Easy Errors
on Easy Words
They should be All students
are susceptible to trouble with simple outlines that should be rock
solid. The problem is especially noticeable in the high-speed
classes.
It is not more prevalent. It is just more
noticeable in the faster classes. Those students have already
conquered most of their stroking problems.
The problem is that you are not paying any attention to these strokes because they are too easy. You conquered them in Theory. You have mastered them. Not only that, now that you are in the higher speeds, you are writing tough dictation as well as anybody in your class. Well, jeepers, golly darn, what is a person to do? When you thoroughly master a brief, a phrase, or a very common stroke, your brain puts that outline in a special place. Your brain doesn't need to think about how to write that stroke. It has it memorized. All it has to do is send out the signals, and poof, the stroke is done. Take this example as an example of an example.
Many people write the phrase "Of the" as OFT. If you do that, then your brain will eventually put that stroke in the special place that it puts all of your deeply ingrained briefs. When you hear "Of the," your brain reaches into that bag of special briefs and pulls out the stroke
and sends it to the fingers.
That is a very good thing. It saves an awful
lot of thinking, and it gives you more time to work on the harder strokes.
Here is proof that you and your brain are really using that special
bag of briefs. If you are in Theory, you will have no trouble answering the following questions.
However, if you are in the high speeds, you will have to stop and think about the answers.
What letters make up the left-hand G? What letter is represented by the right-hand letters PBLG? What letters are in the brief "Believe"? Theory people can answer these questions easier than high-speed people because their brains have not mastered these strokes. They still think of these
outlines as being made up of individual letters. Upper-speed people have mastered these strokes.
They don't concern themselves with what letters make up a G or a J.
Instead, they think of these strokes as finger positions. It
is a much faster system, and it allows them to process words much
more efficiently.
So what good is knowing how your brain thinks if you still get the easy words wrong?
Because if you know how your brain thinks, then
you should be able to fix the problem.
The answer is simple.
But most of you won't believe me.
Bummer.
ANSWER: You get the easy words wrong because you are utterly ignoring them.
You are focusing solely on the hard parts of the dictation.
Granted, most of your attention should be directed to the trouble
areas.
But not all of it.
You can't afford to keep having errors on the
simple words. They are the easiest to remember, the easiest to
write, and the easiest to read. All you need to do is pay enough attention to these strokes so that your hands can form the correct pattern. Don't obsess. You have already conquered them. Just give your hands a fighting chance at receiving the signal that your brain should be sending them.
It's supposed to work like this: Hear the word, access the
stroke
ef to your fingers, forget about the brief, start working on the next stroke. This is what you are doing: Hear the brief, pull the brief out of your special bag of briefs, start to send the brief to your fingers, forget about the brief before it reaches your fingers, start working on the next stroke. I repeat: Your brain works much much faster than your fingers. Let your brain do its job. You will not lose finger speed. Stephen Shastay
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