- Passionate Income
- Posts
- Awkward Hack Doubles Your Writing Speed
Awkward Hack Doubles Your Writing Speed
Create content 2x faster with this weird method...
Chris Laub
September 16, 2024
In partnership with
942 Words | 3 Min 53 Sec Read
Welcome to another issue of Passionate Income.
Today we’ll be discussing how to double your writing speeds by combining an old tactic with a brand-new technology. If you're responsible for writing copy or content on a frequent basis, today's issue is a must read.
Let’s dive in.
Open a Checking Account in 2 Minutes
Chime’s fee-free overdraft can spot you up to $200 with Spotme ®*.
*SpotMe® on Debit is an optional, no fee overdraft service attached to your Chime Checking Account. To qualify for the SpotMe on Debit service, you must receive $200 or more in qualifying direct deposits to your Chime Checking Account each month and have activated your physical Chime Visa® Debit Card or secured Chime Credit Builder Visa® Credit Card. Qualifying members will be allowed to overdraw their Chime Checking Account for up to $20 on debit card purchases and cash withdrawals initially but may later be eligible for a higher limit of up to $200 or more based on Chime Account history, direct deposit frequency and amount, spending activity and other risk-based factors. The SpotMe on Debit limit will be displayed within the Chime mobile app and is subject to change at any time, at Chime’s sole discretion. Although Chime does not charge any overdraft fees for SpotMe on Debit, there may be out-of-network or third-party fees associated with ATM transactions. SpotMe on Debit will not cover any non-debit card transactions, including ACH transfers, Pay Anyone transfers, or Chime Checkbook transactions. SpotMe on Debit Terms and Conditions.
Wish you could create content faster?
If so, you’re in luck.
As someone who writes full-time, I’ve found the #1 block to creating more written content is the amount of time it takes to actually sit down and write.
Which makes sense: Studies show the average American adult can speak approximately 150 words per minute, but only type 40.
Sure, professional writers can do double if not triple those kind of numbers (given typing is core to their daily tasks). But that doesn’t change the fact very few people can type faster anywhere near as fast they can speak.
Why do I bring this up?
A couple of years ago, when I was exploring how to write fiction, I stumbled upon a book on the topic of dictation.
Inside, the author discussed how—once they adjusted to the intricacies of speaking out loud instead of typing—they were able to complete their drafts at a much faster rate.
At the time, I thought the idea of dictation was BS.
Mainly because of how much manual editing would be involved in correcting both slip-ups and words the software didn't get right.
Further, there are slight differences between the way we speak and the way we write. Because of that, you can’t simply take a transcription and publish it as if it were written content.
Instead, it has to be edited down.
If you’ve done any amount of writing, you know the editing phase can take just as long—if not longer—than the writing phase itself.
That, however, was before ChatGPT.
Last year, when I wrote my first self-published book, I dove deep into the concept of drafting and editing using AI text generators.
At the time, their abilities were still in their infancy, making it near impossible to use them for professional editing.
Fast forward to today, however, and AI technology has improved dramatically.
From ChatGPT 4o to Claude 3.5 Sonnet, today’s AI text generators are exponentially smarter than they were just one short year ago.
Because of that, using these programs to perform automated edits has become a huge hack in my content creation arsenal.
Here’s how the process works:
First, open up the Notes or text file document on your smartphone and create a new post.
Second, use your phone’s speech-to-text feature to speak your content out loud as if you were writing it. Remember to add punctuation!
Third, when you’re done, take your transcription and upload it to ChatGPT for automated editing.
Sounds easy enough, right?
Unfortunately, step two is where most people get tripped up.
At the end of the day, writing, speaking, and even sign language all boil down to the same thing: communication.
However, just because someone is a good writer doesn’t mean they’re a good public speaker. And just because someone is good at debating doesn’t mean they’ll be a good at communicating via the written word.
So if you struggle with dictation, odds are you see yourself as a "writer" instead of a communicator.
But that’s just a label.
Because prior to typing your message out on the keyboard, that same message flows through your brain. Meaning, the only thing holding you back from dictating is adapting to using your mouth to communicate your ideas instead of your fingers.
(And your ability to speak punctuation out loud. Which is super awkward at first, but you quickly get used to it.)
Admittedly, this is easier said than done.
From internal doubts to interruptions, speaking your thoughts is no easier (or harder) than typing them. Except for one massive caveat:
If you can figure this out, you can double your content creation speed.
As a full-time writer who recently made the transition, I can say with full confidence I now spend less time typing than at any point in my career.
But the process didn’t happen overnight.
Similar to writing itself, dictation is a skill. And it’s not the type of thing you learn in school.
Meaning, if you want to go down this path, you’re going to have to teach yourself how to do it.
But with the ability to create twice as much content while spending less time sitting (I, and many others, dictate while standing or walking), the upside benefits are huge.
So if you're responsible for writing copy or content on a frequent basis, give this a shot. It might just change your life.
Bonus: Here's the prompt I use for automated editing in ChatGPT 4o (which you can access for free via Poe.com):
Below is a block of text I narrated into my phone. Please adjust it to fix all spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes with regards to American English. Please remove unnecessary commas, and add commas where relevant. Corrent any incorrect tense usage, considering this should be written in the ____ tense. For perspective, this text will be used for a ____________. Here's the text:
@@@
{Insert your transcription here}
💡 Takeaway: Thanks to advances in AI technology, editing transcriptions is now easier than ever. And because of that, learning the skill of dictation can increase your writing speeds by 50% or more.
🎁 Resources:
FREE COURSE: Build a Faceless IG Page (from a guy with 10M+ followers)
