The Guardian
College of Court Reporting, est. 1984
January, 2019: Special edition for CCR enrolled students
2019 New Year’s Stenolutions
With a new year, so comes new goals. And while everyone is hyperfocused after the holidays with the numbers on the scale, it’s time to focus on the bigger numbers: your SH speed goal numbers. Have you made your stenolutions for 2019?
According to an article by Kelsey Mulvey published online in Business Insider, 80 percent of all New Year’s resolutions fail by February. That’s millions and millions of people every year that give up and abandon their goals before ever seeing success. Maybe one reason for that failure is because people focus on what they have to give up instead of what they have to gain. As Neila Rey said, “I already know what giving up feels like. I want to see what happens if I don’t.” The article “10 Reasons Why New Year’s Resolutions Fail” by Daniel Wallen outlines the most common reasons we give up on our New Year’s resolutions each year, but what does that mean for you and your steno success?
Let’s start by finding New Year’s solutions to your New Year’s resolutions. Consider the following from Daniel Wallen’s article and whether or not you will allow these things to derail you on your road to SH success in 2019:
1. “You’re treating a marathon like a sprint.” The key to SH success is sticking with a daily practice routine. Remember that test success is the byproduct of the sweat equity you put into EV360. Success it not brought on by marathon weekend speedbuilding sessions. It’s brought on by a daily commitment toward your SH speed goals.
2. “You put the cart before the horse.” Don’t focus on that passed test but, rather, on the work it takes to make that passed test happen. If you are spending 20 minutes in My Readback and 60 minutes in testing, flip your approach. You should be spending 80 percent of your time on speedbuilding itself. Those passed tests will come once you make a commitment to speedbuilding.
3. “You don’t believe in yourself.” If you’ve set speed goals in the past that you’ve not achieved, it can be difficult to believe in yourself, but you have to believe to achieve. Quit worrying if it’s going to happen and start believing it will. Believing in yourself is half the battle.
4. “Too much thinking, not enough doing.” Success does not come without action. You need to set realistic daily, weekly, and semester goals. Understand that failure is often a consequence of trying, but giving up on your goal because of an SH setback is like slashing your other three tires because one got a flat. Fail forward by bringing the lessons learned into your next attempt. That’s not losing; that’s learning.
5. “You’re in too much of a hurry.” Success does not come overnight. In the wise words of Tom Hanks as Jimmy Dugan in the 1992 movie “A League of Their Own,” “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The ‘hard’ is what makes it great.”
6. “You don’t enjoy the process.” Quit looking at the investment in YOU as a chore. Your school commitment is the first step towards a better you. Make sure you schedule a commitment-free day each week to recharge your personal steno battery. Map out a perpetual 7-day calendar, plugging in your non-negotiables first (work, family, other commitments). Examine what’s left, and plug your SH work in those open spaces. Little blocks of time are great for homework and drills; bigger blocks of time are great for digging into My Readback, which is where you will get the biggest bang from your steno buck.
7. “You’re trying too hard.” Don’t deprive yourself. Good EV360 workouts deserve rewards. Set a weekly SH goal and reward yourself when you hit it. Make that goal about something you can control like striking a balance between quantity and quality, not passed tests.
8. “You don’t track your progress.” Use your Success as You Progress chart. Keep up with your mini SE and SAP successes on your way toward your bigger SH goals. It’s easy to get lost in the “I can’ts,” but looking back on the “I dids” is a great reminder that YOU CAN!
9. “You have no social support.” No one knows what court reporting school is like other than another court reporter or a student going through it with you. Engage with your fellow students and instructors. Keep the lines of communication open. Search for like-minded people in Facebook groups, but remember to keep it positive. Negativity is a cancer that feeds itself. Surrounding yourself with naysayers will decrease your chances of success.
10. “You know your ‘what’ but not your ‘why.’” You know what you want from school, but don’t forget why you want it: family, career, financial independence, flexibility, retirement -- to name a few. Keep your goals close and your motivation closer. Never lose track of your “why.”
Always remember that while you will have SAPs you won’t pass on your road to success, it’s not your failure on those SAPs that will define you. It’s what you do to overcome it. Fail forward by continuing to do what it takes to pass tomorrow. “Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their great failure.” ~ Napoleon Hill
You have the gift of 31,536,000 seconds in 2019. Make every one of them count!
