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Have you ever considered this one skill that directly affects your progress?

by Nick Brighton
16 replies
Simply put -

TYPING SPEED/ACCURACY.

I know this is a little off topic in terms of marketing, but I
am curious as to whether many folks here value their ability
to type fast/accurate and whether it slows you down or not?

I am personally engaging in a touch typing course to boost
my work output and I estimate that once I reach a decent
level of typing speed and accuracy, I'll probably be able to
shave a few hours off my day.

PLUS...

I won't begrudge or put off having to write full blown articles,
or sales copy, eBooks...or anything else for that matter.

This is one skill that if you haven't already mastered, then it
could be holding you back.

So, are you a fast typer who makes few mistakes, or do
your typing habits suck the life and time out of your projects
and daily schedule?
#affects #considered #directly #progress #skill
  • Profile picture of the author Tina Golden
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    • Profile picture of the author Nick Brighton
      Originally Posted by TMG Enterprises View Post

      I type correctly although I am not the fastest typist in the world. I average around 60 wpm which isn't bad. I can't imagine doing any of my online work without being able to type.

      I actually think I got more out of my keyboarding classes in college than most of the other courses...lol.

      Tina G
      I'm a little different. I can type pretty fast, roughly 50-60 wpm, but I don't have the technique down so I tend to make the odd slip up and also have gaps and slight pauses every now and then.

      I think with a rework on the technique, I'll be able to make better use of my time. I just wonder if others ever think about these less obvious things that have a direct impact on our daily work?

      (unless you don't need to type for your business of course)
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  • Profile picture of the author Colin Evans
    I can type faster than I can write (and I only use two fingers on each hand) so I've never bothered doing a touch typing course...

    My biggest problem is stopping to edit each sentence - it's quicker to just type the entire article and then go back and edit it - but old habits die hard...
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  • Profile picture of the author airbusbarkley
    I can type reasonably fast, but I do tend to have a few typos. I find it easier to correct my typing at the end of my project or paragraph as to not interrupt the flow. This process also allows me to double check for grammar and punctuation of the draft all at one time. Typing with speed and accuracy is a definite skill to acquire.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lloyd Buchinski
    I've noticed my rate climbing over the last while. The more you do something the better you get at it. But I'm not sure it's an essential skill. A blogger at work has a cartoon on his cubical wall about a 5 year old who blogs. He can't spell so he does it with voice recognition software.

    It is apparently pretty good now and it will only get better. Of course the cartoon is just a joke but I was thinking about it and wouldn't at all be surprised to see typing just about die out as a skill over the next generation.

    Also on his wall, one dog is telling another "I used to blog, but I decided to go back to pointless, incessant barking." Off this topic but enjoyable.
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    • Profile picture of the author Palo Coyote
      I learned touch typing in a High School class about 45 years ago and have typed ever since, my speed is quite good. I found a better way.

      If you want to shave hours off your time doing any typing think about Dragon Naturally, version 9 is 98% accurate and the errors you correct are very simple. It is impossible for this program to mis-spell a word, no misspelled words are in it's data base. Now, you can do than instead of then and your instead of you're, but it eventually evens learns how you speak. I can do a 500 word article in about 10 minutes. Go back and edit and bam done.

      It's a bit pricey, I got the upgrade because I began with them on Ver. 5. If it's speed you want, check it out.

      Thanks,
      Palo
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      • Profile picture of the author Bryan Zimmerman
        I took 3 years of typing in highschool. Best class my parents forced me to take. I can type a 250 word article in about 3 minutes with very few mistakes.

        I agree with Palo though, Dragon Speak will make your writing much faster if your not a very fast typer. You just talk into the mic and it types for you, nice program and your fingers don't get tired from it!
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      • Profile picture of the author steve39
        Originally Posted by Palo Coyote View Post

        I learned touch typing in a High School class about 45 years ago and have typed ever since, my speed is quite good. I found a better way.

