decision making, suggestion

What exactly is the power of suggestion? 

It is when you think what you have heard and read are the same but they are not!!!!!

Example: 
Please pour me a drink of water from the picture on the table.
Please pour me a drink of water from the pitcher on the table.                
He is a picture in the major league.
He is a pitcher in the major league.

The above 4 sentences are perfect examples of the power of suggestion, which we may just miss because we are not utilizing our lesson covered on critical thinking.  With SR, you have a job in front of you and you are proofing, have you ever run across a job where you believed you heard the dictation correctly and then upon relistening realized you did not hear what you thought you did?  Sure, we all have.  This is the power of suggestion. 

The same holds true when you just cannot get a word and you are asking for help.  Sometimes it is better to not let the other person know what you are hearing because then they have the power of suggestion in their minds.  They need to use their critical thinking and listen to the voice file for their opinion without input on your thoughts when in doubt.  This happens to me often.  I will be the first to admit it.  Sometimes it is just best to get up and walk away from the computer for a few minutes and you would be amazed that when you come back you hear something totally different than you heard the first time.  Remember don’t get frustrated, walk away for a few seconds for clearing of your head.  Research, but don’t spend too much time.  It is critical for you to utilize your reference materials, but not to spend too much time researching.  Remember complete the whole document when transcribing before beginning to look for even the first blank. 

This is all about become an attentive listener.  We all are guilty of making mistakes.  Let’s face it, we are not perfect, and these dictators sometimes don’t make it any easier, but we have got to learn to become attentive and focused on our work.  It is so important to be completely focused on your work when you are transcribing or doing SR work.  The distractions are many which could come your way.  Just a few examples:

1.     The family thinks mom or dad works at home so they are always available. 

2.     The extended family wants you to run errands because they feel your job is not really a job because you are home.

3.     The phone rings and it is a salesman or somebody wanting to talk to you about an island in Hawaii or a vacation. 

4.     The doorbell rings.

5.     Your friends call thinking it is a good time to just chat. 

This has happened to all of us.  This is when we become inattentive listeners.  We need to remember that our concentration needs to be on the task at hand to utilize your best abilities while producing. 

Educating the family and friends is a tough one.  My suggestion is to just be blunt and tell them, you have a job and you have to do it.  Tell them your hours and make them aware of when you are available to chat.  I can tell you I had to do the same thing and I have been doing this for over 15 years. 

The second thing is if you have caller ID, utilize it.  Remember those calls which are unimportant or not urgent can be taken after work hours or never if you like. 

The doorbell.  Well, there is nothing we can do about this.  We have to answer the door, but I will tell you a funny story when I first came to this team.  One of the supervisors was on the phone with me.  My doorbell rang and it was the UPS man.  I went to the door and because they are here so often as I am an internet shopper, they wanted to talk.  I was on the phone and I told them I was sorry but I needed to sign and get back to work.  To this day forward, this UPS person, who is the same exact one who is here every time now realizes that I don’t have time to chat before my shift ends and will leave my packages at the door and not even ring my doorbell.  This is just an example. 

Distractions can take us completely away from our critical thinking as well as attentive listening and thus we make careless errors.  We always need to proof, but we may not have anything to correct in proofing a second time if we were giving all we have to the first round of listening. 

We are all susceptible to the Power of Suggestion!  It is just how we handle these issues which makes us successful or upset because of some dumb mistake which causes us to fail a report and thus making the client unhappy.  The examples below are examples of the power of suggestion prior to editing.

The first column lists what the SR transcribed; the second column is what should have been transcribed. 

Points to remember:  Listen and read the report for the context of the document to avoid the power of suggestion.   Pay close attention to those wonderful ESL dictators.  Most of the time words do not stand alone.  Relate them to the document for quality.