How to do ‘best practice’ practice!
A page of explanations & coaching tips to help trainees follow the most effective ‘practice path’.
We’ll gradually add more & more tips and guidance…
Tips for Stages 5-8
Stage 5 (Home Position)
Stage 7 (Word Drills)
Stage 8 (Phrases etc…)
Avoid “brute” repetition
To Repeat or Not to Repeat?
Brute Repetition is when you repeatedly type the same thing (same thing same thing same thing…)
Don’t do it!
If you type something “RFT” (Right First Time) …then type something different next!
But if you make a mistake (‘hit a rumble strip‘) then it’s good to do some immediate repetition. See RNT.
Many people think they should repeat something ‘for the sake of repeating it’, eg:
Stage 6: yhn yhn yhn yhn yhn ujm ujm ujm…
Stage 7: up up up up… or hat hat hat cup cup cup…
Stage 8: in the end, in the end, in the end…
I call this BRUTE repetition.
Dumb, Mindless, Boring Repetition.
Avoid it! For at least these 3 reasons:
1) Brute Repetition is unrealistic.
How often do we type the same thing more than once in a row in the ‘real world’?
Very very rarely (see what I did there?)
We certainly rarely type something 3 or more times together. So why practise it?
2) Brute Repetition switches your brain off.
The body has a sort of ‘short-term’ muscle memory autopilot.
It can relatively easily ‘take over’ some simple REPEATED physical activity and maintain reasonable accuracy while letting your mind wander a bit.
But it’s not persistent and readily-accessible later. It only works while it works. If you do something different it rapidly gets overwritten. You can’t run it later with any particular confidence.
3) Brute Repetition creates a false sense of progress.
Because you’re not challenging your body (or mind) to do anything different, it’s possible for your typing of a repeated word or phrase to speed up significantly and maintain unrepresentative accuracy.
These higher speeds and accuracy are not easy to maintain when you start ‘real’ typing (where each new word is generally different from the last!)
Get it RNT
Right Next Time
If you hit a rumble strip, do not correct your mistake – leave it showing (do no editing)
Instead… maybe put a space or two in, breathe deeply and smile (to stay relaxed!)…
…use your next keystrokes to have another go at the thing you got wrong (but slow down and double-check each move more as you go).
When you are practising, do ZERO editing.
No backspacing. No “reversing on the motorway”!
No ‘arrowing’ back in the text to amend anything.
No use of mouse to highlight and alter anything.
No attempts to “hide the evidence” or “brush your errors under the carpet”.
Because if you do that, you’ll possibly forget what you got wrong and not work on getting it right in future!
Keep going FORWARDS.
Leave your errors on display.
Put a space if you like.
And have another go with your next keystroke(s).
Why? The point of practice is not to produce perfect finished text, but to see what goes well and what doesn’t.
So you can do more practice on the bits that need it!
If you make a mistake (“rumble strip”) while practising, then not only should you try again immediately (get it “Right. Next. Time” – RNT) but it’s good to repeat that correct version at least once straight away.
Two correct versions to ‘outnumber’ the mistake, like this: FISJ FISH FISH
And then maybe repeat it again within your next few practice ‘reps’ (but not sequentially).
No Editing!
Whatever you typed, leave it showing
When you are doing practice, do ZERO editing.
No backspacing.
Keep going FORWARDS.
Leave any errors on display. And don’t let them cause any Pressure for you!
Pause (the ultimate slow down) – Relax (Breathe) – maybe put a space or two … and have an immediate go with your next keystroke(s) at getting it Right. Next. Time. (RNT) – TWICE … before moving on to type something new.
COPY?
When you are doing practice, do ZERO editing.
No backspacing.
Keep going FORWARDS.
Leave your errors on display.
And have an immediate go – with your next keystroke(s) – at getting it Right. Next. Time. (RNT) – TWICE – before moving on with something new.
If you make a mistake (“rumble strip”) while practising, then not only should you try again immediately (get it “Right. Next. Time” – RNT) but it’s good to repeat that correct version at least once straight away.
Two correct versions to ‘outnumber’ the mistake, like this: FISJ FISH FISH
And then maybe repeat it again within your next few practice ‘reps’ (but not sequentially).
When you are practising, do ZERO editing.
No backspacing. No “reversing on the motorway”!
No ‘arrowing’ back in the text to amend anything.
