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Mastering Keyboard Shortcuts: How to Work at the Speed of Thought

Why typing speed matters everywhere

I mentioned the idea of working at the speed of thought, where you can think of what you need to do and it can just happen, almost like your laptop is controlled by your mind. Besides all the apps that you can use and all the settings that you can configure to help you accomplish this work style, the one thing that connects all of the tools is that you use is, your keyboard. This means that the more fluent with your keyboard you are and the faster that you can type, the more things and the quicker you can get things done.

Using your keyboard to work at the speed of thought requires you to pay attention and to invest time in improving, your WPM (how fast you can type) and how many keyboard shortcuts you have committed to muscle memory. By doing these two things you enable yourself to work at the speed of thought.

Improving your WPM

The faster you can type, the more stunting it becomes to have to take your hands of the keyboard and reach for a mouse or to have to look at the keyboard to figure out where the modifier keys are. This means that you want to be able to touch type (have all the keys on the keyboard memorized and not have to look down at the keyboard to type), and you want to be proficient with every software and app that you use.

You also, want to minimize or at least know how to deal with things that stunt your flow and speed. These things are:

  • Errors: having to hit the backspace key so many times, or having to stop to correct the errors you made, can entirely kill the flow. There is no way to completely avoid mistakes, however, you can practice your accuracy and use command + backspce to delete an entire line or option + backspace to delete a whole word can help prevent errors from slowing you down.

  • Looking at the keyboard: Learning to touch type is pretty hard and only recently did I learn to. However, once I learned to touch type my WPM went from 70 to over 100. This is an extreme productivity boost. Not only does it directly help you work faster, it also helps you think better because you are removing the cognitive load of having to think in order to type from your brain, enabling you to use that brain power to instead complete your task better.

  • Poor Posture/Ergonomics: By making it as easy to type as possible your allow yourself to be able to type for longer more comfortably. If you were to have a bad typing posture, or keyboard that hurts to type on, then it may prevent you from being able to type for a while.

  • Reaching for the mouse: This is one of the worst habits, and yet it is so common. The less you reach for your mouse the faster you can transition to typing, the more keyboard shortcuts you can use, and the less of your brain power you have to speed thinking and adjusting your hands on the keyboard, just because you had to click something.

  • Lack of tools/tool efficiency: If you don't know the keyboard shortcuts for the apps that you use, or if you don't know how to do what you need to do as efficiently as possible, then you are hindering yourself.

Why keyboard shortcuts become second nature

The best next step to learning how to type fast, is learning keyboard shortcuts. Keyboard shortcuts are a combinations of keys that you can use to do something in app or to open an app. They help you to do everything on your laptop, and without them you wouldn't be able to work at the speed of thought.

Not only do mac and windows have keyboard shortcuts built in that work system wide, but many of the tools that you use (wether that is gmail for sending emails or obsidian for taking notes) have keyboard shortcuts built in.

By knowing the keyboard shortcuts for your operating system and the apps that you use, you are helping yourself work faster. If you only take one thing away from this post and apply it, it should be to learn and use as many keyboard shortcuts as possible.

Essential Mac keyboard shortcuts

I use mac, and there are way too many shortcuts for all the apps that I use to write down in this list. However, here are some of the keyboard shortcuts that you can start to learn and use in your daily workflow, to make you as productive as possible.

System & Navigation:

  • Command + Space - Spotlight search (opens instantly to search for apps, files, calculations, and more)
  • Command + Tab - Switch between open applications
  • Command + Q - Quit the current application
  • Command + W - Close the current window or tab
  • Command + M - Minimize window to Dock
  • Command + H - Hide the current application
  • Command + Control + F - Enter full-screen mode
  • Command + Option + D - Show or hide Dock

File Management:

  • Command + S - Save the current file
  • Command + Shift + S - Save As (brings up dialog to save with new name)
  • Command + N - New document or window
  • Command + O - Open file
  • Command + P - Print
  • Command + Shift + N - New folder in Finder

Text Editing:

  • Command + C - Copy selection
  • Command + X - Cut selection
  • Command + V - Paste
  • Command + A - Select all
  • Command + Z - Undo
  • Command + Shift + Z - Redo
  • Command + F - Find in document
  • Command + Shift + F - Find and replace
  • Command + Left Arrow - Go to beginning of line
  • Command + Right Arrow - Go to end of line
  • Option + Left Arrow - Move back one word
  • Option + Right Arrow - Move forward one word

Browsing & Apps:

  • Command + T - New tab in browser or app
  • Command + W - Close tab or window
  • Conmmand + N - New window in browser or app
  • Command + R - Refresh page
  • Command + L - Focus address bar in browser
  • Command + , - Open preferences/settings
  • Command + [ - Back a page (browser)
  • Command + ] - Forward a page (browser)
  • Command + Shift + T - Reopen closed tab

System Features:

  • Command + Shift + 3 - Screenshot entire screen
  • Command + Shift + 4 - Screenshot selection area
  • Command + Shift + 5 - Open Screenshot tool

Hidden Gems:

  • Shift + Option + Volume/Brightness keys - Fine-tune volume or brightness levels
  • Command + Shift + . - Show hidden files in Finder
  • Command + Option + M - Minimize all windows (show desktop)
  • Command + Control + Space - Open emoji picker

Ending

I love to learn new keyboard shortcuts, try to break my typing records, and to learn new words/spellings. I hope that this post benefited you and that you can apply something from it.

Thanks for reading, see you in tomorrows post!