The Mountain so far…
Day 1 focused on: the “Action Story” (hand / finger Actions & spoken Keywords) …and the Middle Mountain (where you establish Body Control of posture & hands).
To consolidate & secure this training… and make the next stages much easier...
…get going on your Practice Path:
Just ONE step at a time; as SOON as possible; and then KEEP GOING; as OFTEN as possible!
Scroll down page or use these Quick Links:
….Stage 5: HOME position
…Stage 4: SITTAGE
..Stage 3:
.Stage 2: Spell Acting
Stage 1: STORY Performing
Some initial encouragements….
…but you’ve not finished… YET!
Keep going: You have to climb your mountain. And it pays dividends to start climbing from the BOTTOM!
Take your time (avoid rushing)… but on the other hand, don’t dawdle!
Start taking steps (soon);
Keep taking steps (often!!);
Keep on, keeping on…
In one sense, the easiest thing would be to stop. The pressures of life will readily take over and prevent you getting round to continuing what you started at the training event.
But in another sense the easiest thing is to continue. Soon. While it’s all fresh in your memory. How? Just take another step.
And the easiest & most important step to take is: the NEXT ONE (since the steps beyond that are not relevant yet!)
The next step is easy. It’s right in front of you, small & manageable. You’ve just learnt how to do it – so repeat it soon, while the memory’s fresh (maybe even right now? *)
And the next step’s important. The sooner you take it, the better it embeds your recent learning.
Of course, once you’ve taken it… the next step after that becomes the most important! And that too will be easy, if you take it SOON after…
…why not stop reading this (for a few moments) and take a step right now? Stage 1 for instance? You just have to ‘perform’ (AKA: Actions with Keywords Aloud) some or all of the Action Story…
Left hand only? Right hand only? Maybe just one finger & its “Key Phrase”.
Pay enough Attention and go as Slowly as Necessary to be 100% Accurate (including Eyes Front) and you should find it only take… What? Between 1 & 10 seconds perhaps? (Surely you can spare 10 seconds?) Then… return to reading more of the practice support content on this page.
Stage 1 –
Story Performing
When/Where? Do this practice as OFTEN as you can: anytime, anywhere (except perhaps at a keyboard!) Ideally multiple times a day in the early stages of your Practice Path.
Why? It reinforces & builds the essential instinctive ‘body knowledge’ (where your body just ‘knows’, and can show, which finger is for which letter/symbol).
How? You can programme your body in this way through repeated performance of the noisy, active, ‘slick’ experience of performing the all-important ACTIONS & STORY KEYWORDS in the correct story sequence.
Resources to help you…
How to remember to practise OFTEN
The Song (MP3 – if it’s your sort of thing):
Slow / Med / Fast / Fast-music-only
AZ in the Real World (a short movie)
A Mannequin Models the Performance:
Slow / Med / Fast
(Don’t view too often! and when you do, see if you can keep AHEAD of it!)
Stage 2 –
Spell Acting
When/Where? Like Stage 1, this type of practice is also best done AWAY from the keyboard.
Why? It helps to improve the ease & speed with which you identify & make a physical connection to the correct finger for any random letter or symbol. It helps you depend less and less on ‘running through’ the Story to ‘find’ the correct finger. It builds instinctiveness.
How? It’s still important wherever possible, to spell act with Eyes Front, doing Actions and speaking Keywords Aloud (as Slickly as you can & Slowly enough to be 100% Accurate)
Stage 3 (later)
Stage 4 –
Sittage
This stage is really important. And once again, you can do it anytime, anywhere (as long as you’re in a reasonably upright chair – but remember: you can also practise ‘sittage’ when standing!)
If you don’t position your body well, not only will you put unnecessary strain on your muscles and bones – leading to aches and pains when typing long, and sometimes even short, periods; and even risking serious injury (RSI etc) – but you’ll also limit the flexibility and mobility of your wrists, hands and fingers, which will actually make touch typing much harder to do correctly! It will undermine all the hard work you’re putting into getting your eyes and fingers to do the right thing!
So, as OFTEN as possible, run through the Sittage ‘check list’. Aloud with Movements if at all possible. Slickly.
Stage 5 – Home Position
This stage gets your fingertips rapidly used to the right starting position on the keyboard (the Home Position). Practise from “FJ”… up to: “A’ “ … not “until you get it right” but “until you cannot get it wrong”.
When your fingers feel ‘at home’ here and can always ‘come home’ after any moves they make, it’s much easier to combine the ‘Body Knowledge’ from the Lower Slopes with the Body Control Stages 5 & 6 have established. Of course, familiarising your fingers with moving around the whole keyboard is good too. To give them practice at returning Home every time.
Remember: Glance down for one thing only
– to find “F—y J—y…” then continue with: “Eyes Front, feel the sp–, feel the b—-s, feel the smile…” etc)
Trick for finding the Bottom row with the left hand (EDC not EDX!)