Before I was a slow typer. But I convinced my dad to buy me a mechanical keyboard, and that changed everything. So here is my story on how I tripled my productivity with a mechanical keyboard.
I bought my first mechanical keyboard
2 years ago, I saw a video on YouTube about mechanical keyboards and how good it was. I was hooked by its beauty and its functions. That was the moment I entered the world of mechanical keyboards.
With that said, I persuaded my dad to buy me a Keychron K2. Honestly, it was quite pricey compared to an ordinary keyboard, but if you compare it side by side with other mechanical keyboards, it’s not costly at all.
I learned to touch-type
I knew nothing when I entered this world of touch-typing and didn’t have any expectations either. I simply searched on the internet, “How to type faster?” and the results I found were pointing in the same direction, that is to learn something called “Touch-Typing”. After reading through many resources and practicing touch-typing myself, this is my very own version of what touch-typing is. Touch-typing is typing without looking at the keyboard. Meaning that you have to know where all the keystrokes are located which requires some kind of memory. However, I am not saying that you have to sit down and remember all the locations of the characters in the English alphabet because we have a great alternative way of achieving this; it’s called, “Muscle Memory”. Muscle memory is when you can type without looking at the keyboard and without having to use your brain power to recall the location of the character you want to type. It’s like having the memory embedded into your muscle.
The harsh truth was that when I started touch typing, I can type at the speed of 22 wpm (words per minute) which is ridiculously slow considering the fact that an average person can type at 40 wpm.
I practiced touch-typing every day and touch-typed everything
When I started off, I knew that it was going to be difficult and I had to practice typing a lot, so I decided to type everything that I need to with touch-typing. I get to practice every time I work on my computer, even though it means working at a slower pace. I remember clearly trying to find any assignment on Google Classroom that I can get done by typing. With practice, I gradually got better and better. I got to a point where I typed faster than an average person at 58 wpm. I was surprised by the progress I had made, but I didn’t stop there. I practiced, practiced, and practiced. With the dedication and effort I put in, I am now typing at 80 wpm which is actually quadruple the speed when I began with.
Already acquired touch-typing? Let’s type lecture notes!
When I was studying in year 11 at The Newton Sixth Form School we started to have classes online because of the Covid-19 outbreak. As a result of doing online lectures, I got to study at home and be in the comfort of my own environment. I took that opportunity to type all my notes out for many subjects e.g. psychology, biology, and human biology. This not only allows me to practice typing even more, but since I am now a fast typer, I am able to capture all the content in class while the teacher is lecturing and don’t miss anything. I can have notes written in my own style which will be very useful when I have to review for examinations. And the fact that I got to type on my loud, brown switch keyboard made everything even more satisfying. Luckily my parents said it wasn’t disturbing them at all so they don’t have anything against it.
Use keyboard shortcuts to take it to another level
As I mentioned above, I type notes during online lectures, and my other main point is, I did it on Notion. Here is where the controversy begins. Some people say Notion is hard to use but personally, I think if you spend a little bit of time learning and actually trying it out, you will find many tools that are useful which can create a visual hierarchy in your notes i.e. use different types of headings, divider, font color, and background color. Moreover, you can create comparison tables, paste images, or even embed links to your note. It’s like an all-in-one note-taking app for people with any kind of need. Having mentioned all of this, I want to tell you one more thing; Notion has shortcuts to these tools that you can use. So for me when I use Notion, most of the time I don’t have to touch my mouse. And that empowers me to work faster and get into the state of flow easier when working.
On top of that, I also carry on this concept of using shortcuts on my Windows computer as well. For example, if I want to open Google Chrome, I just click the window key on my keyboard and type “chr” and hit enter. This really comes in handy when you have to use many programs in a day for both working and entertaining.
All in all, I have doubled or sometimes tripled my workforce under the same amount of time already using these techniques. Therefore, I recommend you try them out yourself too. Feel free to tweak things as you go because something that fits me doesn’t necessarily mean it will fit you.
Anyways, thank you for reading until the end. I hope you enjoyed this article and learned something new.
As always, see you later, alligator!
Take care👋