Committing to Your Daily Stenocise
Now that the Christmas holidays have passed, let’s get in shape for New Year’s together! Did you know that according to a recent online Harvard Health publication, you can burn 80-120 calories per hour on your writer?!? That’s right! Ditch those Janet Fonda-style headbands, leotards, and expensive gym membership fees. Push for some true steno cardio. That’s a win-win: Burn off that third piece of Christmas pumpkin pie while also making BIG headway towards your SH goals!
Join the 200-calorie-per-day steno challenge NOW! That’s just two hours each day on your writer. And where’s the best place to get in that stenocise? My Readback, of course. Let’s pump up those biceps before swimsuit season! Make your friends and family take notice by giving yourself the gift of health and speed with just two hours each day in an awesome EV360 workout! You can do it!
· warmup = homework and/or drills
· GREAT workout = My Readback
· cooldown = My Evaluation or My Tests
Don’t forget to reward yourself for a job well done. And if that’s another slice of pumpkin pie, we don’t judge. You deserve it!!!
#stenocise #healthystenolife #winwin #happystenolifehappystenowife #stenomomsarethebomb #breathebelieveachieve
Join us in celebrating!
CCR Enrolled Students -- What are they doing?
Carrie Johnson -- Internship Experience
Going into the internship, I was very nervous. I did not feel like I was ready to be at that stage in my school experience. I was not sure I had enough speed. I was not comfortable with some of the procedural elements. Overall, I just was not sure I had what it took to be a real court reporter, yet.
Before my very first deposition I sat in on, I was a nervous wreck. I had gone shopping the day before to make sure I had an appropriate outfit. I had all my equipment packed, along with everything I had been told I might need. The first ten minutes of the deposition were a blur. I don’t know that I wrote the majority of what was said. My fingers just didn’t want to move. My nerves wouldn’t calm down enough for my brain to be able to switch to autopilot.
Then I nailed an entire question and answer exchange. I even nailed a section that my mentor had some drops on. It finally started clicking in my brain. My fingers knew what they were supposed to be doing. I had been working for years towards that very moment. I got out of my head and it all started to work. My notes were by no means perfect. I had several more sections with horrible drops. At one point the attorneys started arguing, and my mentor was asked to readback what happened before all the arguing. I panicked for her. She handled it like the true professional she is. It was a great learning experience to see that moment, and to see what I wanted to be able to emulate later down the road.
After that first deposition, I knew better how I needed to practice and what I needed to work on to ready myself to go on a job on my own. I started working more on QA extensions to help get those extra few seconds to keep up with a fast speaker. I worked on reading my notes to decipher the untranslates. I became more familiar with my writing style and what I tended to drop. I went in to the next deposition feeling more prepared. My mentor was proud of how well I had done and was excited to see what I could be capable in the future.
By the time I got to the end of my internship hours, I was so much more confident in not only my writing, but confident in myself. When attorneys would ask for readback, I found that my notes were generally pretty good. I learned to anticipate when an exhibit would be marked. I saw how to take control of the situation when the attorneys weren’t waiting for the exhibit to be marked before they continued with questioning, or when they were talking too fast and over each other. I saw my mentor stand up for herself and the circumstances she needed in order to get her job done and produce the best-quality transcript possible.
There were several situations that occurred that they just can’t teach you in school. There are so many scenarios and what if’s that you just can’t predict and plan for. I was so grateful for the glimpse my internship hours gave me into what it will be like to be in the real world. I became so much more confident in my writing abilities. Even my mentor noticed how much I had grown in those few months of pretending to be the real reporter. She saw my confidence grow. We shared briefs and phrases that we use, and we were surprised and excited to learn that our writing styles are very similar.
I know that there will still be countless surprises and scary situations, especially as I’m just starting out. I do feel like what I experienced during my internship gave me a good glimpse to prepare me for that. It taught me how to better handle my nerves, read my writing, control a situation, and just be proud of myself and my accomplishments. I have already passed my Written Knowledge Test; a test I was very intimidated to take. Interning helped me get over those confidence hurdles and trust in my training and my abilities. Not many people that start court reporting school get to this point. Even fewer actually graduate. I cannot wait to finish getting my certifications and get out in the working world.
ABC, NBC, CBS?? Nah...we have your fav channels right here!
http://www.ev360ultimate.com/ev360u/moodle/local/staticpage/view.php?page=[Dictation]
CCR is accredited.
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Semester Start Date: February 18, 2019
Registration Deadline: January 15, 2019
Contact Nicky Rodriquez at 866-294-3974 ext. 222 or nicky.rodriquez@ccr.edu for more information.
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