As I wrote in my last blog post, tomorrow starts "Learn To Type Week." What does this mean? I encourage you to read that post to understand the motivation. For now, though, let's talk about this week. We had a lot of fun over the past couple days with typeracer.com, and I hope to keep having fun with it, but now starts the work for the week.
I will be writing a blog post every night with some ideas and encouragement to keep you going through this week, spending 30 minutes a day working on your touch-typing. Are you already touch-typing? Maybe you want to spend the time improving your speed. Or, work on the top row (numbers/symbols).
On Day 1, first thing, here's my recommendation: go here and do either a 1-, 3- or 5-minute test. If you are just starting to touch-type, then do the 1-minute test; if you are an experienced touch-typist, do the 5-miute. But here's the catch: do it with a piece of paper over your hands: no peeking! The key for this is not to do it quickly, but to do it with 0 mistakes. This is your real touch-typing speed. So, do it a couple times, if you want, until you are satisfied. This is what you are going to measure yourself against over the course of the week. After you do that, mark it down. Why not put it on twitter or your blog? Let's do this together, and we will be more likely to keep it up and encourage each other.
Now, choose your typing lessons (I have some links on the original blog post, and you can always google for them) and start. Are you just learning to touch-type with home row? Then start going through the step-by-step tutorials. Are you an experienced home-row touch-typist wanting to get better? Maybe do the 5-minute typing test a couple times, interspersing a few trips to typeracer.com. Go to this site and play some games: what's your best score at Keyboard Revolution? Gotta Love The Duck!
Tomorrow, we'll reconvene and do some more.
And remember, this isn't about where you are now (no cries of 'I Suck!' only cries of 'I'm Getting Better!'), but where you are going to be, where you'll be in a week. So, try to make positive comments about your status. Believe me, it will help.
Hashtag: #learn2typewk
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