7 Typing Mistakes That Slow You Down (and How to Fix Them)

Wrong fingers, flat fingers, looking down, overusing Backspace and more: the 7 most common typing mistakes and the simple fixes that make you faster and more accurate.

Most slow typing isn’t about talent. It’s a few habits you picked up without noticing. Here are the seven I see most, with a fix for each.

1. Using the wrong fingers for keys

If your index fingers do all the work, you’ve hit a ceiling. Fix: rest your fingers on the home row (ASDF and JKL;) and give each finger its own column of keys. It feels slower for a week, then it’s much faster for good.

2. Not using the Shift keys properly

Reaching for left Shift with your left hand to type a capital A twists your hand. Fix: use the Shift key on the opposite side of the letter you’re capitalizing.

3. Overusing Backspace

Tapping Backspace eight times to fix one word wastes seconds every minute. Fix: delete whole words at once with Ctrl + Backspace (⌥ + Delete on Mac). Here’s the full guide to deleting a whole word.

4. Typing with flat fingers

Flat fingers drag across the keys and hit their neighbors. Fix: curve your fingers slightly, like you’re holding a ball, and strike with the fingertips.

5. Looking at the keyboard

Every glance down breaks your rhythm and makes you lose your place on screen. Fix: find the little bumps on F and J with your index fingers, and keep your eyes on the screen even when it means more typos at first.

6. Not using keyboard shortcuts

Reaching for the mouse to copy, paste, switch windows or close a tab costs a few seconds every time, hundreds of times a day. Fix: learn one shortcut a week. The shortcut library has a quick guide for each.

7. Not practicing regularly

Speed comes from repetition. Fix: ten minutes a day on a free typing site beats one long session a month.

Quick wins for speed and accuracy

Learn touch typing properly, even if it slows you down at first.
Sit up straight with your wrists floating, not resting on the desk edge.
Use a comfortable keyboard. See 10 types of keyboards if yours feels like a wet sponge.
Take breaks. Tired hands make mistakes.
Use a typing program to track your words per minute as you improve.

Watch it

There’s a second short on how to hold your hands: Don’t do this when you’re typing. Type like this instead.