Read this if you finally want to type fast.
And also passively improve your punctuation, vocabulary, spelling and grammar all at the same time!
The benefits of typing.
Right now, AI is the most important technology you need to be interacting with. It is quite literally changing the world. However, the one thing that hasn’t changed, and probably won’t change anytime soon, are the tools we use to interact with our computers — our hands on a keyboard.
I once upon a time struggled to type quickly. It was terrible. It limited my willingness to write anything, complete a project, feel satisfied that my writing is as good as I can make it, and overall it felt… limiting. Very, very limiting.
And I know some of you are in the same boat.
Let’s keep using text-based AI as an example: In order to get precisely what you want out of a prompt, be it an AI generated image, or text-based responses like from ChatGPT, you must make sure to explain yourself as though you’re talking verbally to an artist you’re commissioning to do a piece for you. You need to elaborately explain the intricate details, or else your image or text will not come out as desired. As a slow typist, you will probably not end up going that extra mile to ensure there are no spelling or grammar mistakes, or won’t end up giving the necessary time to write up something as complex as that.
But this is just one example. What about when messaging a client, friend, or fellow employee via email? Don’t you hate getting 3-word responses from others with no punctuation, forcing you to decipher its meaning? If only they knew how to type fast, and properly, they wouldn’t feel that they need to limit what they truly wanted to say clearly. If you are that person, SHAME ON YOU now’s the time to become the person that can QUICKLY send a well-written, professional response.
Also, your grammar, punctuation, vocabulary, and spelling will ALL be improved PASSIVELY as you learn how to type properly. I explain how to do this later on in the article.
So therein lies just some of the benefits of typing on a keyboard. But in short, your entire life on your computer will change. You will become in-sync with your computer, allowing it to be an extension of your brain and self, rather than a frustrating tool to interact with.
How to type properly:
I’m going to say this once and once only. Don’t skip steps! Practice until you KNOW that step fully and have it worked into your muscle memory 100%.
Also, don’t fall into bad habits. Make sure you are being aware of how you are typing, and if you are potentially teaching yourself any bad habits on accident. Trust me, you do not want to be hindering yourself at this beginner stage, because bad habits DO last forever when it comes to typing, and are difficult to unlearn. An example would be using both Shift keys. Some people might end up learning to work with just one. But this will hinder your ability to get to your best typing speed in the long run.
OK, let’s begin.
Proper tools
You will need a good keyboard. If you’ve never tried a “good” keyboard, and have just been using some 10 year old keyboard that came free with your Dell desktop back in 2012, you need to throw that thing out and get yourself something way better. Newer keyboards from other companies have much less weight needed for each click. My dad still uses an old keyboard, and whenever I’m around and borrow his computer for a moment, that keyboard literally hurts me to use. It’s so hard to press! The newer keyboards are just not like that anymore. Featherlight presses to get the job done. And this will certainly improve your typing speed.
So if you’re serious about keyboards, here are some options:
The mechanical-key route
Mechanical keyboards are going to be louder than what you may be used to, but the typing experience is very satisfying and fast. In most instances I wouldn’t recommend one for an office environment, but in any other use-case it’s great!
Redragon Keyboards - I personally have been using one of their keyboards at my personal gaming and entertainment desk for the last 6 years now, and have a couple of others for different purposes, and they’re all absolutely fantastic. They have keyboards available in all price ranges. Read some reviews, and get yourself a nice keyboard that will be a joy to type on, and that fits your budget
The chicklet-key route
So for my office desk I prefer a chicklet style keyboard so when I’m on a business call I’m not sending disturbing keyboard sounds through the phone, and I also don’t disturb anyone around me.
Logitech MX Keys - This is the keyboard I have at my office desk. Although, for its hefty price it looks very simplistic, it is in fact really well built, and has a lot of features. And most importantly, the typing experience is second-to-none.
I recommend you hop on YouTube and watch a couple of reviews of any keyboard you decide to go with. But ultimately, if you think it’s time to upgrade, and you’re ready to take typing seriously, it’s time to make a move on a good keyboard.
The Home Row
The Home Row is the place where you keep your main 8 fingers on the keyboard, pretty much at all times. Thumbs hover over the spacebar. Follow along:
Put your pointer fingers on their respective F and J keys. Feel them. Do you feel a little bump that’s not on any other keys? That’s because these keys guide you to where you should place your pointer fingers, and the rest of your fingers go next to them. So, for the left hand, ASDF, and for the right hand, JKL and semicolon (;) should all be covered with your 8 fingers.
This is known as the Home Row. To practice the Home Row and typing all keys from this finger position, go through the free interactive guides available at Typing.com! These are extremely helpful to get your fingers in the right place, and to use the right fingers to click the right key each time.
Yes, that’s right. Each letter on the keyboard uses its own exclusive finger, and always the same finger, each time it gets clicked. Want to click the letter P? That must be clicked with the pinky. Want to click the letter R? That must be clicked with the pointer finger. Etc. Again, follow the beginner guide from Typing.com to learn the proper key presses.
