#30 - How to Become a Better Court Reporter in 2024

0:02 Hello and happy new year. Wow, it is 2024. I am so thankful that we've entered a new year. So I want to take a look back at 2023 and just share the list I came up with of some highlights, some things I'm proud of. So number one I launched the court reporter podcast. So that was so that I'm so proud of being able to launch this podcast, because something that I feel can bring a lot of value to our industry, can help a lot of people who are struggling. We can relate to each other, we can connect with each other and, most importantly, we can help each other. And then I also invested a lot in myself.

0:42 So, as the most valuable asset in my business and in my life, I have to keep myself healthy, I have to keep myself well. I want to keep myself fully informed on the ways that I can grow and add more value to the world, so I became a certified coach. I also invested in coaching for myself. So I had my own private coaches for finances, for business, for my podcast, for all kinds of goals that I had. I had a coach working with me and worked. It definitely helped me in improving confidence and allowing me to go forward towards my goals instead of shrinking back like I usually do, procrastinating, waiting till the last minute, wanting everything to be perfect and then, in the end, not doing anything at all.

1:26 So working with a coach really gave me that push. And then I also started working in court. After seven years of freelancing, for the first time I finally was able to get into court, which is something that I've always wanted to do from the beginning, and I also performed at six different events. So I'm actually I sing, and so I was able to sing and also give speeches at a few different events. So that was something that you know. If I asked myself five, 10 years ago if I ever imagined doing that at this time in my life, I would have definitely not. That would have not been something that I was thinking about. I also lost 15 pounds and learned about metabolic disruptors.

2:08 So I started this program called the legendary ladies or the metabolism coach I'm not really sure what's the official name. I think it's legendary ladies. I'm sorry, I always, I always do that Anyway. So legendary ladies helped me to understand about metabolic disruptors Because, to be honest, I've always had issues with food and body image and and like binging and sugar addiction and just being back and forth and up and down, and so it's something that I don't want to really consume a lot of my time because I have so many other goals. I don't want to always be thinking about how am I going to overcome the temptation of eating the cake and the cupcakes, and like that's not something that should really be at the top of my mind at all times, or even half the time.

2:55 Like I don't want to live for food. I want to eat to live. Right, and you know that, saying some people live to eat and some eat to live, I want to be one that eats to live. I don't want to live to eat. I want there to be more important things that I'm focused on in life, and so I learned about metabolic disruptors through this program, lost 15 pounds and even maintained it, which is really amazing. Instead of the yo-yo dieting, it's something more sustainable. Also created the entrepreneurial court reporters Facebook group and grew it from zero to 1000, which I'm really proud of and excited about, because there's a lot of great value in that group and a lot of engagement, and also, if anyone here is listening and is in that group, I want to encourage you to please participate and don't be afraid to ask questions.

3:42 It doesn't matter. There's no stupid questions, there's no dumb question. Trust me, I've asked them all, so ask away. If you have any doubts, any hesitations, anything, just quickly just pull out your phone and post it, because every question sparks such an amazing discussion. So I also posted three workshops and I didn't count, but I think I did about at least five Facebook live videos and that was really. That was fun. That was something that took me out of my comfort zone, but again, having a coach, working with a coach, was definitely helpful and gave me that push to do those things and just put myself out there. I also actually this is 2024.

4:22 This is something I just finally figured out. I've been trying for five months to connect my podcast to YouTube so that the podcast episodes can also be published on YouTube, and I finally finally got it to work, like literally yesterday. Okay, so jumping back to the podcast stats for 2023. I got an email from Spotify for podcasters saying you are a top five podcast for 91 fans. So 91 of you listeners said that the court reporter podcast is in your top five podcasts. I thought that was just incredible and I want to thank you so much for listening and being a positive contributor to our industry by listening to this podcast and providing feedback, maybe giving a rating or a review.

5:07 And also, this podcast is the number one podcast for 24 people. So you know, hey, I think it's amazing. I think, off to a great start. So, for the first year of the court reporter podcast, we are hitting the ground running and it can only go uphill from here. So I'm really excited to see what 2024 has to offer and hope that we can work together to share resources and to come together and help each other to succeed, because we all know that we really need to help each other. Especially, I definitely need accountability, buddies and a lot of support and help from other court reporters. So that's why I love working in court, because there's a great group of court reporters that I'm always surrounded with.