No use of mouse to highlight and alter anything.
No attempts to “hide the evidence” or “brush your errors under the carpet”.
Because if you do that, you’ll possibly forget what you got wrong and not work on getting it right in future!
Keep going FORWARDS.
Leave your errors on display.
Put a space if you like.
And have another go with your next keystroke(s).
Why? The point of practice is not to produce perfect finished text, but to see what goes well and what doesn’t.
So you can do more practice on the bits that need it!
If you make a mistake (“rumble strip”) while practising, then not only should you try again immediately (get it “Right. Next. Time” – RNT) but it’s good to repeat that correct version at least once straight away.
Two correct versions to ‘outnumber’ the mistake, like this: FISJ FISH FISH
And then maybe repeat it again within your next few practice ‘reps’ (but not sequentially).
Stage 6
Story Drilling
Ideally you should still be speaking the relevant story phrases aloud at exactly the same time each finger types its column.
Empty section. Edit page to add content here.
Some FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) about doing practice at this Stage
Question
Stage 6 FAQ
We suggest you start some Stage 6.5 reps
…when…
…your Stage 6 practice is consistently very accurate
…in other words maybe 98-100% accuracy every time? (And maybe even getting a bit boring?)
Stage 6.5 is like normal Story Drills except using your fingers in a mixed-up order whilst keeping the phrase/finger movement sequence the same (Forward-Middle-Back). Like this, for instance:
EDC UJM WSX IK, P;/ QAZ
For more explanation, see MORE DETAIL tab above.
Mixed up Story Drills help you fine-tune-to-perfection the precision of your finger moves while you jump around the keyboard at random – more like you’ll be doing at Stage 7 (Word Drills)
A 6.5 Drill is like a normal Story Drill, except it doesn’t go from left to right through the normal story sequence.
So rather than doing the normal drill like this:
QAZ WSX EDC RFV… etc
Instead, you jump around at random between the fingers like this:
IK, WSX P;/ RFV YHN…
or
EDC QAZ UJM P;/ EDC …
or
OL. YHN IK, QAZ RFV P;/…
Ideally you should still be speaking the relevant story phrases aloud at exactly the same time each finger types its column.
Some FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) about doing Stage 6.5
“Jumping around” doesn’t mean going fast!
In fact “Slow as necessary to be as Accurate as possible” is as important as ever.
Ideally go slow enough to decide ‘on the fly’ which finger to jump to next. In other words, as you finish one phrase, you’re choosing the next finger to jump to… which requires your brain to quickly think of the right Story Keywords to say in sync with that next finger’s movements.
Should I use ALL my fingers in EACH rep?
No need…. don’t worry about keeping track of which fingers you’ve done in an attempt to always do ALL of them equally.
Trust that enough repetition and ‘randomness’ will cover all of them.
(You’ll probably KNOW if you’ve been neglecting any fingers/columns over time)
Do I always have to choose fingers at RANDOM?
No, you can choose a pattern if you like
(eg little fingers first, left and right: QAZ P;/
then ring fingers: WSX OL. and so on…)
…but don’t repeat the SAME pattern too much (or at all).
What about going UP the columns from the bottom row?
No.
Keep each Phrase intact in its correct sequence.
In other words: always Forward, Middle, then Back in that order.
Never reverse the Phrases (eg “Morsels Jelly Uncover” and typing MJU).
Never mix up the Phrases (eg “Digital Entered Codes” and typing DEC)
This would give your conscious brain too much of the wrong sort of work to do at this stage of your new habit development.
Should I STOP doing normal Stage 6 Story Drills?
No. Probably not. Yet.
You’re never really finished with Stage 6 – in the same way that a world-class professional pianist will not have ‘given up’ practising scales. Nor would a Premier League footballer have gone ‘beyond’ basic fitness drills like sprints and press-ups.
You can certainly do less Stage 6 once you’ve proven you can be Slick ‘n’ Quick and Cannot. Get. It. Wrong.
If you can do a full Story Drill in, say 10 seconds or less, with not a flicker of a rumble strip – and maybe even while you’re no longer reciting the story words, but are looking at, and chatting with, someone else. About football, or the weather, or something!
Perhaps you can “keep your hand in” by doing Story Drills from time to time (maybe a few before, and after, your Stage 7 and Stage 8 practice – like warming up and cooling down exercises before and after some serious exercise)?