Feb 11: 29 WPM
    • Feb 12: 30 WPM
    • Feb 13: 25 WPM
    • Feb 14: 30 WPM
    • Feb 15: 30 WPM
    • Feb 16: 32 WPM (KeyBr score 54)
    • Feb 17: 29 WPM
    • Feb 18: 31 WPM
    • Feb 19: 30 WPM
    • Feb 20: 30 WPM
    • Feb 21: 31 WPM
    • Feb 22: 33 WPM
    • Feb 23: 33 WPM
    • Feb 24: 35 WPM
    • Feb 25: 39 WPM
    • Feb 26: - WPM
    • Feb 27: - WPM
    • Feb 28: - WPM
    • Feb 29: - WPM
    • Mar 1: - WPM
    • Mar 2: - WPM
    • Mar 3: 34 WPM
    • Mar 4: 40 WPM (woot!)
    • Mar 5: 35 WPM
    • Mar 6: 34 WPM
    • Mar 7: 33 WPM
    • Mar 8: - WPM
    • Mar 9: - 38 WPM
    • Mar 10: - WPM
    • Mar 11: - WPM
    • Mar 12: 37 WPM
    • Mar 13: 38 WPM
    • Mar 14: 38 WPM
    • Mar 15: 38 WPM
    • Mar 16: 39 WPM (Full cold turkey switch day)
    • Mar 17: 35 WPM
    • Mar 18: 29 WPM
    • Mar 19: 39 WPM
    • Mar 20: 29 WPM
    • Mar 21: 33 WPM
    • Mar 22: - WPM
    • Mar 23: 33 WPM
    • Mar 24: - WPM
    • Mar 25: 29 WPM
    • Mar 26: 26 WPM
    • Mar 27: 29 WPM
    • Mar 28: - WPM
    • Mar 29: 46 WPM
    • (Over 40 finally nearly 2 months later)!
    • Mar 30: 40 WPM
    • Mar 31: - WPM
    • Apr 1: 35 WPM
    • Apr 2: - WPM
    • Apr 3: - WPM
    • Apr 4: 32 WPM
    • Apr 27: 44 WPM

     

    Is It Worth Re-Learning To Type Properly?

    I already type above average, but if increase my speed from 60 WPM to 100 WPM, that'a 60% increase in speed.

    In fact when I took a typing test, my "Chicken Peck" method got me a "Top 25%" award!

    chicken-peck-vs-right-way-typing.png

    However to get beyond 100 WPM, and save my future fingers from a lot of unnecessary strain, I need to learn to type correctly.

    I put out a request for a typing tutor on Facebook, and my good friend Noah wanted to be the tutor. He currently types at around 110 WPM so he's probably a good person to learn from.

    This is the curriculum he made:

     

    The Process (as made by Noah):

    • 15 Minutes Per Day: RataType (teaches proper way to hit each key).

    • 4 Minutes Per Day: KeyBr (shows which keys you hit wrong).

    • 1 Minute Per Day: 10FastFingers (to test speed each day).

    That's it!

    I made an account on each of these websites, and each one tracks your daily progress.

     

    RataType (15 min per day):

    ratatype-screenshot.jpg

    This has been an amazingly helpful site that shows me which finger to use for each letter.

    It then makes you practice the ultra-basic moves over-and-over.

    It's cool because it drills each key location into your head without having to look or even think about it.

     

    KeyBr (4 min per day):

    keybr-screenshot.jpg

    This site is interesting because it gives you keyboard drills, then breaks down the keys you have the most trouble with.

    As you do more and more drills each day, it charts your progress and problem areas:

    typing-speed-charts.png

    It's really neat to see this kind of detailed data so you know precisely where your writing is getting slowed down.

     

    10FastFingers (1 min per day):

    10fastfinges-screenshot.jpg

    This is just a basic typing speed test you can do in exactly 1 minute.

     

    Keyboard Cover For Touch Typing:

    About 5 days into this process I realized I constantly was peeking at the keyboard to get my bearings. I learned a while ago when learning to play piano it's best to quit this habit early and force yourself to learn without looking.

    So I bought this nifty keyboard cover for touch typing that blacks out all the keys, so my keyboard looks like this:

    keyboard-cover-for-touch-typing.jpg

    This has helped break my habit of looking at the keys while typing.

     

    Sincerely,

    Neville Medhora - Typing this super slow

     

    P.S. If you want to watch this post in video format it's right here:

    P.P.S. If you have any typing tips for me feel free to comment below!


    User Feedback

    Recommended Comments



    Guest Neville Medhora

    Posted

    Bahaha, hope it doesn't stay down too long I need to practice :)
    Link to comment
    Guest Jonathan Frost

    Posted

    Hi Neville,

     

    Great post. I considered investing the time in learning to type faster. It should have a positive return on investment.

     

    But in the mean time, I am using Google "talk to type"

    Link to comment
    This is awesome. Will change your life. 2 tips. Are you musical? Having a rhythm in your head as you type is super helpful. Typing to a waltz rhythm or the beat of a favourite tune can set you up for getting closer to having an automated process. And secondly, when you have got there with automated fingers, try talking to someone while typing something else. Tells you you can do it, while also freaking people out. And is fun
    Link to comment
    I think I use three fingers in a way that kinda predicts where my fingers will need to go next (e.g. “fast” would be index, ring, middle, index). It works very well for me; I don’t really believe the pinky finger is fit for anything except maybe shift and ctrl. It’s a small, sad finger, you know? The only drawback is some software (like Vim, the keyboard-centric text editor) benefits from having your fingers on home row. I don’t really like doing things the way people tell me I should do them though. I have to invent my own way to do stuff just for the sake of not listening to people.
    Link to comment

    Congrats on wanting to "do it right" and increase your speed. Have you ever tried speech recognition? I use Dragon pretty much all the time and I've tested out at around 165-175 wpm. NOTE: I've used Dragon for years, so YMMV.

