How to Type Faster and Improve Your Productivity(one) from kemove's blog

Learning how to type faster can bring huge benefits, from saving time and increasing productivity to improving focus and unlocking career opportunities. The more you understand how different factors affect your typing speed, the easier it will be to improve your WPM (words per minute) speed. This guide provides tips on how to type faster and improve WPM.

How to Type Faster: Quick Tips

Typing speed depends on a combination of technique, muscle memory, and equipment. Use these quick tips now to boost your word per minute, or scroll down for more detailed advice and resources.

1. Save time and increase productivity

Increasing your typing speed from 40 wpm to 80 wpm cuts your work time in half. A 40 wpm typist takes about 25 minutes to type 10 100-word emails. An 80 wpm typist spends only 12.5 minutes on the same task. Saving just 12.5 minutes a day equals more than 54 hours of work, 260 days a year.

For someone typing 2,500 words a day, the annual savings increased to 135 hours, or nearly 3.5 weeks. In other words, learning how to type faster can save you nearly a month of work a year (or generate a month of extra work during that time).

2. Unlock career opportunities

Many jobs require fast typing, so candidates who can type quickly are more attractive to employers in these industries. Secretaries, transcriptionists, programmers, data entry specialists, journalists, writers and legal assistants can gain more career opportunities by learning how to type faster.

3. Accelerated Learning and Skill Acquisition

Faster typists can learn new abilities faster because they are able to focus on their studies without the distraction of finding and pecking keys. For example, when coders are good at using the keyboard, it is easier for them to learn a new programming language. The benefits aren't limited to learning career skills: When gamers can type fast, they can master new games faster.

4. Improve focus

Slow typing is destructive, forcing typists to abandon their train of thought and look for the next key. Improved keyboard typing speed allows users to focus on their thoughts rather than what to type next. Fast typists are fluid; muscle memory reigns, and language flows off the fingertips as easily as it rolls off the tongue. When fast typing becomes second nature, users can focus on writing the perfect letter or punching enemies into shadow territory.

5. Reduce fatigue and injury risk

Faster typing can reduce fatigue and injury risk in two ways. First, fast typing requires the use of proper form to relieve stress on the fingers, hands, wrist joints, muscles and tendons. Second, fast typists spend less time typing, so they don't get tired, and they reduce the risk of overuse injuries, such as carpal tunnel syndrome.

Good typing speed is 60+ words per minute

The average typing speed is 40 wpm. Anything over 60 wpm is considered a good typing speed, although some professions require 100 wpm or more. Members of the competitive typing community can exceed 200 wpm, with Ultimate Typing Champion Anthony “Chark” Ermolin recording speeds as high as 233 wpm.

That said, "good" typing speed is relative. If you currently type 25 words per minute, 40 words per minute represents a significant improvement. If you're already typing 80 words per minute, 100 wpm might be the logical next step.

How to Type Faster: 10 Proven Tips

Learn how to type faster and improve your WPM with these proven tips.

1. Establish a baseline and set goals

The first step in improving your typing speed is to determine your current typing speed. There are plenty of free typing speed tests online, but they don't all work the same way. Some tests force you to correct mistakes before moving forward; others simply count them into your WPM.

Additionally, some tests use logical sentences ("the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy fox"), some use random words ("valley, coffee, mask, stenography"), and some use nonsense strings ("les, est, ense, tes”). The style of the test will affect your vocabulary per minute. Find a list of typing speed tests in the resources section below.

Once you've identified your current typing speed or baseline, set goals for improvement. It's good to focus on incremental goals rather than end goals. For example, if you currently type 40 words per minute and set a goal of 100 wpm, start at 50 wpm. Many people find motivation when planning small rewards to reach incremental milestones.

Take multiple typing speed tests to establish a baseline

Set incremental goals (5 to 10 wpm)

Reward WPM milestones

2. Use correct hand placement

Proper hand placement improves typing speed by minimizing the distance your fingers must travel each time you press a key. Put your finger on the home row of a traditional QWERTY keyboard.

Move your finger up and down from the main row to access other keys, using your pinky as the shift key and your thumb as the space bar. This hand position may seem unfamiliar to someone used to pecking with two fingers, but once mastered, it can significantly speed up typing.

Note that some typists prefer alternative keyboard layouts, such as Colemak and Dvorak, which are optimized for speed. However, for those who are used to QWERTY, these layouts may not be practical. Learn more about the differences between QWERTY, Dvorak, and Colemak keyboard layouts.

3. Practice proper ergonomics

Proper desk ergonomics can improve typing speed by improving accuracy, emphasizing the use of your strongest muscles, and reducing fatigue. Ergonomics also reduce the risk of carpal tunnel syndrome and other repeated use injuries.

Tips for good desk ergonomics include:

Sit or stand up straight with your arms at a 90-degree angle

Keep your feet flat on the floor or on a footrest and your thighs parallel to the floor

Position the monitor at least 20 inches away, just below eye level

Set the keyboard under your elbows to keep your wrists straight while typing

Avoid using the wrist rest when typing

Learn more about desk ergonomics to improve posture and typing speed.

4. Familiarize yourself with the keyboard

Familiarity with the keyboard is essential for fast typing, so be aware of where each key is relative to the main row and the correct finger placement. Some people find it helpful to enable the on-screen keyboard so they can understand key locations without looking down at the keyboard.

5. Train to touch type

Touch typing, the practice of knowing how to type without looking at the keyboard, is one of the most effective ways to speed up your typing. Touch typists can keep their minds flowing, unconstrained by the need to pause and find the next key. Learning to touch typing can increase your typing speed by up to 300%.

Getting familiar with the keyboard is the first step in touch typing; then, it comes down to muscle memory gained through repetition. Some people find it helpful to say characters out loud while typing. Others put towels on their hands so they can't see the keyboard, and others install blank keycaps to force them to learn touch typing. Either way, it's best to practice fast, light keystrokes that allow your fingertips to move nimbly from key to key.

Touch typing can be 300% faster

Practice typing without looking at the keyboard

Install blank keycaps to improve touch typing accuracy