“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool.” Richard Feynman
“Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.” Vince Lombardi
Imagine how few people would speak more than one language if they were immediately and consistently evaluated solely on how fast they could speak it.
Imagine how few people would skillfully play the piano if they were immediately and consistently evaluated solely on how fast they could play.
Imagine how few people would acquire the skill to become verbatim reporters if they were immediately and consistently evaluated solely on how fast they could type a limited vocabulary?
We don’t have to imagine. We know, don’t we?
Imagine how poorly they would write and how diffident they would be concerning their chances of success.
Why is it that there are so many people that talk fast — without ever having speed drills and testing to facilitate that ability?
Why do court reporting programs continue to use methods that have consistently and repeatedly failed?
Confidence comes from reassurance that you are doing accurately what you are attempting to do. The most efficient way of acquiring that confidence is by reading the steno — immediately and repeatedly.
Rather than do things that might boost confidence, wouldn’t it be better to work on eliminating things that without a doubt are destroying it.
Writing faster is not accomplished by mindlessly practicing on the keyboard.
It is accomplished by eliminating hesitation.
Hesitation results from thinking about how a word is spelled, what outline to use, as well as finger placement, such as when stroking difficult-to-execute outlines.
But the thing that destroys confidence more profoundly than anything else is speed dictation.
Dictation should be recorded at a pace that is comfortable for one’s abilities for the subject matter at hand.
The most efficient way of building skill is to write from audio dictation files for 20 to 30 seconds, stop and read the steno; that is, steno should be read immediately in order to correct bad habits and form new positive ones.
