Do you want to learn how to type faster? The secret is easy: stop looking at your keyboard. Your fingers are smart. They can learn where the keys are all by themselves. This is called muscle memory. It helps your thoughts go right from your brain to the screen.
Stop Peeking at Your Keyboard
The best way to type faster is to stop looking at your hands. Think of it like learning to ride a bike. You have to look where you are going, not down at your feet. Your fingers can learn the keyboard in the same way.
When you stop looking down, you can type like a pro. Your eyes stay on the screen. This lets your brain think about your words and ideas. Your fingers do all the work. It makes a strong link between your brain and your hands.
Trust Your Fingers
Most keyboards have little bumps on the F and J keys. These bumps are there to help you! They help your pointer fingers find the “home row” of keys without looking. Once your pointer fingers are there, your other fingers know where to go.
Put your hands on the home row and try typing easy words. It will feel strange and slow at first. You will make mistakes, and that is okay. The most important thing is to not look at the keys.
You don’t have to be perfect right away. You are teaching your hands to move on their own, just like you learned to walk without looking at your feet.
Doing this will make you feel more sure of yourself over time. Most people type around 52 words in a minute. But fast typists all do one thing: they keep their eyes on the screen. Studies show that about 88.9% of fast typists use five or more fingers.
When you keep your eyes up, you don’t have to switch from looking at the screen to looking at the keys. You can typing speed statistics to see why this helps so much. It helps your fingers learn the keyboard without you even thinking about it.
Try the ‘Rollover’ Trick for Smooth Typing
Have you ever seen someone type so fast their fingers just slide over the keys? It’s not magic. They use a simple trick called the rollover method.
This trick is not about hitting one key at a time. It’s about making your typing smooth, like a dance. The idea is to press the next key a tiny bit before you lift your finger off the last key.
What Does the Rollover Trick Feel Like?
Instead of a choppy, stop-and-go feeling, your fingers feel like they are rolling from one key to the next. This little bit of overlap saves time and makes your typing fast and smooth.
This is a real trick that great typists use. A big study found that the fastest typists use the rollover trick for 40% to 70% of the keys they press. You can read more about what makes a faster typist to see how this small change helps a lot.
To do this trick well, you need to sit the right way, like in the picture below.
When you sit right, it’s easier to move your fingers smoothly for the rollover trick.
Let’s see how it’s different from normal typing.
Two Ways of Typing Compared
| Typing Style | How It Works | What It Feels Like |
|---|---|---|
| Normal Typing | You press a key, lift your finger all the way up, then press the next key. | A bit bumpy, like you are tapping one key at a time. |
| Rollover Typing | You press the next key just before your finger leaves the last one. | Smooth, like your fingers are gliding across the keyboard. |
Changing from “tapping” to “rolling” is what makes you really fast.
So, how do you learn to do this?
- Start slow. Type a simple sentence like “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” again and again.
- Don’t worry about being fast at first. Just think about the feeling of your fingers rolling from one key to the next.
- When you get used to it, you can start to go faster.
The goal is to make your typing feel like one long, smooth river of words, not a bunch of separate taps.
Give it a try. If you practice a little, this trick will feel normal. You will type faster and easier than ever before.
Turn Typing Practice into a Fun Game
Let’s be real: practice can be boring. Typing the same thing over and over can make you want to stop. But what if you could get faster at typing and have fun? The secret is to play a game.
Think about it. When you are trying to win a game, you are not thinking about every key you press. You are just playing! There are lots of free websites and apps that do this. You can race a car, fight space monsters, or pop balloons with every word you type right.
Playing games works so well because you want to win. You want to beat your high score or type faster than a friend. You forget that you are learning. Playing for just 10 minutes a day can teach your fingers a lot and make you a much faster typer.
Games for Different Goals
Not all typing games are the same. You can pick a game to help you with what you need help with. It could be speed, getting the letters right, or typing tricky letters.
- For Common Words: Games like TypeRacer are great. You race other people by typing parts of books and movies. This helps you get good at typing words you use all the time.
- For Getting It Right: A game like Nitro Type makes you be careful. If you make a mistake, your race car slows down. This teaches you to hit the right key the first time.
- For Numbers and Symbols: If you have trouble typing numbers or marks like “!”, some games are made just to practice those keys.
The goal is to find a game you like. When practice feels like play, you will want to keep doing it.
You’re not just playing a game. You are tricking your brain into learning something important. It’s a great way to get better without getting bored.
