Actions/Observations:
- I printed out the keyboard layout, cut the individual keys, and taped them to my keyboard. (They started falling off after a week. But, that's fine.)
- I didn't practice with any of the typing lessons.
- After a couple of days, I could tell that my fingers moved less and that typing was more comfortable (though slower).
- It took me 4 weeks of heavy usage to regain most of my QWERTY proficiency with COLEMAK.
- I expect to type faster than I ever did with QWERTY.
If you expect to use a keyboard for 5 years or more, learning COLEMAK (or another non-QWERTY layout) should be a no-brainer. Why continue using a layout designed to slow you down?