KEEP SMILING... STAY POSITIVE

This past week I ALMOST passed my 180 4V test.  I missed it by ONE POINT!  Grr!  I was so bummed.  I did the exact same thing last term: missed the same test by ONE POINT!

My husband encouraged me though saying that he is sort of glad that I didn't pass this test.  He would rather me pass my tests by sheer skill and determination, not from "luck."  He would rather me cut that error rate in half to make sure that there is no scare of a failed test.  He would rather me have more of a buffer to ensure a passed test at 97.5% accuracy.

I see what he means.  Writing at 97.5% accuracy though is NOT easy... but I keep telling myself POSITIVE things like "I'm almost there" and "It's just a matter of time" and "I will pass this test for sure very soon."  Three pieces of advice I keep hearing from working court reporters and court reporting instructors to us court reporting students are:

• You MUST believe you can do this!
• You MUST stay positive!
• You MUST let go of the anxiety in your head and just let your fingers "do their thing!"  (Court reporting is largely a mental skill.)

I'm going to focus on the first adage: YOU MUST BELIEVE YOU CAN DO THIS!  Or as Henry Ford says it:

I wholeheartedly believe in this.  If you don't THINK you can complete the court reporting program, why even be IN the court reporting program???  BELIEF is Principle #1 to SUCCESS.  Why start if you don't believe you can finish???  You HAVE TO believe you CAN and WILL finish... and finish WELL! 

In closing, I DO BELIEVE that I will pass my 180 4V test soon.  I will WORK HARD to make sure that happens in the next few days, and I will continue to keep a POSITIVE ATTITUDE all along the way... even when I miss a test by only one point!  I will smile instead and think, "WOW!  I'm so close to passing this test!  It'll be soon for sure!"

I'll look at the bright side instead of getting bogged down with defeat since being depressed doesn't do me any good.  I'll get "mad" instead and work harder and smarter until I can happily announce that I've officially graduated from the 180 WPM speed level and entered the wonderful, challenging, and almost-done-with-court-reporting-school speed level of TWO HUNDRED WORDS PER MINUTE!!!