I learned touch typing aroud 6 months ago, and I’m using it primarily ever since. It took a few months to pick up the basics, then a few more to improve my speed and accuracy, but it well worth the effort.

Touch typing is also called 10 fingers typing, because you use most of your fingers. It’s also blind typing; once you learn the positions of each keys, you’ll never need to look at the keyboard ever again.

The first few days were exhausting. I needed to memorize each keys and to build up muscle memory. Typing is usually a side activity. You want to write something, and you need to push the right buttons in the right order. Most likely you are not giving much attention to how you type. When you start out changing your typing patterns, you need to concentrate on how you do it. This was hard at first, but after a few days I got used to it and I just needed to build up speed and accuracy.

The next stage is to practice. There is no shortcut, you need to type a lot every day and see your numbers build up. After a while, you’ll see your speed enters the acceptable levels. From there, you’ll begin to see the advantages of this pattern. You’ll start to keep your eyes on the monitor and you’ll catch errors earlier. It’s a nice thing.

I reached the speed I wanted, but the accuracy is a harder topic. Even as I write these lines I’m correcting every few words. That seriously slows down the typing process, and while I’m progressing at a good pace, there is still room for improvement.

Learning touch typing is a fun activity. If you too are constantly learning useful things, this should be one of those things. You won’t regret it.