Other helpful typing tips : Use keyboard shortcuts and macros

 You can save a lot of time while working and reduce the strain on your hands by learning how to use some basic keyboard shortcuts, which are combinations of keys that when clicked together allow you to activate a certain feature within a program.

To find helpful keyboard shortcuts, simply search for the name of the software that you work with, together with the term “keyboard shortcuts” or “useful keyboard shortcuts”. If you want to learn how to accomplish a specific action by using a shortcut, insert a description of that action into the search string (e.g. “Microsoft Word keyboard shortcut print document”).

Don’t start out by trying to learn so many keyboard shortcuts that you become overwhelmed and can’t remember any of them. Instead, focus on the ones that you can use the most at first, and once you get used to them, add a few others that can help.

In addition to shortcuts, you can also consider using computer macros, which are short sequences of keystrokes or mouse clicks that activate a longer series of actions in an automatic manner. Macros generally take longer to set up than keyboard shortcuts, but they can save you a lot of time, especially if you tend to perform the same tasks repeatedly.

Similarly to finding relevant shortcuts, you can simply search online for guides on how to set up the macros that you need. Your search string should contain the word “macro”, together with the name of the software that you are using, as well as a description of the function that you are trying to perform.

 

Ignore typos during the writing stage

Dealing with typos and minor errors while you’re writing can interrupt your workflow and hinder your ability to think about what you want to write. Therefore, in some cases (depending on what you’re writing), you can benefit from choosing to ignore typos during the writing process, and instead deal with them later, during the editing stage.

You can even take this a step further, and decide to completely avoid reading the text during the initial writing stage, aside from occasionally checking it to make sure that everything is working properly.

This allows you to focus only on thinking about what you want to say, and allows you to establish a “flow”, without the temptation to focus on editing at this stage. However, some people may find that this hinders their writing process, so it’s a matter of personal preference whether or not to implement this.

 

Be focused but relaxed

Your mental state can affect your typing speed and error rates. Specifically, there are two main things you need to pay attention to:

You want to avoid being in a low-energy state, where you’re feeling tired or bored. You can do this by solving whatever issue is causing you to have low energy levels. For example, you can eat something if you’re hungry, or listen to some energizing music if you’re bored.

You want to avoid being in a negative state of mind, where you’re feeling angry or nervous. If you feel that you can’t concentrate on the task at hand because of these emotions, try to take a short break, and come back to the task once you’ve relaxed a little.

Overall, you want to be in a state where you are calm and focused on your work. This is beneficial not only for your typing speed, but also for your productivity in general.

 

Figuring out what works for you

Choosing which tips to focus on

In this guide, you saw various tips which can help you improve your typing speed and reduce the strain on your hands.

Some of these tips are relatively easy to implement, while others require more effort. At the same time, some of these tips will have a big impact on your typing speed, while others will have only a  minor impact.

Since some of these tips can be too difficult for you to implement, and since there isn’t necessarily a relationship between how difficult a certain tip is to implement and how much it will increase your typing speed, your goal shouldn’t be to try and implement everything at once. Rather, you should look at all of the tips, and focus on those that will give you the best return in terms of typing speed and health, compared to the cost and effort involved in implementing them.

 

Testing your improvement

In order to measure how different modifications affect your typing speed, you can test your performance over time using an online typing test. If you do this, then you should make sure to measure your performance using the same method consistently, while controlling for background factors such as the location where you are taking the test and how tired you are while taking it.

When testing your performance, you can also check the average typing speed on that test, in order to get an idea of how good your typing speed is compared to that of the average person. However, keep in mind that there will often be a heavy selection bias in those results, since the people who take typing tests tend to care more about their typing speed than the average person, and so they are likely to be faster typists.

As such, testing your performance is beneficial mostly if you find that you’re already typing so fast naturally that there isn’t much point in changing your current typing style, since you likely won’t be able to improve your current speed by much. Otherwise, the main purpose of testing your performance is to see whether the modifications that you make can help you increase your typing speed compared to your baseline typing speed.

Furthermore, you can also benefit from checking whether the new regimen is helping you reduce discomfort and pain in your hands. Of course, this measurement is more subjective (as opposed to objective measurements such as typing speed), which makes it more difficult to track. However, you can still try to do this, for example by creating a spreadsheet where you rate, on a scale of 1-5, how well you felt at the end of the day, in terms of hand comfort.

Finally, if you end up testing your performance over time, remember that it’s okay if you struggle to improve at first. This is a natural part of the learning process, and with practice, positive changes that you implement will become an instinctive part of the way you type.

 

Summary and conclusions

This article shows you how to improve your typing speed, and how to work in a way that helps you stay healthy and comfortable. When deciding which tips to focus on, start with those that are the easiest for you to implement, and which will benefit you the most.

To improve your general typing technique, you should use a light touch when typing, avoid moving your hands around unnecessarily, know what you are about to type next, and maintain consistency in your typing patterns.

You should set up your workspace properly, and maintain good posture while you work. This involves a number of things, including centering yourself on the lettered part of the keyboard, maintaining a neutral wrist position while typing, sitting properly, and getting a good ergonomic keyboard.

Changing your keyboard layout from the default QWERTY layout to an alternative layout such as Dvorak or Colemak can be beneficial in some cases, but most people will primarily benefit from making only minor modifications to their keyboard layout. Similarly, learning the traditional touch-typing system can be beneficial for some people, but most people will benefit more from borrowing only specific aspects of this system.

To reduce the likelihood of suffering from pain and discomfort while you type, you should make sure to use good typing technique and to maintain proper body alignment while you work. In addition, you could also benefit from properly stretching your hands, strengthening them, and allowing them to have proper breaks when necessary.