Interestingly enough, five minutes wasn’t enough for me to get any improvement in typeracer or the arithmetic game. I started at 80 WPM and got results both above and below that on my subsequent tries. Similarly I got 20 on my first attempt at the arithmetic game, 23 on the second attempt, and 17 on the third. I don’t think that makes speed impossible to train, it just suggests that it’ll take longer than 5 minutes!
Here are some of my proudest speed records:
Performance on exams when time is tight. For example, I had an undergraduate materials science exam where the professor had grossly underestimated the required time, making it a pure game of speed. I got a 93 when the average was in the low 60s.
Finishing an anomaly investigation at work. I was assigned to lead the investigation and resolution efforts to a significant issue found in one of our systems. I found the root cause, came up with a corrective action, and got agreement from our customer and independent reviewers in less than 1⁄2 the time it had taken on an earlier similar issue that been assigned to another engineer.
Cooking breakfast! I’m a master at all-out speed maximization on making breakfast burritos, avocado toast, eggs etc. I’ve gotten really good at prepping absolutely no more than is needed before I start the longest-cooking item going, then using the time when things are toasting and cooking to get everything together in just a few minutes.
Interestingly enough, five minutes wasn’t enough for me to get any improvement in typeracer or the arithmetic game. I started at 80 WPM and got results both above and below that on my subsequent tries. Similarly I got 20 on my first attempt at the arithmetic game, 23 on the second attempt, and 17 on the third. I don’t think that makes speed impossible to train, it just suggests that it’ll take longer than 5 minutes!
Here are some of my proudest speed records:
Performance on exams when time is tight. For example, I had an undergraduate materials science exam where the professor had grossly underestimated the required time, making it a pure game of speed. I got a 93 when the average was in the low 60s.
Finishing an anomaly investigation at work. I was assigned to lead the investigation and resolution efforts to a significant issue found in one of our systems. I found the root cause, came up with a corrective action, and got agreement from our customer and independent reviewers in less than 1⁄2 the time it had taken on an earlier similar issue that been assigned to another engineer.
Cooking breakfast! I’m a master at all-out speed maximization on making breakfast burritos, avocado toast, eggs etc. I’ve gotten really good at prepping absolutely no more than is needed before I start the longest-cooking item going, then using the time when things are toasting and cooking to get everything together in just a few minutes.