        If you want to shave hours off your time doing any typing think about Dragon Naturally, version 9 is 98% accurate and the errors you correct are very simple. It is impossible for this program to mis-spell a word, no misspelled words are in it's data base. Now, you can do than instead of then and your instead of you're, but it eventually evens learns how you speak. I can do a 500 word article in about 10 minutes. Go back and edit and bam done.

        It's a bit pricey, I got the upgrade because I began with them on Ver. 5. If it's speed you want, check it out.

        Thanks,
        Palo
        Dragon is great and a real time saver. The problem I have is that, even though it won't misspell a word, it will substitute and fill in words that make no sense. I'm a native English speaker with no discernible accent (unless you count my Canadian accent lol). It was actually making quite a few mistakes before I got a quality mic. That made all the difference.

        However, I've found that no matter what, you can't slack off and get too complacent in your speech or it starts making mistakes.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tyrus Antas
    I type reasonably fast but only use 3 fingers of each of my hands.

    Tyrus
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    • Profile picture of the author Colin_Bird
      The speed that I type - matters only to me. I am not a fast typist by any means, but I'm OK with that. If I needed to type articles all day long every day, I'd maybe try to learn touch-typing. But, for what I do, I'm fast enough. Like Colin Evans, I can type faster than I can write.

      What does bother me, though, is accuracy. I'll try to correct obvious mistakes as I go along and then double-check when I reach the end of a section.

      When I read someone's offering on a page, I can't tell (and indeed don't care) how long that it's taken to write. But, I see so many websites and sales pages out there that are peppered with either spelling mistakes or just plain bad grammar. Although the message on the page can probably be understood by one and all, the lack of attention to detail can strike prospects as amateurish.

      It hlpes if yuvoe got all of the lerttes in the rghit palces, but eevn tehn - it's sltil radebale! Jsut not vrey pfessroinoanl.

      It can make the page seem 'rushed' and, subconsciously, potential customers could reason that if the writers can't be bothered to check their work, why should I be bothered to click on their offers?

      I realise that not everyone can have an 'A+' at spelling and that not everyone has English as their first language. I am certainly not perfect - by any means. But, spellcheckers are everywhere these days - in word processors, text editors and online. It only takes a few clicks to check and correct our output.

      Sorry if I went a bit off-topic on this one. And, just to cover myself here, I treat posting in threads differently. Here we're trying to come to the aid of Warrior friends by helping to solve problems for them and an answer to their dilemma is all they're interested in - we're not selling anything here.

      Now I must triple-check this outburst before I click the 'Submit Reply' button!

      Col
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  • Profile picture of the author TMJonsson
    I have always been blessed with this skill.

    I am able to type over 140 words a minute with (I would estimate) about 95% accuracy.

    Being on the computer about 10-15 hours a day, nearly every day, since I was 12 years old has something to do with that I would surmise!
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  • Profile picture of the author gpsterra
    Good God, 140 WPM? I thought I was fast at 60.

    I only wish.
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  • Profile picture of the author ken_p
    i dont think my typing skills posed any problems in my online career. i did a it of practice way back. I wonder what is my typing score now, that i just bought a netbook, and the keys are a bit smaller than my regular ones.
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  • Profile picture of the author amki
    Banned
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    • Profile picture of the author Intrepreneur
      I type very fast and when it's important that my spelling is absolutely correct, I open up Micrsoft Word and fix all the errors, just today I almost wrote on the end of an ad.. don't mind the spelling errors, I'm in a rush to te airport for my carribbean holiday :-)

      Serioulsy though it does slow down your day but it's not really going to change that dramatically so you've just got to work around it.
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  • Profile picture of the author George Wright
    Hi,

    The best thing I ever learned about Word is how to turn off spell/grammar check. No distraction, no stopping the flow, I just stay in the zone and type, type, type.

    When I'm finished with the article, chapter or sales page I then turn spell check on and make all the corrections.

    George Wright
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve Sanchez
      The more you type the faster you get. It just took me 2 minutes to type this post!
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