The Road So Far

I said in my last post I'd post my practice regimen "soon," so over a month later, here it is!  I've decided on the tag "The Road So Far" to delineate which blog entries are for this Guinness attempt and which are not.  Yes, 'tis a Supernatural reference.  Last time I discovered it was indeed about the journey and not necessarily the goal, so I chose my tag accordingly this time.  Although there is no journey without a goal -- then it would just be called "wandering about aimlessly."

So if you want to read about this Guinness attempt and filter out my other musings, click on "The Road So Far" in the word cloud to your right.  If you wish to read about my previous Guinness attempt, click on "The Impossible Goal."

So.  Practice.  In order for this blog post to make sense, I'll have to drag my current celebrity obsession crush into this.  *runs to Lux, fetches Tom Ellis, and plops him down here*

If you're a big fan of the show Lucifer, you'll notice that Tom, who performs the titular character, got incredibly ripped between season 3 and 4.  Heck, I certainly noticed. (What??  You seriously think this is an entirely professional blog?  You have a lot to learn about this town, sweetie.)  In this article for Men's Health he described how he achieved incredible results in a short period of time.  His trainer said that as long as he faithfully kept to the system, "...there’ll be a point when you wake up one day and your body will look different."

What does Tom's training have to do with my training?  Honey, I went to Bible college.  I can relate any illustration to any sermon.  Here's the connection:  If you plot the lines for fitness training and stenography training, you'll see they are parallel.

We started slow -- 80 words a minute was my first speed class after theory -- and worked our way up.  When we were in theory class we asked the teacher to dictate at 225 words a minute, just to hear how fast our exit speeds were, and we couldn't even comprehend writing at such speeds.

Then when we were in our 160s, we asked the teacher to dictate at 80, and it was incomprehensible that we once struggled at that speed.  We woke up and our writing skills were different.

Same with strength.  I started bench pressing with a bare 45-pound barbell, and my personal best at my peak was 110 pounds.  I wasn't conscious of getting stronger over time -- I simply followed my plan, and as time passed, it felt like I could suddenly achieve more.

Another article online has to do with training Marine women to do pullups.  It was common "knowledge" when I grew up that women didn't have the upper body strength to do pullups, except for those unusually strong women.  This is 100% false.

The TL;DR of this article is that you gotta stop it with the assisted pullup machine, because it's a crutch.  It doesn't force your entire body to get in on the act.  Jump in with both feet.  Hang from the bar.  Do negatives -- where you hold on at the top and descend as slow as you can.  Practice it daily, if you can.  (That's what the ARTICLE says, not me.  I've tried this and now my shoulder is jacked up.)

How do these two articles about strength training apply to my practice regimen?  Besides Tom Ellis being my inspiration for both steno and fitness.  (heart-eyes emoji)

For starters, I'm taking off the crutch of practicing slow until I'm accurate and working my way up.  In the past I've always -- ALWAYS -- passed speed tests after I practiced at speeds well above my target speed.  This was true for school, RPR, RMR, and speed contests.

I BEGIN my Guinness speed practice by increasing the speed to 420 (heh) words a minute, using the add-on to Google Chrome that is aptly named Video Speed Controller.  THEN I decrease the speed incrementally until I'm getting something for everything.  It's rough as all get out, but I'm getting SOMETHING.

And guess what -- that speed is hovering around 360-370.

Second, the quote from Tom's trainer has bounced around in my brain ever since I read it.  From day to day, it's hard to see improvement.  Until you look back a few months later and see just how far you've come.  If you've ever seen my Failure seminar, you've heard me say something like this before -- trust the system and results will follow.  Don't focus on the goal; focus on the system.

I distinctly remember training for the RMR back in the days of cassettes.  I had a fancy cassette player that allowed you to increase the speed.  I practiced with speed contest cassettes, and sped it up.  One day I was practicing (for the RMR, remember, which is 260 wpm as opposed to speed contest's 280) and thought to myself, "Oh no, I forgot to speed up the dictation."  Yeah.  I had indeed sped it up, but my system was getting results.  It felt gettable.  And of course I subsequently passed the RMR.

So I am trusting the system once again in that before long I will not recognize my skills; they're so advanced :)

Much thanks for the support of my 100-Day Challenge club, where we encourage each other to practice daily for 100 days in a row.  I highly recommend you start such a club.  The benefits aren't just accountability; it's the friends you make along the way.

