Been trying to get to terms with touch-typing for a while. After 3 years of not getting anywhere with QWERTY, I switched to Dvorak... Having tried it before, I knew that it would make more sense. In about a month, I had the same progress that took me 3 years to get on QWERTY. But it does not seem to be getting better.
I'm trying to figure out what is the matter? It can't be the fact that I do not know the layout. You asked me to put the marking of Dvorak on a normal keyboard, I can. I know where each letter is.
I know it sounds crazy but it really seems like my fingers and my mind aren't even connected at times. I see 'A', I'm thinking 'A', I know that 'A' is on the left hand. So why does my right hand type 'R'?
Dude—First of all, good for you for having the
desire to improve. Without that, you can't get anywhere.
I don't know you—nor, I think, does anyone else here—so I can't say for sure, but it sounds to me like you may just be trying a bit too hard. It can happen to anyone. Ironically, it often happens just because you want to be better at something, and you push yourself too much, in the wrong way.
Like walking, riding a bike or playing music, typing is a largely unconscious skill. Once you learn where all the characters are, and your unconscious mind has the info it needs, your job is to
stop thinking about it and
let it happen. For example, as I type this, the
last thing I'm thinking about is where my fingers are... I'm just thinking about what I want to say.
When it comes to a spontaneous skill like this, stress and criticism are not your friend. Relaxation and trust are.
The ironic thing is, you aren't actually "doing" the typing at all; your memory and muscles are. When you first learned to ride a bike, you
had to pay attention to where your feet were, how well you were balanced on the bike, and a bunch of other individual things. But eventually you learned to just hop on the bike, go where you wanted to, and let your unconscious mind handle all the mechanical details.
Typing's just like that. As long as you stay focused on which keys you're pressing, and criticize yourself for missing one now and then, you can't get to that point, because you're keeping your typing stuck at the conscious level. It's like sending the chairman of the board down to work on the assembly line.
How can you possibly "control" what you type when you don't even know
how many muscles are in your arms or hands? (Well, maybe you've studied anatomy, but I haven't.) It's vanity to think "you" are doing it all. Once you have the
intention to do it, and you take the time to program it into your mind (which you've done), the more you can stay out of your own way, the better you'll do.
Yes, this seems like the opposite of what we're taught in our achievement-oriented, do-everything society. But let's face it: There isn't a single star athlete, artist or businessperson who really knows
why or
how they got so much better at something than most people. They just had the desire, and did the learning work, stayed positive and optimistic, and did their best. They
trusted themselves. You can do that too. (Of course, some of us turn out to be better at some things than others—but for the most part, it's just luck.)
Finally, a great way to improve at anything is to
make it fun. There are many free
online typing games where you can start at an easy level, gradually challenge yourself more and more, and have fun while you're doing it. And so what if you miss some words, or run out of time? Do you beat yourself up for losing other kinds of video games? Of course not—what would the point be? You just do the best you can, and enjoy yourself. That's the idea with these, too.
Good luck!
