Typos Are Costly: Mastering Touch Typing to Prevent Errors

1. Embrace Touch Typing to Avoid Costly Typos

To mitigate the financial risks associated with typos are costly, mastering touch typing is a must. This technique trains individuals to type effortlessly with all ten fingers, without looking at the keyboard, boosting your confidence to type from any physical page, book, or any other type of printed document. This way, you can notice any typos that might be made while typing directly from your brain, simply by looking at the screen.

However, touch typing is not that easy; one has to learn touch typing by constantly practicing and following a touch typing course or a book. The best-selling touch typing book, “Learn Touch Typing in 12 Simple Lessons” by Muhammad Umar, provides you with 12 easy-to-follow practice lessons, tips, and tricks to improve typing speed and accuracy, strategies to pass typing tests, and practice lessons for the numeric keypad. For quick reference, hand charts with each finger’s corresponding keys are included. For self-assessment, touch typing quizzes with answers are provided. Click here to buy a paperback or hard copy of “Learn touch typing in 12 Simple Lessons.“

2. Stay Focused and Attentive: Stop Typos in Their Tracks

Even proficient touch typists can fall victim to typos when multitasking or distracted. It is true that typos are costly, and therefore, maintaining focus and attentiveness while typing is vital to avoid these mistakes. Even though touch typing relies on muscle memory, it still requires attention to prevent typos. One effective way to stay focused is by reading the words as you type, strengthening the connection between muscle memory and the written content, thus reducing the likelihood of errors.

3. Strengthen Spelling and Vocabulary: Control Typing Errors With Confidence

A robust command of spelling and vocabulary plays a significant role in achieving higher typing accuracy and speed. If you know the spelling of a word, it will be easier to type compared to relying on external sources. Additionally, possessing a strong vocabulary boosts confidence among touch typists, enabling them to navigate through typing with minimal typos. Strong spelling and vocabulary contribute to achieving high typing speed and accuracy, and as a result, you can tackle typing tasks with confidence and avoid costly typos.

4. Keep Calm and Confident: Prevent Typos with a Positive Mindset

Nervousness can significantly impact typing accuracy and speed, leading to an increase in typos. It’s crucial to maintain a sense of calm and confidence while typing to avoid costly errors. Don’t get nervous when typing and never worry about making mistakes in front of your colleagues, supervisors, managers, or directors. Instead, start with a slow typing speed and gradually increase your speed as you become more comfortable. Feeling relaxed and confident will help you perform better, and by following these simple rules, you can prevent costly typos. For a detailed explanation, head over to our article ” Getting Nervous“

5. Optimize Speed for Accuracy: Ways to Control Typing Errors

If you find yourself making too many typos at a particular time, deliberately slowing down your typing speed and focusing on accuracy can significantly reduce the occurrence of typos. Read the article, Increase typing speed without compromising accuracy to learn how prioritize accuracy over speed. 

6. Choose Reliable Keyboards: Avoid Costly Typos with the Right Tools

Utilizing keyboards with sticky keys can lead to frequent typos due to keys failing to register properly. Avoid these complications by selecting keyboards designed for typing and office work, enhancing your typing experience and reducing costly mistakes. Here is a list of handpicked keyboards tailored for typing and office work, ensuring a smooth and error-free typing experience.

7. Utilize Spelling Checkers: Detect and Correct Typos with Technology

To enhance accuracy, ensure that the spelling checker is always enabled while typing. The red wavy line indicates a spelling mistake, allowing you to swiftly correct errors by right-clicking on the word. 

8. Harness the Power of AutoCorrect: Reduce Typos Automatically

AutoCorrect, a powerful feature offered by word processors, can significantly minimize common typos. By automatically rectifying obvious mistakes and incorporating your custom corrections, AutoCorrect becomes an invaluable ally in your quest for error-free typing. By default, it can automatically correct obvious mistyped words such as “teh” (the), “taht” (that), “theen” (then), and more. You can also add your own frequently mistyped words or abbreviations to the AutoCorrect dictionary, allowing for personalized error prevention.

9. Take Breaks for Efficiency: Prevent Costly Typos with Rest

Typing for prolonged periods can lead to fatigue and increased typos. Regularly take short breaks to refresh your mind and reduce the chances of making errors. When human beings get tired, their productivity decreases, so if you feel fatigue or discomfort, it is best to take a break for a few minutes. When you come back, you will notice that the rate of typos has decreased, and you will feel more energetic, typing without errors.

10. Proofread Your Work: Ensure Error-Free Content

After completing a typing task, proofreading is essential to ensure the text is free of typos. Request someone else’s assistance or perform the task yourself, making necessary corrections for a polished final product. It is vital to proofread your work to catch any typos that might have been missed during the initial typing phase.