| Say you are in court reporting school and dying to | | | | And I make a to-do list every day. In school this |
| get out and start working. But you're stuck at a | | | | served me well. Because when I got stuck in the |
| particular speed. Sound familiar? How do you get | | | | 120s, I looked back over my calendar and I |
| unstuck and get out so you can stop paying | | | | noticed a very distinct pattern. It seemed that it |
| tuition and start earning money? | | | | had always taken me 50 to 60 hours of hands-on |
| - Get hypnotized. If you're stuck and you've "tried | | | | after-school machine practice to get me from |
| everything," most likely you are experiencing fear | | | | one speed to the next. This was an important |
| of success or some sort of mental block. | | | | revelation because I then realized it was under |
| Hypnosis is great for unblocking. It worked for | | | | my control. If I wanted to get through a speed |
| me. I got stuck in the 120s and went to a | | | | quickly, I put in more after-school practice time. |
| hypnotherapist. I literally flew through school | | | | This allowed me to relax in the knowledge that all |
| afterwards. But there's more... | | | | I had to do was put in my 50 to 60 hours and I |
| - Eat Well and Exercise. We know that speed | | | | would be in the next speed, guaranteed! |
| building is mostly about brain function. You need to | | | | - Be grateful. Don't whine about being stuck in |
| feed your brain to perform well on your speed | | | | your speed. Instead, be grateful for the |
| tests. Drink water, and eat some fruit or an | | | | opportunity to be in school and on the path to |
| energy bar before a test so you can perform at | | | | having a wonderful new career. Use the law of |
| your optimum. If nerves are getting the better of | | | | attraction in your favor. (If you haven't already, |
| you, exercise. If you already exercise, exercise | | | | check out the movie The Secret.) |
| more. There comes a point when you've | | | | If you follow these steps, before you know it |
| exercised so much that there is no way you'll be | | | | you will be a working court reporter. And in the |
| stressed out because you're too physically tired | | | | astute words of writer Jim Hightower: "There's |
| and relaxed. | | | | nothing in the middle of the road but yellow |
| - Do the Magic Number. I am one of those | | | | stripes and dead armadillos. |
| compulsive people who record everything I do. | | | | |