Increasing Workplace Productivity with Dragon Naturally Speaking 11.5

So after much debate and research, I finally purchased Dragon Naturally Speaking 11.5 to help with increasing my workplace productivity.  How it works out in the end?  We’re going to find out…

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For all those who may not be familiar with Dragon Naturally Speaking (From this point on, I’ll just call it “My Dragon” or “Dragon”), it’s a program that transcribes what you say onto your computer without having to actually type it.  I picked up a copy recently on Amazon (check it out here) .  *Hoping this program is awesome*

I just finished installing the program and going through the tutorials today.  Let’s just say the initial transition is definitely going to be interesting.  If you’ve ever hired a new employee before or started a new job, I would compare it to that.  There’s an initial warm-up or training period where it takes time to get used to the “lingo” or “operational processes” of how things work.

During this period of time, there may be mistakes, misunderstandings, and clarification that need to be provided.  The thing is, over time, these kinks get worked out as more and more feedback is given.

In this specific case, I’m going to be training my dragon to learn how to understand me!  I’ve never had a pet dragon before, but I guess I’ve always wanted a pet =)  Hopefully it doesn’t get angry at me and spit fire everywhere!dragon naturally speaking 11.5

I know, I know. This is a T-Rex and not a Fire Breathing Dragon. It was the closest thing I could find =)

To provide you with the background story, it all started a few weeks ago when I started to have some wrist pain.  I usually train at the gym about 4 times a week lifting heavy weights, so this tends to put a lot of stress and tension on my wrists.  Combine that with some heavy computer usage and let’s just say that I was wondering what was up with  my health!!  I’m only 27… almost 28!  I’m supposed to be invincible!  My body isn’t supposed to ache yet, IF EVER!!

But here it was aching, and there wasn’t much that I could do about it.  I mean, my options probably were:

  • Rest completely and let my body heal
  • Reduce the amount of time that I spend on my computer
  • Get treatment when I visit my Chiropractor or do exercises that will help strengthen my wrists

So I ended up doing all of these (and they’re helping), but to be completely honest, reducing the amount of time that I spend on the computer isn’t exactly something that I want to do at the moment.  I mean, a good chunk of my time is spent on the computer, as I would imagine would be the case with most other people during this technological age.

dragon naturally speaking 11.5

 

So because of this, I went out looking for a solution.  I went one step further.  I purchased Dragon Naturally Speaking 11.5 Premium in the hopes that it would do a couple of things:

  • Ease the tension on my wrists
  • Help support activities that require heavy typing or extended periods of typing (Ex: blogging, emails, chatting, putting together reports, taking meeting/coaching notes, etc)
  • Help with increasing workplace productivity (Note: I can type pretty quickly already, somewhere in the range of about 120wpm.  So it wouldn’t help that much with the speed aspect of things.  The thing is, there’s a difference between how we speak when we type and how we speak when we are actually ‘speaking’.  I’m going to experiment and find out JUST EXACTLY what that “difference” is.  Maybe it’ll make some of my work sound more ‘natural’ as opposed to ‘overly serious business talk’.)

So there we have it.  I have a new pet!  Yes, I’ll say it again.  I have a new pet, and it’s a pet dragon!

Here’s to training the dragon in the hopes that it will help with saving my wrists and increasing workplace productivity!

And to cap it off, I’d love to hear from all of you.  Have you ever used Dragon Naturally Speaking before or have you ever experienced similar problems with aching wrists?  Are there specific tools/resources that you’ve turned to that have helped you increase workplace productivity in your life?