Dragon Dictate, Confidence, Torn Rotator Cuff, and 16,000 visits

Dragon Dictate for Mac

I’ve been experimenting with Dragon Dictate on my Mac the last couple weeks. It’s an incredibly powerful program and I’m just beginning to get comfortable with it.  Which is a good thing, since I had the rotator cuff  on my left shoulder reattached a couple days ago. Typing is a bit of a challenge right now, but I’m making  do with the help of Dragon Dictate.  I’m finding the biggest problem with Dragon Dictate is that I have to put my thoughts completely in order prior to speaking.   Which turns out, actually, to be a good thing.

The discipline necessary to put one’s thoughts in order prior to speaking will come in handy, not only for writing but also during normal conversation.   It definitely can’t hurt.   And, most likely, it will help with confidence.

Speaking of Confidence

Michael Rocharde has an interesting  post on the subject of confidence:

To be good at anything, which is the prerequisite of having confidence, you have to do that thing over and over and over again, until you reach a state of not thinking about what it is you’re doing.  At that point, you are in, what is sometimes referred to as, the ‘zone’, and when you are in the zone, you become literally unstoppable because your confidence level is so high, and so is your level of conviction.  Both of these are powerful but when put together, they are a force of nature known as charisma.

Michael makes some interesting points, among them that you must practice quite a bit to get a high-level confidence in most things. He also brings up the point that confidence is easily lost, and hard to regain once lost.

As with most people, I’ve lost some confidence in my abilities at times in my life, and have searched for answers to regain it. Fortunately, there are plenty of tools out there to help you in the event it should happen to you.   Tony Robbins, Ztg Ziglar, Les Brown, and John Maxwell are just a few of the people you can turn to should it happen to you.

But  when it comes to confidence, my inspiration is Dr. Amy Cuddy:

Body language affects how others see us, but it may also change how we see ourselves. Social psychologist Amy Cuddy shows how “power posing” — standing in a posture of confidence, even when we don’t feel confident — can affect testosterone and cortisol levels in the brain, and might even have an impact on our chances for success.

Learn more from her Ted talk on YouTube:

As it turns out, you can fake it till you make it.   Of course, it takes a lot of hard work, as well.

16,000 visits

The Free FileMaker Example Files list I started last year reached a milestone yesterday: 16,000 visits!   That is the sign of a FileMaker community that is robust and growing.  For all you bloggers out there, feel free to add your Free FileMaker Example files to the list, and drive traffic to your website.

And great big thank you to all my readers for making the list successful. I really do appreciate it!