How I learnt touch typing!

Intro

I used to be the kind of person who would type only using two index fingers. I was incredibly slow and never enjoyed typing in general.  But this never was an issue for me for a long time since the only time I needed to type was when searching something online or filling out forms . Ever since I got into the realm of web development and blogging I realised my inability to type properly was slowing me down a lot. My posture wasn’t great either and tha made it impossible for me to work for a good amount of time. It was around the same time my brother and a classmate of mine had also been practicing it and they were getting pretty good at it so I decided to ask them for suggestions on how to go about starting it. Both of them recommended the same website - TypingClub.

When I started off I had only 15wpm speed which is not something to be proud of but it didn’t bother me too much since it felt more like playing a fun game rather than learning something. I practiced diligently for weeks and I was improving at a steady rate. I used to practice every single day (minus the two days I was really sick and just could’t).

The website not only teaches you how to type but it also teaches you how your posture and taking breaks regularly are important and the correct way to sit and type. 

After I learnt to type at around 30wpm I found typing to be a lot more enjoyable and I started writing more blogs than usual. I felt fairly confident typing, maybe not really fast but at least I could type for longer time and my accuracy was pretty good too. 

Trying other typing websites

I wanted to explore other typing websites at this point because why not.

 I took suggestions from reddit and found two more recommendations KeyBr and MonkeyType.

Keybr provides random string of words based on how you type which helps you improve your muscle memory and in turn improves speed. 

Monkeytype on the other hand is a beautiful website to practice typing. It offers various modes and interesting games for you to keep practicing without getting bored. Also the website is completely customisable and has amazing themes to choose from. 

After a point I got bored of just typing randomly. I wanted to do some activities that would make me want to type.  That’s why I decided to write more blogs. Although I haven’t posted a lot of blogs, I had written quite a few. I’m the process of refining them and editing so once that’s done they’ll be up. Later on I also decided to use 10fastfingers

This website really cool because it allows you to participate in contests. I always am at to bottom in the leaderboards but that doesn’t matter since I have fun anyway.  Another thing really helped me is getting an accountability friend. I used to share my score with this person and they would try to beat my score. Once they do beat my score, I attempt to beat their score and this goes on for...pretty much forever since neither of us want to give up.

In toto, TypingClub teaches you how to type, Keybr helps you improve your speed, Monkeytype gives you a place to practice typing and lastly 10fastfingers is a platform to compete in typing contests with other people .  

Going Forward...

Not only did I learn how to type through practicing for weeks, I also learnt that with consistent efforts I could learn new skills which I never thought I would be able to.

I haven’t mastered typing yet. I still struggle with symbols and capital letters so I will continue to practice at least 10-15 minutes per day.  I am glad I didn’t set a typing speed goal or anything of that sort. I didn’t give myself any time constraints either. This helped to type without getting stressed out. Things are a lot more fun when I do it without having expectations. I always hated the fact that my school never taught us how to touch type even though it’s a valuable and useful skill. But now that I think about it I probably would have disliked being forced to learn it and be graded xD So I guess it was fine. It’s never too late to learn essential skills on your own after all. Anyway, that's it for this blog byee :3