My dear friend shared this picture with me. I wanted to share where my stress comes from. We’re responsible for capturing every word and preserving the record. My stress levels spike when I do realtime, which means my transcript is being seen on someone else’s computer as I write it, without the opportunity for me to edit it first. Those times I have to be always “on”, bringing my best moves to the game, the whole game, which can last a few hours, all day long, or several days long. Tiring! Attorneys and witnesses, they can talk fast, they can mumble, they can do a combination of both, and a realtime feed will highlight those difficulties, showing up as untranslates, a/k/a garbage. I have heard a lot of testimony over many years so I know there are many professions besides mine with high stress levels out there. Maybe you’re in one of those professions. Sometimes we all need to take a deep breath… or several!
