Chapter 2 - How do I execute on my skills while in a test? ⏎ Mind Control ⏎ "There is no greater indicator for performance than confidence" ⏎ -Swofty ⏎ But what does this mean for typing? Most people believe they're fairly confident when it comes to typing, however when I hear people verbalise their confidence they always speak about their physical capacity to type at such speeds. This is an incorrect mitigation that stems from the misguided attempts of typists to link speed to physical capacity. ⏎ Functionally, typing is 90% mental. Confidence in your ability to physically hit the keys is useless, because that's not what typing is about. The real confidence that one must attain, is their confidence to control their mind; only after that can a typist reach their true potential. ⏎ How often during a typing test are you thinking about things other than the typing? How many times are you thinking about how much time is left, how about the mistake you made two seconds ago, or how you don't think you're on PB pace? ⏎ The phenomenon described above is what cognitive psychologists call divided attention - when your working memory is simultaneously processing multiple streams of information. During optimal typing performance, you want to achieve what Csikszentmihalyi termed flow state - a condition of complete absorption where self-consciousness disappears and performance becomes effortless. ⏎ The key mechanism here is selective attention - your ability to focus cognitive resources on task-relevant stimuli while inhibiting irrelevant mental chatter. When you're calculating WPM mid-test or ruminating on previous errors, you're experiencing cognitive interference that degrades your motor execution. ⏎ The most effective method for developing this attentional control is through systematic desensitization of mental wandering. When going to sleep, instead of allowing your mind to replay the day's events or engage in rumination cycles, deliberately redirect your attention to immediate tactile sensations - the texture of your bedsheets, the weight of your duvet, the firmness of your pillow. Try to "catch" yourself by talking to yourself in your mind, just repeating over and over what you feel. Eventually you won't need to catch yourself by talking, and this will simply be a mental process you can execute at will. ⏎ This practice is fundamentally mindfulness meditation - specifically training your metacognitive awareness (awareness of your own thinking processes) and attentional regulation. Each time your mind drifts to other thoughts, return focus to these physical sensations. This strengthens the neural pathways responsible for executive attention control and creates cognitive flexibility - the ability to rapidly shift between different attentional states. ⏎ Through consistent practice, you develop what's called sustained attention - the capacity to maintain focus on a single stimulus stream for extended periods. This same mechanism transfers directly to typing performance, where you can maintain present-moment awareness of letter sequences and finger movements without mental commentary. There are some additional mindset changes that you'll find you have access to one you've developed selective attention, though if you have not yet developed this you will find these near impossible; ⏎ Present-moment anchoring: During typing tests, maintain awareness of the immediate visual-motor loop - seeing the next word, feeling your fingers move, hearing the keystrokes. This prevents temporal displacement (thinking about past mistakes or future performance). ⏎ Cognitive defusion: When performance-related thoughts arise ("I'm going too slow"), recognize them as mental events rather than facts requiring response. This reduces rumination cycles that consume working memory resources. ⏎ Physiological regulation: Maintain consistent breathing patterns and muscle tension. Autonomic nervous system stability supports sustained attention and reduces the fight-or-flight response that creates typing anxiety. ⏎ The goal is automaticity - where typing execution becomes largely unconscious, freeing up cognitive resources that would otherwise be consumed by self-monitoring and performance evaluation. This is why consistent near-PB performance becomes possible - you're accessing your true motor ability without cognitive interference.🏁

Chapter 2 - How do I execute on my skills while in a test? ⏎ Mind Control ⏎ "There is no greater indicator for performance than confidence" ⏎ -Swofty ⏎ But what does this mean for typing? Most people believe they're fairly confident when it comes to typing, however when I hear people verbalise their confidence they always speak about their physical capacity to type at such speeds. This is an incorrect mitigation that stems from the misguided attempts of typists to link speed to physical capacity. ⏎ Functionally, typing is 90% mental. Confidence in your ability to physically hit the keys is useless, because that's not what typing is about. The real confidence that one must attain, is their confidence to control their mind; only after that can a typist reach their true potential. ⏎ How often during a typing test are you thinking about things other than the typing? How many times are you thinking about how much time is left, how about the mistake you made two seconds ago, or how you don't think you're on PB pace? ⏎ The phenomenon described above is what cognitive psychologists call divided attention - when your working memory is simultaneously processing multiple streams of information. During optimal typing performance, you want to achieve what Csikszentmihalyi termed flow state - a condition of complete absorption where self-consciousness disappears and performance becomes effortless. ⏎ The key mechanism here is selective attention - your ability to focus cognitive resources on task-relevant stimuli while inhibiting irrelevant mental chatter. When you're calculating WPM mid-test or ruminating on previous errors, you're experiencing cognitive interference that degrades your motor execution. ⏎ The most effective method for developing this attentional control is through systematic desensitization of mental wandering. When going to sleep, instead of allowing your mind to replay the day's events or engage in rumination cycles, deliberately redirect your attention to immediate tactile sensations - the texture of your bedsheets, the weight of your duvet, the firmness of your pillow. Try to "catch" yourself by talking to yourself in your mind, just repeating over and over what you feel. Eventually you won't need to catch yourself by talking, and this will simply be a mental process you can execute at will. ⏎ This practice is fundamentally mindfulness meditation - specifically training your metacognitive awareness (awareness of your own thinking processes) and attentional regulation. Each time your mind drifts to other thoughts, return focus to these physical sensations. This strengthens the neural pathways responsible for executive attention control and creates cognitive flexibility - the ability to rapidly shift between different attentional states. ⏎ Through consistent practice, you develop what's called sustained attention - the capacity to maintain focus on a single stimulus stream for extended periods. This same mechanism transfers directly to typing performance, where you can maintain present-moment awareness of letter sequences and finger movements without mental commentary. There are some additional mindset changes that you'll find you have access to one you've developed selective attention, though if you have not yet developed this you will find these near impossible; ⏎ Present-moment anchoring: During typing tests, maintain awareness of the immediate visual-motor loop - seeing the next word, feeling your fingers move, hearing the keystrokes. This prevents temporal displacement (thinking about past mistakes or future performance). ⏎ Cognitive defusion: When performance-related thoughts arise ("I'm going too slow"), recognize them as mental events rather than facts requiring response. This reduces rumination cycles that consume working memory resources. ⏎ Physiological regulation: Maintain consistent breathing patterns and muscle tension. Autonomic nervous system stability supports sustained attention and reduces the fight-or-flight response that creates typing anxiety. ⏎ The goal is automaticity - where typing execution becomes largely unconscious, freeing up cognitive resources that would otherwise be consumed by self-monitoring and performance evaluation. This is why consistent near-PB performance becomes possible - you're accessing your true motor ability without cognitive interference.🏁