     

    You're got a solid voice so I think it would work pretty well for you.

     

    Microsoft's and Google's speech recognition is Ok, but Dragon is better. At least, for now until they get bought out by Google or Microsoft.

    Link to comment
    Guest Hancock

    Posted

    Loved this post! I had to relearn typing myself a few years back because I realized I was hitting a limit hunting and pecking. Thank you for sharing!
    Link to comment
    Guest CeCe Beauchamp

    Posted

    Thanks for the tips! I do marketing for a living, and am a decent typist, but not fantastic ( I have a bad habit of peeking.). These tools should be helpful to up my speed. It is interesting though, the quality of my writing is much better if I hand write the content first, or at least hand outline it. Uses a different part of my brain. :-)
    Link to comment
    Guest Neville Medhora

    Posted

    Hey Ben, I've never heard that tip before, very interesting! I do play guitar and piano so I'm familiar, and am trying it right now as I type this :)
    Link to comment
    Guest Neville Medhora

    Posted

    Bahaha, I agree, I DO like doing things my own way, but sometimes the reason everyone does something a specific way is because there's a major benefit to doing it.

     

    I've completely capped out at 70 WPM, and it would be extremely hard to surpass that using only two fingers...so back to the normal way I guess :-/

    Link to comment
    Guest Neville Medhora

    Posted

    Hey Andre! We recently did a post on voice typing options here:

    https://copywritingcourse.com/how-to-type-using-your-voice/

     

    ...and I’ve definitely been using the Google Docs voice typing feature much more!

    google

     

    I have used speech to voice software a lot in the past, the only problem is the words that come out of my mouth are often very different than the one's I type.

     

    Also if I'm not in my own private office and working elsewhere, it gets weird to dictate words in public.

     

    So I do use it, but only part of the time, and generally when I'm brainstorming copy.

    Link to comment
    Guest Neville Medhora

    Posted

    Ughh, so you know what I mean eh? My wrists and fingers literally cannot move any faster.

     

    Also it's kind of hilarious to see how furiously I have to type just to keep up with someone with proper typing skills 😂

    typing cat

    Link to comment
    Guest Neville Medhora

    Posted

    Thank you sensei! Hit 30 WPM typing the real way today 😏
    Link to comment
    When you first start you’ll be focusing on each letter.  As you get passed learning the motions, you want to think in terms of typing entire words rather than the letters in those words.
    Link to comment
    Guest Neville Medhora

    Posted

    Oh yeah, anytime writing becomes more "costly" (in time or effort), you will choose your words far better.

     

    This is often why old-timey books sound very different than ones written on a computer!

    Link to comment
    Guest Neville Medhora

    Posted

    Oh good point Allen. I'm definitely still in the letter-by-letter phase, but certain letter groupings I can start to see my brain clustering them together, and hitting 3+ keys in a row without thinking about it.
    Link to comment

    I'm a touch-typist writer-by-trade with a testing speed of 100 WPM, and how I learned to type so quickly without looking at the keyboard lies entirely in the internet itself: chat. When I was a kid, my parents got me and my siblings a typing program, but it was boring. It taught me the finger positions, but I kinda quit after that, since why type a gazillion vowels in a row when I could spend my computer time on forums or in Gmail chat with my friends? But many of my friends were older and already swift typists, so to keep up with them I had to get faster. Group-chatting real-time (and trying to say what I wanted before the conversation moved on!) increased my speed and also familiarized me with the keyboard so much that I can now type without looking at the keyboard even while someone is talking to me, and I still maintain high accuracy and high WPM.

     

    That all boils down to practice. Fun, relevant practice. Texting and video-chat are the go-to nowadays, but see if any of your friends are up for some good old-fashioned chat, or drop into an interesting IRC. Require yourself to capitalize and punctuate properly, too, to get those pinkies familiar with Shift.

    Link to comment
    Guest Neville Medhora

    Posted

    Thanks for the advice Cacia! I'm definitely on the keyboard enough to get practice (Slack, Gmail, writing blog posts, trolling friends on social media etc).

     

    My fingers can't even keep up with this chicken pecking method, so hopefully learning the proper way to type without too much travel of the fingers will get me to your level....100 WPM is the goal!

    Link to comment
    Guest Priscilla

    Posted

    I see other people in the comments are also fast typers. :) I learned to type fast at first because I wanted to be better than my siblings, who at the time were learning for school, and then I solidified my skills by bulk typing of things that I found interesting.

     

    I love what one of the comments said about words. Originally you'll think of typing by each letter, but eventually you will think of it by words, and your fingers will automatically type the word without you thinking about it. Good luck with your typing, I hope you make great progress! :)

    Link to comment
    Guest Injad Ansari

    Posted

    I was thinking about increasing my typing speed, finally got the great tips.

     

    Thank you Neville Medhora sir.

    Link to comment
    So yeah you can use the "speech"button on your Phone for "writing"email even your blog post. This will save a lot of time!
    Link to comment



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