Hello everyone, and welcome to my blog.
If you
are a Phoenix Theory stenographer trying to speedbuild right now, you
may be feeling like you aren't progressing as fast as you would like. In
fact, you may even feel that you have reached a point in which
you don't expect to see any progress in your writing in the near
future. I know I sure feel that way. I have recently been giving this a
lot of thought, and I've realized that I'm not alone. There is something
about Phoenix that is holding us back.
Right now I'm at the low,
low, rock-bottom speed of 100wpm. Listen: 100wpm is only beginning to
sound like normal speech. My hands are flying like there's no tomorrow
and not even remotely achieving to write down an approximation of all
the words. Just imagine when I'll be expected to do 225wpm! I can't
imagine how fast my fingers will have to move to write at that speed.
I'm not saying this to discourage you or to demean myself; I'm just
being honest here. I'm just looking at the facts. Now, I'm not the type
of person who is easily discouraged, and failing tests isn't going to
stop me from achieving my goals. However, I know that no matter how much
work I put in, I've got to make sure all the chances are on my side.
That's where Phoenix comes into question. Is Phoenix really the right
theory to ensure I become the best reporter I can be? I say no. Why?
Because it is so stroke-intensive. Although there are many briefs and
phrases in PT, we are not taught these in class, and in any case,
there's aren't enough.
So I've been searching for an answer to my steno woes. I have realized that I am wasting my time, and I need a new plan.
Enter Mark
Kilingsbury. You might already know that he is the current Guinness
World Record holder in steno speed. He has a lot of interesting things
to say on his website, so check it out: www.magnumsteno.com. I wanted to
see what we had to say about our problem-- our inability to increase
speed past 100wpm and beyond. What he says makes sense. It's what we all
know but refuse to admit to ourselves: writing short is the key to
faster, more accurate writing. Mathematically this is just a fact, even
though our schools try to advocate the contrary. I know what you're
thinking because that's what I'm thinking: there's no way I can change
theory at this point and relearn an entirely new way to write! I was
considering it for a while, but I'm already do invested in PT, and
everyone knows unlearning old things is often harder than learning new
things.
I think it's too late for me to completely relearn a whole
new theory, although I admit I am tempted to do so. I am an
all-or-nothing kind of person. However, I think that it is possible to
build and improve on Phoenix, like Mark did on his theory that he first
learned in the early 1980s.
I know you have the talent to make it,
and I certainly know that I do. What are we going to do about it? I'm
taking the matter into my own hands and intend to incorporate Mark's
philosophies into my writing. This is going to to require learning a LOT
of briefs and phrase briefs. I'm going to approach it in a systematic
way, like Mark does in his theory. I'm going to take Phoenix and make it
work for ME rather than the other way around! The most efficient way to
approach briefs is to learn them in categories. This is what the
world's fastest reporter does, and I don't see why this wouldn't be good
enough for me. So whether you are in Phoenix, StenEd or any other
stroke-intensive theory, I invite you to join me on this adventure, and
hopefully we can all learn and get better at what we love.
Yours,
The Steno Duchess
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