When's the fifth season of Lucifer coming out??

Four Weeks to Go

If you're wondering what The Impossible Goal is, you can read about it here.

August 8 is getting closer.  I'm getting closer as well to the target speed, but only slightly closer.  O, had I only six more months! I had a particular thought a while back that no matter how much I'd practice, when it came time, I'd wish I'd practiced more.  Well, I guess I feel that to an extent, but I also don't feel that I've slacked off. Even during busy times.

What I'm really feeling, which I feel after EVERY SINGLE speed and/or realtime contest, is "I must shorten my writing even more."

Did I use the Fast & Furious movies analogy before?  Finger speed is like the can of nitrous that Vin Diesel or Paul Whatshisname (Walker?) uses in the races.  It's good for short bursts, but you don't wanna be using that stuff all the time or it'll harm your system. (I think. IANACM.)

Short writing is the engine.  You want it strong and powerful, and it'll sustain you over long periods of time.

"Briefs make me hesitate!" Then you haven't LEARNED the brief.  Me, I tend to hesitate more over multistroke words than with one-stroke words. Briefs and a shorter theory makes each job easier for me.  I'm always on the lookout for multistroke words to reduce to one stroke, and I review briefs with my flashcard app.

"I don't have TIIIIIIIIIIIME to learn briefs!"  Yes, you do. You just haven't found/won't find it. If you have ten seconds to write out a few briefs on a sticky note and pop that sucker on your steno machine, you have time.  If you're watching American Idle (see what I did there) or any television at all (which you're not captioning), you have time.  If you're working on supper and you have to let the food simmer for 20 minutes, there's a bit of time.  Post a few briefs by the frickin' TOILET ferkryinoutloud!!!  If you want your job to be easier, your scoping faster, and your realtime better, you'll find the time to improve your skill. That's what professionals do.

Okay, I just went all Larry Winget on y'all. Sorry about that (kinda). I can't help but feel so strongly about this though, because this past year and a half of speed practice and shortening my writing has made SUCH a difference in work!  I have long, exhausting days, sure.  However, my feed just gets better and better, the easy jobs are more frequent, and the killer jobs are farther between.  That's been my experience.

I sat down to begin this post not really knowing what to write, and this is what happens :)

Week 32: Grandma

If you're wondering what The Impossible Goal is, you can read about it here. 

Grandma, 1922-2012

Saturday we laid our wonderful Grandma, Ruth Evelyn Reel Thomas, to rest beside Grandpa.  She was 90 and left 5 children, 15 grandchildren, and as of the writing of her obituary, 39 great-grandchildren and 8 great-great grandchildren.

We knew the time was nigh, so it's been difficult to concentrate on practice for these past two weeks as I wondered when I would get The Call.

But as Grandma lived her life, I'm going to do my best to not complain and just get the task done.

We all love her and will miss her very much, and we are glad she's no longer suffering but is in a better place, having Christmas with Grandpa in Heaven.

Week 29: When you're NOT motivated

If you're wondering what The Impossible Goal is, you can read about it here. 

 Sometimes when you're (and by "you're" I mean me) in the midst of struggling through a plateau, it's hard to find motivation to practice.

This post is a bit of a nod to the great motivational speaker Zig Ziglar, and I highly recommend his books and material, especially anything he's written that has to do with goals.

When you're in a plateau, or you're exhausted from working so much, or you've got family stuff that's happening, or you're just over it, how do you get the drive, the fire, the excitement that you had before?  How do you get enthused about practice?

Now let me ask you this:  So what?

Sometimes you will NOT feel like practicing.  Feelings are irrelevant sometimes.  Sometimes I don't want to drag my butt out of bed at 5:15 am so I can be out the door to get to my job on time.  But I do it anyway.

If you aren't feeling the drive, fire, or desire to practice, do it anyway.

Grab yourself by the scruff of your neck, drag yourself to your practice area, plop your butt down on your chair, and DO IT.  (I know that of which I speak.  My husband's seen me do just that when my cell phone alarm goes off in the evening at practice time.)

