0x01: The Situation

First off, I want to make it clear that I already know how to type, if anybody was assuming otherwise, I am sorry to disappoint you. Rather the problem is that I ‘slop type’, a word that I made up to describe my horrendous typing style; to summarize what it’s like, I just go wherever my hands take me. This method has worked for me in the past and, to be honest, would have worked for me in the future, so why did I change?

0x02: Why I Changed

The major reason for the change is due to how I use software. I have really been wanting to learn the way of keyboard-only text editing via Helix/Vim; unfortunately, easier said than done when my right hand hovers over the backspace button. The home row hjkl movement required in Vim made learning it nearly impossible, as I would constantly default to the arrow keys, which is apparently a cardinal sin among anyone who actually knows what they’re doing. Luckily, touch typing fixes all of these problems as Vim’s keybinds were designed around them. This was the single largest motivator by far. I would not have changed if this was not such a big issue.

Another reason I am changing is due to the efficiency of touch typing. When I slop typed I would average around 60 to 70 words per minute, no pun intended, but touch typing would theoretically allow me to reach 100+ WPM, which is significantly higher. This could save me days or even weeks of my life, and before you laugh, I only calculated it that way because I know people who would.

0x03: My Goal

My goal is to post a monthly update on my touch typing journey, with the aim of wrapping it up this time next year. Along with that, I have set myself a series of milestones to hit:

  • Month 3: 50 WPM
  • Month 6: 70 WPM
  • Month 9: 90 WPM
  • Month 12: 100 WPM
  • Bonus Points: 120 WPM

0x04: Plan for Achievement

My plan is simple: practice. Monkeytype has a really cool GitHub-style activity board which will make it easy to screenshot and include in each monthly update. Below are the tools I will be using, and if anything changes I will mention it in the following update. All of these are used daily:

0x05: Progress

So far I have been averaging around 15 to 30 WPM, very inconsistent with a lot of mistakes, but I am excited to see how much I improve. progress-one

also this post was really hard to make…