The metronome and speedbuilding

Tonight's speed test was a total disaster. The instructor started dictating; and, on about the fourth word, I started plunking down mistake after mistake after mistake. I tried to get back on track. Nothing worked. I'm sure that I stopped breathing. I paused briefly and tried to gain my composure. I finally resigned myself to the fact that I was not going to pass this speed test. OK, that's nothing new. This happens more often than I'd like to admit.

So, here I sit with about four minutes of dictation left in the test. What shall I do? I'm relaxed because I am no longer stressed and have no expectation of passing. I can pretty much do what I want. So I started stroking out the outlines as if a metronome was beating in my head. After about ten seconds of rhythmically pressing the keys, I was keeping up with the speaker ~and I was typing the correct outlines!

I had a true "ah-ha" moment. I have practiced to a metronome before, but I haven't done it in a long time. Perhaps this is my key to speedbuilding. I know it gave me a confidence boost tonight. I was rather proud that I was able to easily keep up with the speaker.

Yeah, I didn't pass tonight's test, but that's OK. I learned a little something about building confidence by using a metronome. I'm going to practice this technique; and, hopefully, my speed will increase along with my confidence.