How I increased my typing speed from 40 to 120 WPM
Tags: productivity, writing, tutorial
Published: 2022-07-28 12:34:00

Typing 2–3 times faster than the average person is a good advantage. Especially for a writer or programmer. That’s why I got into it.

In the beginning, I had 40 WPM (words per minute). It’s ~200 symbols.

Now my speed ranges from 100 to 120 WPM.

![Typing cat](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/gp429r22shac04ykve1r.gif)

## How to make progress and not quit in a week

The whole algorithm can be boiled down to this:

1. Choose a service for typing practice.
2. Place your fingers and stop looking at your keyboard.
3. Make a habit **(the most important part)**.

## 1. Service for typing practice

I use [keybr](https://www.keybr.com/), but you can pick any service that counts your words and allows you to customise the text.

![[keybr.com](https://www.keybr.com/)](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/9ynykilytz0jwv577k16.png)
 

Some programmers might want to use [SpeedCoder](https://www.speedcoder.net/). It allows practising typing in your favourite language’s syntax.

![[SpeedCoder](https://www.speedcoder.net/)](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/tndi2pucwa3gsrh0z9qr.png)
 
## 2. Placing fingers

This is the hardest part for the majority.

Most people don’t **use all their fingers** while typing. It’s okay if your speed is 30 WPM, but it’s almost unreal to type 75 WPM+ like this.

**So it’s best to take care of this in the very beginning.** Speed might drop down first, but it will grow faster then.

The same rule can be applied to the **habit of looking at your keyboard**. Don’t do that. It’s better to get used to that now than suffer from it later on.

Also, **it’s not necessary to stick to the classical finger setting**. For example, I always use my left little finger for shift/ctrl and pressing q/a/z only with my ring finger.

![Classical finger setting](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/07sisw9g25gzaqm83132.png)

## 3. Making a habit

The most underrated and unobvious part.

I was surprised by how easily typing can become a part of my day.

At first, you do it because you «have to» but later… **your hands are reaching out to open a tab with typing practice by themselves**. And you find yourself typing having your head in the clouds.

**It’s like a meditation.** It’s relaxing to take some time and do some typing during the workday.

I managed to type almost every day this way.

![My statistics. Available publicly on [keybr.com](https://www.keybr.com/profile/44hyxb7)](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/n0wvparw14rht34bg4ay.png)

**Make the whole process as easy as possible for yourself.**

I picked the simplest setting: English layout in lower case without punctuation marks.

## What else?

From my own experience — you quickly reach 60–70 WPM. Then I’s much harder to grow. That’s why you need a strong habit.

My current goal is 150 WPM.

I started with this [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ArVtCQqQRE&feature=youtu.be) — recommended for watching.

Feel free to share your own experience in the comments.

Good luck!