How I Doubled my Typing Speed

As a web developer, I spend about 95% of my day in front of a computer, typing on a keyboard.

With that much typing, even a small increase in speed would result in a massive productivity boost.

I decided to see how quick I was. I figured since I spent so much time typing, I would be far above average. I went to 10fastfingers.com (a 1-minute typing test website) to see how I fared. The average typing speed is about 40 WPM (words-per minute)…and I figured I would at least be able to double it.

I did my absolute best — and ended up with a 59. I tried it a couple more times, and got into the 60’s, but couldn’t break 65. This was far lower than the 80 I expected to get.

It turns out, I had developed some horrendous keyboard habits from my early days of video-gaming…where one hand was always resting on the mouse.

While my fingers could move quickly, my right hand essentially only used 2 fingers….my pointer finger and thumb…because it was so used to just resting on the mouse, only occasionally raising to tap a key or two before returning to the mouse.

So, I made it my goal to hit 80 WPM.

I created an account on 10fastfingers.com so I could track my progress over time, and did some research. I found a ton of resources, and the single resource I kept coming back to was this YouTube video by a pro typist:

In fact, a lot of the advice I will give in this blog is actually just echoing the content in the video, so please give it a watch!

Anyway, after I got my account and set a personal goal of 80 WPM, I was ready to get to work.

Step 1 — Home Row or Go Home

Home row involves resting all 5 fingers on the middle row the keyboard (left hand ASDF, right hand JKL;).

In order to maximize your capability for speed, you need to be using all 5 fingers. No matter how fast you can move 2 or 3 “favorite” fingers, they will never keep up with using all 5.

This was easy for my left hand, but my right hand (which was still used to sleeping peacefully on the mouse) STRUGGLED to do even the most basic words and letters.

My WPM actually DROPPED temporarily while I struggled to get my right hand to do some work. Instead of 60, I ended up dropping down to the 40’s for a couple days. This was the only way to build up dexterity in my right hand.

After a few days, my right hand just started….actually working. I still had difficulty with the apostrophe “ ‘ ” key for a long, long time….but all of the other letters were magically starting to pop up on the keyboard, and I was using all 5 fingers.

Specifically, I was taking about 25 to 50 tests per day….which is a lot, but let me improve very rapidly.

Step 2 — Focus on Accuracy, not Raw Speed

After home row started feeling natural, especially for my right hand, my score was back up into the 60’s. That being said, I did hit a bit of a road block.

Ultimately, I was a little impatient. I was also excited because I saw some improvement….and wanted MORE. I was back into the 60’s, but I didn’t want to just match what I had before….I wanted to actually improve.

I noticed the faster I went, the more mistakes I made. And mistakes are EXPENSIVE to correct. You have to pause, hit the backspace several times, and restart.

I found out a couple more tips from this video from Ali Abdaal:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ArVtCQqQRE

The most important of which was to use the “CTRL + backspace” to delete an entire word in one tap, instead of smashing the backspace key 5 or 6 times.

This made fixing mistakes much faster…as it is usually easier to just delete the entire word and start over than pausing, hitting backspace, and resuming.

I also tried to focus a little less on raw speed (WPM) and more on accuracy, which is expressed as a percentage. Ideally you’d get a 100%, but I focused on getting at least 96%, then 97%, and eventually 98%.

Again, this change in focus actually caused a temporary drop in speed….but in the long run it let me continue to move forward: as my percentage/accuracy increase, my WPM/speed also increased.

Step 3 —Learn to be Patient

As I approached 100 WPM, I started to realize the “speed” at which I was increasing was starting to taper off.

I was still increasing my speed….but much slower now, and some weeks I was actually slower than the week before. Luckily, the first video had taught me that progression is not always linear: some weeks will be better than others.

I decided that just because my results were slowing down doesn’t mean I “wasn’t working hard” anymore….it just meant I would need to rely less on the dopamine/rewards and lean into discipline/patience.

This is probably where most people quit, because the immediate rewards are no longer obvious. It is also the point where the “practicality” of continuing to grow starts to diminish. I was already much more productive on the keyboard at work, but I decided to keep challenging myself.

Step 4 — Special Techniques

Again, after 100 WPM, you are probably at the point where the ROI for continuing to grow begins to diminish.

That being said, it felt really, really good to continue challenging myself.

I had already picked up some techniques from other videos/blogs, but decided to focus on them a little more instead of just keeping them in the back of my mind.

Probably the biggest game changer was this: when you are taking a test, always look at least 1 word ahead. Surprisingly, your brain/fingers work much better when you AREN’T trying to tell them what to do. If you focus at least 1 word ahead of the word you are typing, you magically go faster and make less mistakes.

NOTE: Not sure if this logic applies when you are first starting out. Maybe wait until you are closer to 100 WPM before you try this.

Also, make sure you have good posture. I tend to slouch throughout the day, but this actually makes typing much more difficult. Making sure I sat upright, with my arms bent at 90-degree angles made sure I didn’t fatigue as quickly.

I also tried a couple different keyboards. I bought a Logitech that felt pretty comfortable and smooth. I also occasionally switched to a mechanical keyboard, laptop keyboard, or Apple Magic keyboard. I think this probably helped make it easier to “adapt” to different keyboards and maintain similar speeds.

Finally, make sure your hands aren’t cold. Rubbing my hands together, cracking my knuckles, and overall giving them a good stretch made it much easier to type.

Step 5— Stay Dedicated

I continued to dedicate a small part of my mornings to taking tests. I also found the tests to be a crazy good way to blow through “writers block” at work. When I hit a wall, I would open up 10FastFingers and force myself to achieve 98% accuracy + 100 WPM or more for at least 5 tests. After that I was able to refocus on my work, surprisingly refreshed.

I still take typing tests every day. I no longer do 25 a day….I have dropped down to a much more sustainable 5 to 10. I found that doing 25 first thing each morning made my hands tired for the rest of the day. 5 to 10 is something you can do in about 10 minutes, so it is very sustainable.

I have also tried some other sites to shake things up:

keybr.com — This website tries to focus on your weak areas specifically. My one complaint is that they often don’t give you real words….just strings of random letters. It is definitely a good addition to your toolbelt, but I wouldn’t use this exclusively.

typeracer.com — 10FastFingers can get pretty boring. This turns typing into a racing game. I would say this site is probably good as an extra motivator (so you can win more games) and gives you some variety (they use sentence with more punctuation than 10FastFingers) but, again, don’t use this exclusively. One negative is that it gives you “tunnel vision” on speed - you end up mindlessly going from one race to the next without focusing on your weak areas.

monkeytype.com—This website is GREAT. It is basically a newer, open-source version of 10FastFingers. They give you a ton of customizability options (sound effects, animations, etc.), better statistics, and even the interface is far nicer looking than 10FastFingers. I will probably switch to this as my primary typing-test environment.

zty.pe — Like Type Racer, this turns your typing into a game. Instead of a race, you shoot enemies in space and try to survive as many rounds as possible. It also adds an element of strategy as well….if you can scan the screen for certain words as you are typing…so you can play your attack….you will survive more rounds. Again, not great to use exclusively, but shakes things up a bit.

Summary

Hope that helps! I would say the number one takeaway here is to STICK WITH IT. As with almost everything in life, everyone seems to focus on the immediate rewards…the dopamine hits. But the real improvement comes from dedication over a long period of time.

It has absolutely been worth the effort. This is probably the single biggest productivity boost in my career.