How I Learned to Type Numbers
How I built my typing speed from hen pecking to 60+ WPM. Lessons I learned along the way on typing, data analysis, and building habits.
Summary
One skill I’m proud of is touch typing. Specifically, typing the number row 0 to 9. It’s actually a skill that I learned just recently in the spring of 2025.
In this blog post, I’ll share how I learned this skill — where I started, my practice regime, and the end results. I’ll also share the lessons I learned along the way on data analysis (tracking my progress), my own unique insights on typing, and tips on building a new habit/skill. Finally, I’ll end with where I’m taking this skill next.
Background
I actually learned how to type in middle school, but I never learned how to type numbers. The best I remember, my younger myself made a stupid decision of “numbers aren’t that important” (haha) and thus decided to never to take those lessons seriously.
It’s a decision I came to regret. Like most white collar workers, I’m always on the computer, usually writing something of some sort. For years I’ve been pleased with my ability to write (compose my thoughts) as well as type (put them in the computer).
But typing numbers just sucked. I’d have to look down at my hands to find the right keys. Speed would slow dramatically, upending my train of thought. I felt an acute sense of shame.
Sure, younger me was right. I’m not an accountant nor do I do any real data entry. But still. Typing fast by touch and then randomly stopping to look down at your hands to type numbers was acutely disturbing.
Therefore, I decided once-and-for-all to learn to type numbers. My goal — get to the same speed and confidence with numbers as normal words.
What I Did
Simply 30 minutes practice every day on these two free sites:
Ideally everyday, but not necessary. Like exercise, it’s okay to take ‘rest days’ and weekends off.
Results
With only 2 months of effort, I’ve made significant progress.
Qualitatively, I went from ‘hen pecking’ (very slow) to basic touch typing (reasonable speed). I don’t need to look at my hands anymore and I have much more confidence.
Quantitatively, my speed has steadily improved. I’m at least 60 WPM when doing drills and at least 40 WPM on combined/contextual practice.
Honestly, I’m not at the same speed, accuracy, and confidence as typing words. Best guess is that I can type numbers at 60% to 80% of my ability to type normal words. But even that is a significant improvement.
Visualizing Progress
Tracking my progress is key. I simply have a Google Sheet where each row is a day, each column is a practice, and the value is the speed (WPM = words per minute) I achieved in that practice.
Steady progress is even clearer when shown on a graph.
Insights on Data Analysis
One thing you’ll notice in the table above is the color scheme. The cells are color coded (conditional formatting in Google Sheets) based on the speed. This “heat map” makes my progress very clear.
- Less than 40 = White
- 40 to 50 = Yellow
- 50 to 60 = Blue
- 60 to 70 = Green
- 70 to 80 = Purple
- 80 or more = Red
Another key insight I had was to format the date column as a plain text variable (left chart). Graphed this way, the upward linear trend is very clear. By contrast, if you plot it the default way as a time variable (right chart), the trend is hard to see because of the long time gaps.
These changes don’t just make the graphs pretty. They also reveal key insights in how I learned to type.
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First, the color coding revealed that the number drills from my left hand (1 2 3 4) are much faster than from my right (7 8 9 0). I think it’s because I always use my right thumb for the space bar. So for 1 2 3 4 I can use both hands to type, which is faster than just one hand when doing 7 8 9 0.
Second, formatting dates as plain text revealed that my speed was strikingly resilient even with very long gaps such as 3 months or a year between practices. I thought my skill would decay back to a beginner over time. But after shaking off some rust, I was surprised that my muscle memory reverted back to where it was before.
Insights on Typing
4, 5, and 6
I use my left hand, index finger for 4, 5, and 6. That is specifically because of the lessons on how-to-type.com. Some typing software teaches you to use your right hand for 6. I guess either way is fine. Though sometimes it is confusing to use one hand for 4, 5, and 6. So I might switch to my right hand for 6 one day.
Common Patterns are Stored Differently
Oddly enough, I am very good at typing other common numbers like my phone number and my address. I think it’s because those are stored as a unique muscle memory pattern in my brain, separately from pure numbers. So it is easy to type the 6 in my phone number … even though typing a 6 in other contexts might screw me up.
60 WPM is My Goal
The website how-to-type.com explicitly says that anything over 40 WPM is fast, but pros can reach up to 80 WPM. Lately I’ve been consistently hitting 60+ WPM during my drills, which is great.
But getting to 70 or higher is actually at my limit. 70+ requires perfection with no mistakes. 70 may be faster than what my “big” male hands can achieve. Finally and most importantly, when I hit 70+ I feel like I am learning the test rather than learning the skill.
So getting my speed to at least 60 is plenty good. Rather than get to 70+ it’s better to practice on other platforms and to practice in context.
Think a Little
Slowing down, even a microsecond or so, to ‘think’ about where my fingers will land does make me type faster. While yes it may slow me down just a bit, what ‘thinking’ really does is reduce the chance that I will make a mistake. Fixing mistakes slows me down even more than ‘thinking.’
Insights on Building Habits
Practice Makes Perfect
It’s obvious, but needs to be said: Practice makes perfect. It’s tough to come back after several days or longer without practicing. But repetition truly is the only way to build a skill, especially for muscle memory like typing.
Repeat Practices
At the start, I would do a given drill just once, track my speed, and then move on. Over time I changed so I would repeat a drill multiple times and then track my best result (fastest speed) in the sheet. Usually the second time is faster than the first time.
Mornings are Better
Anecdotally I am faster and more confident when practicing in the morning as compared to afternoon. Not always possible, as I have other morning responsibilities too. But when I can, I’m at my best before noon.
A Good Environment
Similarly, practice with a good environment. Too hot/cold, stress, outside noise, etc will definitely cause me to slow down and struggle.
Incentivize and Frame
I think of typing as kind of like a video game from when I was younger … it’s like practicing and learning how to complete a particularly hard level. Typing is simply ‘an adult form’ of a video game controller, haha.
Next Steps
Try Other Sites
I need to try other websites or learning platforms. The site www.how-to-type.com is great and free, but now I’m bored as it’s always the same drills. Over time I am learning the test rather than learning the skill underneath.
Practice in Context
Similarly, I need more practice typing numbers in context. Drills are good, but in real life numbers don’t appear that way. For me, numbers usually appear as decimal data points. For example: “The activation rate increased by 0.27% to 7.26% this week.”
The drills in how-to-type.com have some in-context practice, but not enough. They also have the irrational numbers like pi (3.141592653…) or e (2.71828…). Both numbers are cool but not important in daily life lol.
Improve Accuracy
The WPM speeds are only raw/aggregate speeds. I don’t track accuracy. Though if I do make a mistake, I always go back and fix it. But I never optimize for perfect accuracy on the first attempt.
Eventually I will track and maximize my accuracy. Yes, I know I should have done this first before going fast. But even in normal typing, my accuracy is not perfect either lol.
Learn the Piano
Eventually I want to learn another skill that requires good dexterity — playing the piano! I suppose there are some transferrable skills like muscle memory, rhythm, coordination, etc. But there’s also a whole lot more to learn — new hand motions, variable force, more patience, reading music, independent rhythms, etc. I’m looking forward to it!
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