Are you looking for ways to enhance your typing speed? We are living in a digital world where typing is a necessity for many people. There are a lot of people who underestimate the value of typing accurately and faster. It is an essential skill that is required in many fields.

This is the reason why it is imperative for you to learn about proper keyboard usage. It will enable you to be more productive and get your work done faster. When you type faster, you can keep up with your brain. It will allow you to hold great ideas in your head for a few seconds longer before you forget them.

The average typing speed is approximately 38 to 40 words per minute. Many people just focus on typing faster and ignore accuracy. This is a huge mistake as fast typing is not better if accuracy is compromised. This is the reason why you need to aim to type faster and accurately

In this post, we have listed the top 10 tips to increase your typing speed. Take a look!

1.    Eliminate Bad Habits

The hardest thing you have to do is leave your bad typing habits. There is a possibility that you have been using the same typing technique since you started using a keyboard. There are many different types of typers. If you are a first person shooter gamer, you will probably have a stronger left hand. You will be used to keep your left on the keys WASD.

On the other hand, some people type using two fingers. They will use only use index fingers to type and will be hovering them over ten or more keys. This is the reason why they have to keep their eyes on the keys when typing.

These are considered as a bad typing habit. There is a chance that you might be typing fast, but you have to get rid of these bad habits. If you want to know more about typing, here are free typing lessons for beginners.

2.    Pay Attention to Your Posture

The first thing you need to do after correcting your bad typing habits is to correct your posture. Not many people pay attention to their posture that is why they lack success. You have to make sure you are sitting upright, and your back should not lean forward towards the desk.

This will increase the level of concentration and will provide your focus the boost it needs to type efficiently.

Another factor that has a key role to play in your typing speed is how to place your elbows and wrists. This will have a direct impact on accuracy and speed. You have to ensure your elbows are at the right angle to the keyboard. It is crucial that your arms should not be bent downwards or upwards. If you don’t position your arms properly, the bending of your arms will put stress on your wrists and forearms.

Hence, in order to achieve high typing speeds; you need to focus on your posture and typing habit.

3.    Change the Way You Type

The next thing you need to do is to change your approach. You will have to focus on the position of the fingers. Here are how your fingers must be positioned.

• Start by placing your pinky finger of the left hand on the key “A”. You will have to use your left hand’s pinky finger to press all the buttons left of it. This includes Caps lock, left Shift, and Control.
• The pinky finger of the right hand must be placed on the colon or semi-colon button. You must use it for all the buttons on the right side of the keyboard.
• Your thumbs must be on the spacebar. It is up to you; either place at least one thumb or both the thumbs on the key.
• The ring, middle, and index finger of your left hand must be on keys “S, D, and F”.
• While the ring, middle, and index finger should be on “L, K, and J” keys.

If you want to be able to type faster, you must master all the rows along with the numpad. There are several ways to learn it; you can read books, articles or even use software that will guide you. In case you use the software, you will be able to learn through customized exercises. This will make it easy to keep track of your progress.

4.    Focus on Accuracy First

One of the biggest mistakes made by people is to focus on improving speed. If you solely focus on increase your typing speed. You will not be able to see any improvement. Are you wondering what else is important to increase typing speed than typing fast? Well, it is accuracy. You should focus on improving your accuracy first rather than just the speed.

Thinking why being accurate is more important? It’s simple if you make more mistakes while typing you will be spending more time typing. Every time you press the backspace, you slow down a little bit. This is to make sure you are typing accurately. So, when you slow down to type precisely, you are typing faster.

5.    Practice Makes a Man Perfect

The best way to form a habit is by practicing it regularly. You can do many regular exercises to improve your speed. There are many online tools that will help you. You can even practice with tutors. No matter how you practice, you will be practicing the 10-finger system along with good typing habits.

Home Base

The home row or middle row is the base; it is where your fingers should be back after every stroke. There are some keyboards that have colored keys to help in building the muscle memory of every finger. You have to keep in mind that every finger is responsible for certain keys only. In order to help you locate the key “F”, it has a small bump at the end.

Rollovers

This technique can be used from the beginning. It is better to use different fingers than using the same on for successive letter keys. Rollovers will help in saving your time as you will instantly press the key after the previous one. Many fast typers use the rollovers technique because it is a speed and coordination hack.

