The fastest typist in the world once typed 216 words in one minute (click here for wikipedia proof). Although you may not yet be able to beat Stella Pajunas-Garnand’s 1946 world record, you can still improve your typing speed with a few simple techniques!
The easiest way to improve typing speed and accuracy is to work with your body. Although it might seem more comfortable to practice typing in bed, or sprawled out on the couch, these positions can put a lot of strain on your body and wrists, which can make it difficult to type quickly and accurately. What you gain in comfy coziness, you lose in typing quality.
The best way to type is sitting straight up at a flat surface, like a desk or table, with your elbows positioned at right angles away from the keyboard. Bending your arms, like hunching over a laptop or tablet, can strain your body and make it harder to type. Feel free to rest your wrists on the table, but try not to put any weight on them – you want your hands to feel free and airy if you’re going to beat those world records!
All the fastest typists in the world do something that can seem almost impossible to someone first starting out in the typing game – they type without looking at their keyboards to double check where the letters are hiding.
Touch typing, like many skills, comes with practice. Eventually, you will notice that your fingers naturally move to the center (the “F” and “J” keys on a QWERTY-style keyboard) of the home (middle) row. Your muscles will hold on to the locations of the letters and help you keep your mind and eyes on the words you type. Not having to hunt for every letter, but instead trusting that your fingers will find the right place on the keyboard, will improve your speed, and being able to look up at what you’re typing rather than down at your fingers improves accuracy.
To get better at touch typing, there is only one method: practice. This brings us to our next section –
Repetition may not sound very exciting, but the more comfortable you are with your task, the faster you’ll go. The best way to improve typing speed is to keep practicing, using services like Typesy. Focusing on gameplay turns typing practice from a boring task to something fun and relaxing, like playing any other video game. Playing games and completing timed typing speed quizzes will force you to respond to stimuli quickly and accurately to proceed, and taps into your competitive spirit. (How do I know you have a competitive spirit? You looked up a blog about how to type faster!)
The average typing speed ranges from 38-44 words per minute, so don’t worry if you aren’t quite at a level to beat Stella’s long-lasting world record. But with time, effort, and ergonomics, you can get faster and faster. Now start typing away!
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