First, I want to start in insert mode. Well "set im!" in my vimrc did the job, but I lost the escape key. Second, I have found that often times, when I'm in command mode, I hit escape trying to get back into insert mode. I am always rewarded with a beep, telling me once again I made that mistake. So I mapped esc in command mode to set insert mode (":set im") and I mapped esc in insert mode to unset insert mode (:set im) Well then I realized if you hit "i" in command mode, escape woulding work the first time. So here's the code to add to your vimrc: