Slow Down, then Accelerate

June

Keyboard shortcuts might not be sexy, but they have important advantages over using your mouse for everything. You can work a lot faster, and you can lessen excessive mouse use which can lead to repetitive strain injury.

In this month's featured Southern Communicator article, Learning Keyboard Shortcuts, Jacques Raubenheimer likens our ability to replay learned keyboard shortcuts to a tennis pro's ability to perform masterly shots. According to Jacques, it's all in the muscle engrams.

I can attest to this. There are some quite complicated keyboard shortcuts in Word that I've been using for so long that I do them automatically. If asked to say them out loud, I'd struggle. I've internalised them in the same way I've absorbed the driving complexities of changing gear, indicating, slowing down and turning – while conversing with a passenger.

Jacques' advice is to slow down, take the time to find the shortcut you need at the time you need it, then use it. Using it is key to encoding it as a muscle engram.

I highly recommend this article. We are all looking for ways to increase productivity. This is one really effective way to save time and avoid work-related pain. Yes, it will slow you down at first, but when you add up the time saved over years, the payback becomes clear.

Emma Harding