I guess this is the bottom line, in my opinion: Feelings and emotions are useful.  I've been inspired to practice more after a job that kicked my butt. :) I've been inspired to practice more and learn more briefs after a job that I kicked ITS butt. But feelings do shift and cycle like a river's current, and emotion alone won't get you to 225 or 260 or 280 or 370+.  Consistent elbow grease WILL.  Eventually.

(Maybe this was less of a nod to Zig Ziglar and more of a nod to Larry Winget.)

Week 28: Clarification

If you're wondering what The Impossible Goal is, you can read about it here. 

*So you're talented too, and ... wait ...
What was I talking about?*

The purpose of this blog is to show that if I can do it, YOU can do it.  I am no more talented than any other steno writer.  I was NOT a steno prodigy at school.  It took me seven attempts to pass the RPR, three attempts to pass the RMR, NINE attempts to pass the CRR, and the fourth time I took the National speed contest I finally passed the Q&A. I have never placed overall in ANY speed contest, state or national.  I'm busy with work and don't have a lot of time, just like you.  I am NOT a member of the X-Men.

If I can click the bar to speed up the dictation to 450 wpm, SO CAN YOU.  If I can review briefs and phrases for a couple minutes a day (not a lot of time at all), SO CAN YOU.

You can do it!! PRACTICING at 450 wpm by no means equals GETTING 450 wpm.  You try it, and you try your darndest, and you drop and slop and lose focus.  But hang in there, eventually it'll pay off in getting you closer to your target speed.

It ain't talent but PRACTICE.  My goal of this blog, again, is to inspire YOU to (a) practice, period; and (b) practice at much faster speeds than you are currently; and (c) shorten your writing so you don't have to stroke so dang much.  You're every bit as (OR MORE) talented as I am.

YOU are in charge.  Click that button and speed it up.

Week 21: One of THOSE Weeks

If you're wondering what The Impossible Goal is, you can read about it here.   

Darn near everything this week took two hours or so longer than expected, so not much progress made this week. Pity too, because I felt like I was on the verge of another speed increase. But we keep a-going, regardless of cars breaking down, cars being bought, traffic going to poop. I did miss several practice sessions this week, but it seems life has settled down a bit.

Week 15: Bumping it up

If you're wondering what The Impossible Goal is, you can read about it here. 

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson had a good tweet this morning:  "Remember, there's great value in achieving the goal. But the greater value is in the struggle & hard work it took to achieve it."

The Illinois realtime and speed contests are coming up in a few weeks.  After they're done, I'm going to focus almost totally on testimony practice until the Guinness attempt.  I'm still going to practice literary once a day since I CART and literary is what I do, but since the Guinness attempt will be testimony material, that's where my focus will be.

Going to increase the testimony speed to 425 this week.

Week 4 Progress

Week 4 progress

At the time I write this, it's Thursday night at a resort at the Lake of the Ozarks.   I'm providing CART for a conference. I can't say I've noticed much progress this week in PRACTICE...  but... I sure do notice it at work!

This is a combination of things.  Yes, I've been practicing literary at speeds at or above 300 words per minute, so that definitely made things seem slower than it would have, had I not been practicing this.  But in addition to that, I've been writing more and more words in fewer and fewer strokes.  Words that I used to write in two or three strokes I write in only one.  And I'm still learning more phrases.  If I can write two, three, or even four words in one stroke, I want that!

Plus I've been using DigitalCAT's briefs suggest window.  For my nonsteno friends, if you're writing something in two or more strokes, but your steno database has an entry for the same word that is one stroke, it'll tell you in a little window.  I don't use this for one-on-one CART, because I don't want the window to cover up any screen space nor do I want it distracting my consumer.

But I use it when I'm projecting CART, because I send the feed to a netbook, and hook the netbook to the projector.  That way I can add dictionary entries at the last minute, use the briefs suggest window, and I can adjust the projection display independent of my own viewing preferences.  (I don't normally use this two-notebook system with students, because I've found there's usually not enough time or space to set that up.)

So I have the ability to shorten my writing as I go, which is the key for me, I believe.  I've long suspected that my fingers have hit the ceiling when it comes to finger speed -- something I've discovered is wrong, as my fingers have gotten faster -- and therefore, shorter writing is how I'll attain more speed.  Shorter writing definitely was the order of the day here.

My flashcard app has over 3000 briefs and phrases, and it's paying off.  I'm adding more almost every day.  Well, almost every day.  Depending on when the depo is done.