6.    Use Shortcuts

If you want to type fast, you will need to use shortcuts. These will help in processing the commands faster and will be time saving as well. Here are some common shortcuts that you should know, and you will mostly use these:

• Ctrl + X – Cut
• Ctrl + S – Save
• Ctrl + V – Paste
• Ctrl + C – Copy
• Ctrl + Z – Undo
• Ctrl + A – Select all
• Ctrl + F – Find word
• Page Up – Scroll up
• Page Down – Scroll down

7.    Touch Typing

In case you have ever attended a typing class, you will remember the tutor insisted everyone to type without looking at the keyboard. Many people don’t know, the sub-conscious mind is quite powerful. When you type daily and often, you will form a habit of typing faster; that too without looking at the keyboard.

Wondering why it is not better to look at the keyboard while typing? When you are looking at the keyboard, your speed will be reduced. You are likely to make more typing errors. This is because you will not be aware of what is happening on the screen.

Without a doubt, this technique will cause you to make more errors in the starting, but over time, you will reduce the risk of errors and enhance your typing speed. However, a little bit peaking at the keyboard is allowed. It is recommended that you should look away from the keyboard as much as possible. This is useful for real-time copy-editing that will in return, save you a lot of time.

When you don’t look at the keyboard while typing, you will get used to the layout quickly. You will know the exact position of the keys; this means it easy to work your way around the keyboard.

8.    Use Online Tools

There are numerous ways through which you improve your typing speed. You can join a typing class or practice daily for increasing your speed. Another easy way is by using online tools. In recent times, there are plenty of tools available online to help you improve your typing speed. Moreover, there are tools that will enable you to check your typing speed. You can check your typing speed using this free typing test for beginners.

9.    Set Your Goals

Before you start practicing, you need to set clear goals. You have to set daily targets and you should meet them. This means you will have to practice daily in order to enhance your typing speed. It will help you quickly progress.

The only problem is that how do you know you have progressed? How will you know you have improved your typing speed? The answer is by setting realistic goals. There are two types of goals: session goals and strong goals.

Session Goals

Before you are starting your training session, you need to set a primary goal along with many several secondary goals. For instance, your primary goal can be pressing any key on the home row, 20 times without looking at the keyboard. While the secondary goal can be to learn the keys that are on the left or right hand.

Strong Goals

When you reach your goals, you will be able to track your goals without any difficulty. An important thing to keep in mind is that you need to be creative when setting your goals. You have to make sure your goals have to be challenging. This is because you will not be much happy if you achieved your goal that was easy.

10. You Need to Pay Attention to the Hardware

Many people don’t pay attention to their keyboard because they don’t realize it has a huge role to play in your typing speed. There are several types of keyboards available on the market; however, not all of them are suitable for you. If you want to improve your typing speed, you need to carefully get a keyboard.

Ergonomic Keyboard

This type of keyboard comes in various shapes and sizes. The most common ergonomic keyboard is the divided keyboard. As the name suggests, it is divided into two parts, nearly at 45 degrees angle. It will enable you to keep your hands in a relaxed position. This will enable you to easily learn how to type fast. It is because the letters are divided for each hand.

For instance, if you want to press a key located on the left side of the keyboard, reaching it with your right hand will be difficult. So, this is why it is perfect for increasing typing speed.

On the other hand, there are some ergonomic keyboards that are not divided. On such keyboards, the keys are positioned at a different angle. This will require you to change the position of your hands slightly.

Regular Keyboard

A regular keyboard is the most common keyboard that is used by everyone. With a little practice, you will be able to get used to it. After that, you can move on to an advanced keyboard. The only problem with a regular keyboard is that they might cause pain in the wrist.

Bottom Line

Therefore, typing can be a fun activity as long as you are doing it correctly. This is a skill that you will be using every day, so you have to make sure you are good at it. Everything, from your posture to your keyboard, must be carefully selected. It is better to have a nice room with plenty of light and a good ambiance. You can relax your mind with light music. This will make typing enjoyable and interesting. When you want to improve your speed, you have to be patient as it will take time.