In the previous post I wrote about my first steps with touch typing and this one is about the progress I have since then.

Since my previous post I put another 40 hours into practice and I successfully unlocked all the letters on the keyboard including their capital version. Why the capital version is interesting? It is about where is the Shift key on the keyboard. I had the notion my pinkies won't be able to handle the load. I had this idea I have to place them on the thumb cluster somewhere. I had the chance to ask Prime where is the shift on his keyboard as he is a Kinesis user too. He told me that his shift keys are located where they are originally are, at the pinkies. So, I decided before I overcomplicate the whole back and forth I wanted to give a chance to the original setup. It turned out it works nicely. This problem is solved.

The second problem I faced was something I have never thought of: my brain. The problem with practicing seeing the text on the screen and following it by typing is really good as a practice, but I don't think that it replicates the reality fully. The goal I want to achieve is full muscle memory to put my thoughts into files as typed text. The practice I have been doing is something different. I see the text and I move my fingers. But, in reality what happens is thoughts are formulated in my mind (text, code, etc.) and this information is sent to the part of my brain controlling the movement of my finger. I felt that I have to practice this flow of the whole. I started writing my diary using the keyboard. At first my brain just hurt, my thoughts were cloudy and my fingers didn't find the right keys, my typing speed went down by 50%. However, after a few days of practice I saw that typing raw text from my thoughts is getting more and more better, the speed is coming up again. Moreover, the practicing sessions where I look at the screen and I type what I see also got gradually more precise and faster. My confidence in using the keyboard went up, so I started using it in my hobby projects and the experience is not that terrible as I expected. I can type code as fast as I can do with my Apple keyboard. I still have issues with navigation however I use IdeaVIM. But, I see that the building blocks are coming together to support me in faster typing independently from that if it is code or text. There is no frustration.

The lesson form me is that I have to provide input to my brain from multiple angles because it helps it evolve. When I was young I had the strange habit to write mails, you know paper, pen and envelope, where every other line was written my left hand in order force my brain evolve.