How do you personally change gears in a manual transmission?

1. Smoothly come off the throttle to release engine torque from the drivetrain. Don't release all the way. 2. When it's unloaded press in the clutch, enough to disengage the plates. Just a tiny bit. 3. Change the gear. 4. Smoothly release the clutch and gently add throttle to match their speed. ( You have to get a feel for it) 5. Smoothly press the throttle to accelerate. Everything needs to happen smoothly. There is a small delay after letting off the gas and pressing the clutch. You basically have to stop accelerating but don't engine brake, just coast. When the car is costing like that you can disengage the clutch without upsetting the car. You do the same thing while engaging but in reverse. Engage everything in that free floating window. Clutch just needs some pressure release to allow the gears to float into place. There's no need to press it a lot. Then it's just practice. The whole procedure should take a fraction of a second. It should be very smooth, not 1 and 0. Try doing it slowly. Release the throttle so the car is neither accelerating or slowing down. Gently apply the pressure to the shifter and as you press the clutch you'll feel the gears float over to a different gear. Additionally you need a tiny bit of throttle to keep it in the sweet spot. When down shifting you need to add some throttle to match the higher RPM of the lower gear. I also like to gently pre-load the shifter, when you get the speeds just right it will float right into gear without much effort. It's a complex technique with a lot of feel needed but it's unbelievably smooth. I get a little orgasm every time I nail it perfectly.