When using the Shift key to capitalize a letter, or to use a special character, use the Shift key that is opposite the side that you are clicking. Clicking something on the right, such as the asterisk? Use the left Shift key. Capitalizing the letter W? Use the right Shift key. Etc.
Typing
Now that you learned how to type each key and with the proper finger, it’s time for you to start typing this way all the time. It’s going to be TERRIBLE, at first. But, I promise you that it will be worth it. You will be seeing improvements literally each hour that you practice— heck, even every 10 minutes! By the end of the first week or two of practicing for an hour each day, you WILL be better than the way you type right now.
Also: DO NOT LOOK DOWN WHILE TYPING. It’s going to be extremely frustrating at first, but you need to allow your muscle memory to do the “seeing” rather than your eyes. Allow your eyes to watch the computer screen for proper typing, and for catching spelling mistakes. Eventually, you will be able to literally feel when you made a mistake, backspace, and fix it, all while keeping your eyes closed! That’s how good your muscle memory will get! So please allow yourself to learn the muscle memory properly. Obviously, if you can’t find a character, look down briefly, but don’t get into the habit of looking down right away.
Practice
To practice, I recommend using the website Keyhero.com. This website is absolutely great because it has a great interface, and it gives you paragraphs to write that are excerpts from books, movies, TV shows, and more that you may be familiar with!
But more importantly, Keyhero.com allows you to passively learn proper grammar, vocabulary, spelling, and punctuation. By learning to type using actual paragraphs that force proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation, you won’t be allowed to keep typing when you make a mistake, unless you hit backspace and fix your errors first. This feedback loop will eventually “teach” these writing techniques properly.
One thing I see happening when I watch over the shoulder of a friend or family member using Keyhero for the first time, I see them get all confused when they need to find a comma, or an exclamation point. They slow down, they need to move their hands away and stare down at the keyboard, and try to find it. What does this mean? It means they don’t generally use punctuation marks! If they have trouble locating something as simple as a comma when they are finally forced to type a proper bit of text, then that means a lot of people are getting unprofessional emails, or hard to read messages from them. Or they may find it difficult to write a book, a short story, or other written work when punctuation is such a difficult task to apply to their work. How frustrating!
Unlike Keyhero, other websites offer just lowercase words for you to type, and nothing else. Most of the time they’re random words, without any real sentences or grammar. By using sites like these, you won’t learn how to properly use punctuation marks, grammar, or vocabulary. So I do not recommend them.
So yes, by practicing with real, proper text, you will be forced to use grammar, punctuation, and proper spelling for words. You will be forced to capitalize the first letter in each sentence, and you will be forced to insert commas often, and periods as well. You will become well acquainted with the punctuation marks very quickly, and when you start typing for real purposes, you won’t find it difficult to add them in!
And the best part is you’ll also be learning vocabulary. By interacting with words in proper sentences that you don’t see every day, you will passively learn what certain words mean, how they’re used, and you will eventually be able to apply them to your own writing, or even your speech!
Keep practicing
You won’t become a keyboard wiz overnight, but maybe in a month or two of dedicated practice and effort.
You should apply what you learn to your every-day activities on a computer. Whenever you type, use what you’ve learnt. Don’t fall back to using 2 fingers, or however you’ve been typing currently.
Eventually, your fingers will be fluttering across your keyboard very quickly. Also, keep an eye on your WPM (Words Per Minute) on Keyhero. It’ll motivate you to do better and better with each practice session. Accuracy is important too! You want to keep accuracy at a 95%+ average, and the higher the better! Don’t allow yourself to make a lot of mistakes. Mistakes is what mainly eats up your WPM; you can drastically improve your WPM just by typing without mistakes.
On day one, you will go from like 20WPM to about 30-40WPM. Then you may plateau here for a little bit while you master your finger movements and get your muscle memory down before jumping to 60-80WPM. Eventually, you will slowly increase that number until you start averaging the 90s and 100s and beyond!
In Closing
Learning to type was the single greatest thing I learnt for myself when it comes to interacting with my computer. Without it, I would not be writing this newsletter for you right now. I would not have written anything, or created anything worth its salt online. I would be angry at AI chat systems for not giving me what I want [even though it’s my fault that I wouldn’t be writing what I’m thinking properly]. And my life on the internet and on my computer would be… frustrating.
But once I learned to type, I instantly began improving my vocabulary, grammar, spelling, and use of punctuation. Now, in business when I send an email, my colleagues comment on the professional level of my emails. I use formal vocabulary, the emails look pristine, and there are no spelling or grammar mistakes. And the best part is, they don’t take long to type out! It comes to me naturally now.
You can achieve this too!
Now, I know I didn’t cover everything here, so if I left anything out, feel free to comment and ask questions and I’ll do my best to answer it for you. Also comment if you will begin practicing typing properly, and leave updates on your progress!
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I also have the MX Keys - love it. I really want to try a mechanical keyboard! Not sure everyone in the house will appreciate the noise, but will look into Redragon. OnePlus is releasing one soon that looks great too.