Seven Habits that Can Lead to Major Breakthroughs in Your Skill Achievement

This title is borrowed from Jon Sherman who wrote a similar article about how to make an impact on your golf game. It is surprising to some that there are so many similarities in developing any skill that applies to developing the skill of stenography. The seven habits that he outlined that apply to golf are the following:

Habit No. 1 – Gratitude
Habit No. 2 – Choosing Smarter Targets
Habit No. 3 – Managing Your Expectations
Habit No. 4  -Practicing with Intent
Habit No. 5 – Taking Pride in the Grind
Habit No. 6 – Staying Positive
Habit No. 7 – Reviewing the Rounds

Do any of these items resonate with what you have already been told about practicing? Let’s see how what Jon Sherman said about improving your golf game applies to improving your skills. Jon Sherman referenced a great new book called Atomic Habits. The premise of the book is that small changes in habits (good or bad) lead to breakthroughs or setbacks in any endeavor. Let’s take a look at the habits on the list and how they may apply to your skill development.

Habit No. 1 Gratitude

The premise of Habit No. 1 is that you should be happy that you can play golf at all. After all, when you play golf, you are outside in a beautiful environment surrounded by nature. How does this idea apply to what you are doing? You have chosen to develop a skill that can provide you with a number of interesting career paths. You should be happy every day that you are working and developing a unique skill that very few people possess.

Habit No. 2 Choosing Smarter Targets

The premise of Habit No. 2 is that practice does not make perfect if you’re doing it incorrectly. How does this idea apply to your skill development? Practice does not make perfect in developing your steno skill. Perfect practice makes perfect.

Habit No. 3 Managing Your Expectations

The premise of Habit No. 3 is that practicing smarter, challenging yourself, and staying engaged in your practice sessions while managing your expectations can make you a better golfer. How does this idea apply to your skill development? Set realistic goals, and challenge yourself to achieve them. Stay engaged in your practice sessions to achieve those realistic goals. Then, after you have achieved one of these goals, challenge yourself to go on to the next realistic goal that you set.

Habit No. 4 Having a Process

The premise of Habit No. 4 is that we are all capable of great things once in a while. What we are not capable of doing is doing it all the time under pressure. How does this idea apply to your skill development? The more you automate the process, the better you will be at doing it every time. Make a habit of doing something that you dread doing for 7 consecutive days at a time. Then, continue with the habit for the next 7 consecutive days. Do this activity over and over until the routine of practice is established.

Habit No. 5 Taking Pride in the Grind

The premise of Habit No. 5 is that giving up when you have a bad golf game is not the road to becoming a better golfer.How does this apply to your skill development? Stopping practice because you aren’t improving never helps you to improve your skill.

Habit No. 6 Staying Positive

The premise of Habit No. 6 is that the ability to dig in, stay engaged, and keep a positive attitude is a difficult habit to form but easily one of the best. How does this apply to your skill development? Attitude is everything. If you are positive and think that you can do something, you can do it. If you don’t think you can do something, guess what? You can’t.

Habit No. 7 Reviewing Rounds

The premise of Habit No. 7 is that when you play the game, you need to review what you did right and what you did wrong. How does this apply? You constantly have to be reviewing your errors, improving upon them, and tracking your progress.

Habits are so important to improving the quality of our lives. Making a habit of doing something that you dread doing for 7 consecutive days at a time over and over until it is automated will make the drudgery of the task go away. Likewise automating your practice routine is essential to improving your attitude toward practicing and making the drudgery of thinking about doing it go away.

Future blogs will discuss these items in detail.