Time is money, they say.
Time is more valuable than money, my friend told me last night. And she's right.
So what could be better for your business and you if you could save time while writing?
Use Tools
Yes, obviously you save time by using a keyboard instead of a pen. Or by using dictation instead of writing.
I'm talking about the less obvious here. A tool, I wouldn't be without, and I've used it since 1997.
Have You Ever Used a Text Expander?
The principle is simple. The effect vast.
Whenever you have text snippets you use more than one, you can save them in a text expander and call them forth with a keyword.
For example, instead of writing "Best regards, [new line] Your Name" you could type it once, new line and all, and call it forth by typing br - or #br - or something else that's easy for you to remember.
You might object now that it wouldn't work, because what if you were to write the word "bread" and your text expander spat out "Best regards, [new line] Your Nameead"?
Don't worry. That doesn't need to happen.
You can program most text expanders so they only suggest those expansions, not give them to you without warning.
That said, I have abbreviations in my text expander which I only use as abbreviations to call forth a text, and most of the time I use the hash-tag in front of it to make sure it doesn't spit out long text at inconvenient moments.
Where to Find a Text Expander
When I still used a Mac (before my third one died), I used Typinator. It was a good text expander that served its purpose.
When I switched to a PC, I had to find another program, and I chose PhraseExpander. I like it, but it's somewhat expensive. My husband hates it.
But there are plenty to choose from. Just do a search for text expanders or the two I've just mentioned here. There are even some that are free to use.
Can You Think of Situations Where a Text Expander Could Save You Time?
I use mine for other than just writing. I also use them to save license codes for software I have to register often (like WordPress plugins).
What about you?
It’s nice and I remember that Word has the feature, however I always had difficulties remembering the shortcuts.
Do you write with ten fingers? Because that saves you also a lot of time. I’m faster on my keyboard than typing on my phone...
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Yes, while I wrote this, I was thinking of Word, too, but I couldn't remember how to use it in Word, so I skipped it. I haven't used it in Word since I began using a text expander.
Yes, I write with ten fingers, and you're right. It's a skill every writer should learn. I always loved typing from I was a little girl, and my father took me with him to the office. So my parents offered to give me a typewriter, if I learned touchtyping. I loved the course and learned it when I was 13, I think.
Lately, I switched from typing on a Danish keyboard setup to a US one, so I had to relearn a few keys, but it wasn't that hard. Now I no longer remember where to find them on the DK keyboard :D
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