It makes sense that these games are so well-liked. People spent $153.4 million on typing software in 2021, and that number is growing. This shows that more people are using fun games to get better at typing for school and work. You can read the full report on typing software growth to see how big this is.
Use Your Voice When It Is Faster Than Your Fingers
Let’s be honest. Sometimes, the fastest way to type is to not type at all. You can use your voice to get words on the page. This is great when your thoughts are moving faster than your fingers.
Think about when you have a great idea for a story. You want to write it down before you forget. Instead of trying to type fast, you can just say what you are thinking. It’s like a straight line from your brain to the screen.
This doesn’t mean you should stop using your keyboard. It’s just another tool you can use. Most people can talk at about 150 words in a minute. That’s much faster than most people can type. When you need to be super fast, talking is a big help.
Making Voice-to-Text Work for You
To get good words from talking to your computer, you need to do a few things. How you talk can make a big difference.
- Speak Like a News Reporter: Talk in a clear voice. Don’t talk too fast or mumble. This helps the computer understand you.
- Say Your Punctuation: Your computer can’t read your mind. You have to tell it where to put marks by saying words like “period,” “new line,” or “comma.”
- Find a Quiet Spot: Loud noises can mess up what the computer hears. A dog barking or a TV can make it get the words wrong. Go to a quiet room so it can hear just your voice.
This is a real way to get your thoughts down as fast as you think them. It’s great for coming up with ideas, taking quick notes, or writing the first try of a story.
Using a special tool can make this even easier. For example, you can see how WriteVoice’s voice-to-text works and how it can help you every day. It’s all about knowing when to type and when to talk to get things done fast.
Build a Smart Typing Habit That Sticks
Getting faster at typing doesn’t mean you have to practice for hours. It’s about doing small things every day that make you better over time. The first thing to do? Fix how you sit.
Before you start, get comfy. Sit up straight. Keep your wrists flat, not bent up or down. Think of your arms and wrists making a straight bridge for your fingers to move on the keys. A bent bridge makes it harder to type.
Practice a Little Bit Every Day
The secret to learning any new skill is to do it over and over. The best way is to practice “a little bit, a lot of times.” Don’t try to practice for two hours on a Saturday. It’s much better to practice for just 10-15 minutes every single day.
These short practices help your fingers remember the keys without getting tired. Your brain and fingers learn much better this way. Soon, you will be typing faster without even trying.
Here is an easy plan to start:
- Warm-up (2 minutes): Play a quick typing game to get your fingers ready.
- Real-world typing (8 minutes): Practice by doing something you need to do, like writing a real email.
- Check your work (5 minutes): Look at what you wrote. Use a tool that shows you what mistakes you make often. This helps you know what to work on next time.
When you make practice a small part of your day, it stops feeling like a chore. It just becomes something you do, like brushing your teeth.
This is a great way to learn. But it’s also smart to have a backup plan. On days when your fingers are tired but you still have ideas, a tool with good speech to text accuracy can help a lot. Using both your keyboard and your voice helps you get work done no matter what.
Common Questions About Typing Faster
When you start trying to type faster, you might have some questions. Am I doing it right? Is it working? Let’s answer some common questions.
A big question is, “How long will this take?” You can feel a change pretty fast. If you practice for 10 to 15 minutes every day, you will probably feel better at typing in a few weeks. Big jumps in speed might take a few months, but if you keep trying, you will get there.
Do Typing Games Really Help?
Yes, they do! Typing games are great because they make practice fun. When you are trying to win a race or shoot things, you are not thinking about where your fingers go. You are just doing it.
This fun way helps your fingers remember the keys without it feeling like work. Before you know it, your fingers are moving fast all by themselves.
People also ask how to hold their hands and wrists. The trick is to keep your wrists straight and floating just above the keyboard. Don’t rest them on your desk. This lets your fingers move fast and helps keep your hands from getting sore.
Think about a piano player. Their hands are relaxed and ready to move over the keys. That’s how your hands should feel.
Last, do you need a special keyboard? Nope. Any normal keyboard is fine for learning to type well. The keyboard doesn’t make you fast. The way you type does.
Of course, being fast is no good if you make mistakes. Spelling words right is a big part of typing well. If you mix up some words, looking up things like the difference between speech and speach can really help. The most important thing is to be patient and keep practicing.
Ready to give your fingers a break? With WriteVoice, you can turn your spoken words into text up to four times faster than typing. Try it today and see how much time you can save. Get started at https://www.writevoice.io.