Week 2 Progress

350 testimony is understandable, and I'm starting to get it in short bursts.  I'm considering upping the speed again, but I'm going to stay here for a few more weeks.

I'm maintaining my practice schedule of at least ten minutes during the day, ten minutes before supper, and ten minutes before bedtime.  If I don't have a class or depo, I get another ten minutes' lap done during the day.  That's only 30-40 minutes of daily practice (not counting the 15 minutes or so of daily briefs practice and review), but it feels right, and it's challenging while not overwhelming.

Here's a link on Lifehacker to check out. http://lifehacker.com/5910125/30-minutes-a-day

Week 1 Progress

"The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark." Michelangelo

Brief/phrase progress so far: I've been working my way through the Magnum Steno book, shoveling briefs and phrases into my AnkiDroid flashcard app, and reviewing them daily.  On the job, the phrase enders "these," "those," and "them" are finally starting to come out of my fingers.  (e.g. "for these" = TPORPG, "could those" = KAOFBL)  Saved me a TON of strokes on my last job, an all-day class with a very speedy instructor.  I used a LOT of two-word phrases, which helped me keep up nicely.  And about halfway through the day I realized her voice sounded just like Betty White, and then that's all I could hear.

Speed progress -- actually has been pleasantly surprising.  I've been speeding up the takes to approximately 300 on literary and 350 on testimony, and I'm getting more used to the SOUND of such speedy language.  In fact, there's been a few times where I wondered if I'd forgotten to speed up the dictation, and I did in fact do so.

I'm not GETTING the 300/350 by any means.   HOWEVER, the last part of the daily Magnum Steno video usually includes a 200-word slowdown, where Mark K dictates 200 words a bit slower, times it, and gives you the EXACT speed of the slowdown.  One such testimony slowdown I took did not suck.  Were it an actual test, I didn't "pass" it, but I would have at least turned it in for grading.

I had already sped up the slowdown.  Did the math.  Therefore, the slowdown was 340 wpm.

Holy crap.

It's surprising how much has happened in a single week of ramping up the speed.  Remember, I'm NOT a serial speed contest winner.  I'm NOT amazingly gifted.  I'm a regular Jo Steno foot soldier, and if I can make progress this quickly by just practicing high speeds in bursts of at least three 10-minute sessions a day,* YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE :o)

Will I probably plateau soon?  Maybe. Probably. We'll see.  If I do, I do.  If I don't, COOL!

*I did not practice Saturday because we had a graduation to go to in the early morning and a wedding reception in the evening with a 3.5 hour drive in between.  I also didn't practice this last Friday because I wrote all day, plus we discovered a pipe broken in our plumbing and $2K+ to fix it and AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHH.

Most of the time when I blog . . .

Most of the time when I blog, I like to sit down beforehand and think a little bit about my topic and what I want to say about it.

With this entry, however, I will be employing an oft-used technique known as "pulling it out of my butt."

It occurs to me that the better I get, the better I have to get.

When I was satisfied with my career of plain vanilla deps, I could go a week without touching my machine (when business was slow) and come right back without any appreciable drop in skill.

When I became a freelance freelancer and an RMR, I noticed that during slow weeks, I really ought to get in at least a couple of days' practice here & there, or my speed will suffer a bit.

When I began doing CART work, if I missed one weekday of writing or practice, my speed dropped. But I could still rest on Sundays.

Now I'm doing speed contests and CART, and if I miss ONE SINGLE DAY of at LEAST a few minutes' practice, my fingers all turn into thumbs the next day.

I didn't set out to turn this into a Magnum Steno promo, but I'm the type that if I don't have a gym membership, I won't work out. I have unused weights in my house, and I have the physical stamina of a bag of wet laundry. When my husband and I belonged to the health club, we'd weight train three to four days a week. I had no joint pain, and I entered a powerlifting competition (and won a couple of trophies). When my band did traveling gigs, I could easily lift the big ol' bass amp that would have usually been moved by a man. But once we had to cancel the membership, pfffffft.

So I have my membership in this steno health club, and I like to log on to see what the trainer has to say. And I get faster and better.

But if I skip one day--ONE DAY--my writing goes to poopy. This is my experience.

So I go to the club and work out.

And maybe someday I'll get a trophy.

And I can write it when attorneys talk really fast.

Good day.