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CB Speedbuilders provides myth busting at its best. Reporting schools are closing because myths are touted there as fact and students do not progress at faster than a snail's pace while following such advice. Here are just a few of the most destructive myths propounded by shorthand teachers, theory developers, students, reporters, speed champions who are surprisingly out of touch with common realities and problems facing the individuals seeking their guidance, and other self-proclaimed experts, all boldly promising to bust others' myths.
Some of the bad advice will sound very familiar to you. You may have heard it in a classroom setting, in a professional seminar, in a TeleTraining session, in a public or private group discussion, or in a one-on-one conversation. Or you may have read it in a book, magazine, or withiin an online forum. If ever you were suspicious of these nonsensical teachings, you now have permission to dismiss, from the world's two leading experts on accelerated learning of fast and accurate shorthand. Don't be a prisoner of the mental climate of your time.
When you bite into a wormy apple, it's best to spit it out pronto because most likely the whole apple is bad. Banish these myths from your belief system ASAP if you want to open yourself up to the world of skill supremacy.
If you have come upon some advice you consider questionable but don't find it listed here, please do not assume that it must be good advice. This mythography is greatly abbreviated from the reams collected in ongoing investigations by Chuck and Karla. Dozens upon dozens more foolish notions continue to be taught and trusted, to the serious and clear detriment of the reporting profession.
Read on. Some of these are downright funny!
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MYTHS AND POOR ADVICE:
Read back everything.
Read back nothing.
Always trust your notes.
No pain, no gain.
Use a metronome while practicing finger drills.
Finger drills are not helpful.
All finger drills are created equal.
If you have enough dexterity to tie your shoelaces, you can write shorthand.
Practice with music playing or with other noises so you can get used to writing with distractions.
Do not use the number bar. It takes too much physical effort to push the number bar. You can produce numbers quicker by writing out words.
Never position your shorthand machine to the right or left. It must be centered and at thigh level.
Never look at your hands while you write.
Never think about what you're hearing. Think about anything else but the dictation.
Never envision steno, never envision English, and never envision correct hand placement while you write. If you do, you will never be a fast and accurate writer.
Tests are most often failed because of test nerves.
The way to cure test anxiety is through hypnosis and subliminal suggestions. Just think positive thoughts and listen to hypnosis tapes or visit a hypnotherapist.
No sex within 48 hours before a test. Strictly taboo!
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Just hit something for everything that is said. Whatever you do, make sure you hit a stroke for everything spoken, even if it means you can't worry about punctuation or correction.
Don't worry about dropping words when you practice.
If you make an error while writing, don't hit the asterisk key to correct. Just rewrite the outline correctly.
Get your speed now, because accuracy will come later. It's speed first, clean notes second.
Get your accuracy now, because speed will come later. It's accuracy first, speed second.
Students should focus on practicing realtime right from the start. They should look at the screen display during class time. This is necessary for becoming strong realtime writers.
Students must turn in a full pack of notes every day. It's all about volume of notes that encourages speedbuilding progress.
If more students are not realtime-ready right out of school, shorthand writers are going to be replaced by voice writers.
The key to writing fast speeds is briefing and phrasing.
Force yourself to retain words because you need more context to choose the correct homophone.
If a speaker is speaking slowly, hold back several words and then catch up to maintain your interest.
If the speaker is slow, you have a great opportunity to brush up on your retention skills. Stay well back, memorize 15 to 20 words, and then write those words quickly.
If you're a fast typist and good pianist, you're guaranteed to be a great reporter.
Don't worry about small words. Write them as quickly as you can so you can focus on the larger words.
There is no need to ever work out arbitraries.
The only way to pass a four-voice test is to practice on four-voice material.
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Practice on speeds 20, 40, 60, 80 wpm above your current level. That way the speed you want to pass will sound slow. Don't worry about developing bad habits, because you won't generate any problems whatsoever from doing this.
Listening to fast speeds will cure vocalizing.
It doesn't matter what fingering technique and hand style you use. It's all just based on our differing personalities. Some of us bounce, some of us flail, and some of us are just born perfect. None of it affects writing skill.
It's fine to learn speedbuilding from a theory developer who has no personal speedwriting experience and no comprehensive personal shorthand experience and cannot even answer a simple question about using computers in shorthand testing because of lack of personal experience.
Learn a 100% (sic) conflict-free theory and make no changes.
You must never make up your own steno. Always follow your theory book.
There are no secrets to speedbuilding, so might as well just practice, practice, and practice.
The best way to focus is to concentrate on a spot on the floor or wall. Make sure the spot doesn't move. Better yet, close your eyes.
The material you practice doesn't matter. Simply put in a sufficient amount of time, and you'll be okay.
Practicing as long as you can builds endurance.
Practice a minimum of two hours a day on speedbuilding at speeds at least 20 wpm above your comfortable speed.
If you miss a day of practice, you will lose what you gained the day before.
The best method for a mediocre 280 writer to incorporate to become an accurate 280 writer is to speed up tapes to 400 wpm and beyond and succeed in writing 50% to 90% of the material.
Always listen to new material.
Eight to ten practice tapes should be plenty. All you have to do is keep speeding them up faster and faster.
The only way to get used to hearing fast speeds is to listen to fast speeds you can't yet write.
If you write 225 wpm with 95% accuracy, you are writing 225 wpm.
If you can pass tests at school, you will be able to pass the CSR and RPR with no problems.
If 95% accuracy is good enough for reporters, then 95% accuracy should be good enough for students, and it is thereby unfair to test students at 97% and 98% accuracy in reporting school.
It is true now, was true in the past, and will always be true that 95% accuracy is good enough for reporters.
Take a test you're not yet ready to pass--just for the experience.
There is no magic pill.
Everyone who starts out with a long theory must incorporate briefing and phrasing in order to improve toward fine writing.
Charles A. Boyer and Karla Wollin Boyer
♣
12-TIME NATIONAL SPEED CONTEST CHAMPIONS
The whole truth is available only through participation in CB Speedbuilders courses. Our distinctive workshops are intensive and thorough. We reveal Boyer philosophies and how-to techniques in a confidential setting, also providing participants with opportunities for intelligent self-discovery. Our structured assignments and lectures allow for location and resolution of hidden progress-impeding methodology, all cushioned in an encouraging and supportive atmosphere experienced through closely directed class sessions and controlled use of our extraordinary library of uniquely designed Speed Clinic Effective Practice dictation material.
♣ Philosopher Chuck says:
♠ There is a world of difference between presuming to know and knowing.
♠ We suffer great loss when there is a large gap between what is and what could be.
♠ Someone who says he does his best has not examined what he does.
Copyright ©2002-2005 by CB Speedbuilders
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