05 May 2022
A little over three years ago, I went to a Python conference that changed my life. I ran into Mirabai Knight, got to see her provide live captioning for a speaker, and came home totally inspired to try to learn steno myself. Ever since that conference, I have dreamed of learning steno, being good enough to use it at work, and getting to show other co-corkers what steno looks like in person.
Because of the pandemic, I have had a lot of time to practice steno, but have not seen any co-workers in person for a while. In fact, I now work for a new company (called Finite State, which has been an awesome place to work!) and even moved across the country to Oregon. A lot has changed!
Yesterday, for the first time since going to my first Python conference, I got to meet up with co-workers in person (during a retreat), bring my steno board, and answer questions about steno in real life. It was absolutely unreal and so much fun.
It’s interesting to think about how I imagined my steno journey happening compared to how things actually played out. I certainly didn’t see the pandemic happening, or any of the other global events. The world has been through a lot, and both my family and I have changed too. Being a bit too optimistic perhaps, I had seen myself picking up steno rapidly. It turns out that there is so, so much to absorb, though, and gaining the dexterity and muscle memory that you need just takes time. Doing all of this with little kiddos and all of the changes that came with the pandemic also made steno practice tricky, too.
There were also some amazingly cool things that happened that I didn’t see coming either: making this mini-blog, stenoing to music, learning how to steno in emacs with a friend, or even trying to steno in a different language.
A lot has happened. So much has changed. But during all of the ups and downs, steno has been an amazing tool, a fascinating skill to learn and practice, and finally an excuse to hang out with one of the most passionate and friendly communities I’ve ever come across.
Steno used to be something you had to go to school for, but now it’s something that anyone can enjoy as a hobby. I’m amazed by and incredibly grateful for steno, the new community that is being built around, and everyone who helped make this whole thing possible.
07 Apr 2021
In one of my last articles, I went over how steno works but made no mention of how long it takes to learn.
That’s a question that comes up…a lot. I remember spending months wondering about that myself.
Will I have enough time to commit to this? What will the pay-off be? Will it actually be worth it? How much innate ability do I have? Will it take me more or less time than the average person to learn this?
It’s really easy to worry about not having enough time or having this sneaking suspicion that you won’t turn out to be ‘good enough’ to make it with steno. I have some good news though.
None of that matters.
Here, let me show you.
I could tell you that it would be reasonable to expect to learn…
- the board’s raw letters after about your first couple of days
- how to actually reach for each of the keys in about a week
- how to write at about 2-3 wpm in the next week
- and then at about 10 wpm after about your first month
- and after a few months feel comfortable with the top 100 words
.. and also have a basic sense of how all of the different sounds are mapped out onto the board
- and then after about 6 months start to be able to write out text messages to friends
- and after about a year start to hone your speed and vocabulary
But there’s something really important that gets lost in that kind of explanation – the how of all of this.
You can set up a schedule for yourself and tell yourself that you are going to hit certain milestones at certain points. You can constantly look at your progress and reevaluate whether this whole thing is actually worth it to you. But I think that’s a good recipe for burnout, and lots of frustration.
There’s another way though.
Steno is beautiful. It is deep. It is worth doing for its own sake. I think the best way to approach it, even if you do have goals in mind, is to find a rhythm, focus on mastery, and let progress be a byproduct.
I have recently been reading a book that I think does a much better job of explaining all of this. It’s called Mastery by George Leonard. Here’s a quote from the book:
“How long will it take me to master aikido?” a prospective student asks. “How long do you expect to live?” is the only respectable response. Ultimately, practice is the path of mastery. If you stay on it long enough, you’ll find it to be a vivid place, with its ups and downs, its challenges and comforts, its surprises and disappointments, and uncondititional joys. You’ll take your share of bumps and bruises while traveling–bruises of the ego as well as of the body, mind, and spirit–but it might well turn out to be the most reliable thing in your life. Then, too, it might eventually make you a winner in your chosen field, if that’s what you’re looking for, and then people will refer to you as a master.
But that’s not really the point. What is mastery? At the heart of it, mastery is practice. Mastery is staying on the path.
29 Dec 2020
A while ago, before I took my hiatus from steno for a bit, I made a set of Anki flash cards for studying steno translations. The cards cover the top 10,000 most commonly used words. The cards are available here.
Some things that I learned from studying these cards:
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It is really easy to bite off more than you can chew. I think this is probably true of Anki in general, but I was pretty excited about getting as many translations under my belt as I could, as quickly as I could, so perhaps it was especially true in this case. So, a word to the wise – pace yourself, go slow, and pick a modest number of words to study each day, even if it feels like a really low number.
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There are so, so many words to study, holy cow. In fact, maybe too many words. So, my next piece of add advice would be, when it comes to learning objectives, mix it up; yes, it’s great to boost your vocab, but there are also other things. I guess that when I started studying the cards I thought “man, if I can just learn all of the words, then surely I can use steno full-time, for everything.” Welllllll.. that turned out not to be true. There is just so much to learning steno, that I think it’s unhelpful to tell yourself that once X happens, then you’ll be able to Y. I’ve found that with steno, it’s more helpful for me to let things happen on there own schedule. I try to make studying as fun as I can, enjoy milestones when they come up, but hold my expectations about progress loosely.
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Okay, so, the first two points are about pitfalls. My next point is that while Anki study can be tricky, it is also so, so powerful. Oh, man. I think Anki really can help you to memorize just about anything. It’s really addictive, and the whole idea of Spaced Repetition Study is so effective that.. just wow.. Anyways, you just have to try it.
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Hmmm, what else? I think that may be it for now, so, now that we’re here, I recommend you give the cards a shot! See if you like them. At the end of the day, I think they are just one more tool to add to your toolbox, one of many that can help you build proficiency for steno.
Happy studying!