5:48 We ask each other questions, we help each other out, so it's really fun, it's really awesome, it's like a family environment, so really thankful for that too. Also, for this year, I have a few goals. One of my goals is to really increase the podcast engagement, so I want to provide a way for the listeners to actively contribute to the podcast by sharing your comments, whether you wanna type them or send them to me or record your voice. You can be featured on the podcast once this is set up. So I'm so excited to release that feature and to explain more about it as it becomes available. But there is a feature and there are tools out there that allow things like that, so I'll just give you the vague update for now, but details are coming soon.

6:32 So some of my goals for 2024 are to improve my finances. Even though I worked with a financial coach, I was more focused on business and just doing what I wanted to do and I wasn't really interested in paying attention to my finances, because I was kind of in investment mode. I really wanted to invest in myself and I knew that it wasn't the time for me to be like watching my finances and watching where my spending is, because I really wanted to invest in myself and so I maxed out on that, and this is the year that I'm going to try to grow without spending any money, because now, after spending so much money, I really I don't have any regrets. I'm thankful for everything that I purchased, everything that I learned, even though I feel like maybe I went a little bit overboard, but I do think it's all good lessons learned and I think that I have the tools, I have the ability that I've learned, you know, through coaching school.

7:23 And I also have to rely on God as well, because I am a Christian and I have faith. And, by the way, on that note, I did also start Facebook for a women's reporter Bible study group, and I'm sorry for my voice right now I feel like I'm really congested. I am really congested. I started off 2024 with COVID. So I got COVID like December 23rd is when I tested positive, I think and so it lasted like a week and then, just when I got better, I was better for a few days after that and then I got hit again with something. I don't know what it is. Obviously it's not COVID. I tested negative, you know I took a test just in case because it felt like the same symptoms. But I know that it's not likely to get COVID twice in a row in such a short amount of time.

8:08 So, yeah, it was negative, but I'm very congested and coughing and so I don't know what it is. But I know there's a lot of sicknesses going around and I know that. Leaving so early every single morning and driving and sometimes I forget to warm up the car in advance, so I know that can take a toll on the body. So one of my goals this year is also to try to be healthy and try to go to bed early and wake up refreshed and revived, ready to go to work and slay the day. So, okay, let's keep going down my goals list. So I want to improve the podcast flow, utilize tools to come up with systems and processes to increase productivity and decrease the time that I have to spend manually doing things. So, before I hire anyone actually, or before I find any volunteers or create a team, I want to come up with really clear, automated systems and processes.

8:58 Well, of course, I mean automated to an extent as much as possible and then, once I have the flows and I have mastered them, then I will start delegating. Once I've also built back up on my finances because, like I said, now you all know how I spent pretty much all my savings investing in myself, and I believe that I invested in the most important asset in my business and in my life, which is me my brain. I need to know how to use this brain, because all of us have a brain that's capable of the same things that people who are making billions of dollars and changing the world, offering huge things to the world.

9:42 They have the same brain. We have the same brain that they do functions the same way. It might be a little different, but you know what I mean. It's like investing in, if you wanted, the best tool, the best computer that existed in order to create amazing things, like we all have that already. The brain is better than any computer that exists. It's so intricate, it's so powerful. The things that we can do, like when we learn how to control our thoughts and how to direct our brains and how to use our brains to the full. That's why I feel it's important to invest in myself so that I can learn what the things that people, that they don't teach us in school, which is how to control your emotions, how to use your brain, how to manage your emotions, how to like.

10:24 Actually, those things seem like they're not important, but they are everything. It's so important because so many times, our emotions get in the way of us accomplishing our goals. I can't tell you how many times the overwhelm has stopped me from doing anything Like, how many times I have just literally had so much to do but ended up doing nothing because of the overwhelm of not knowing where to start and having too much on my list or too much on my plate. So that's one thing that I really wanted to talk about is overwhelm. So overwhelm I have talked about this before, but I really want to master this. So I looked up, I asked chat GPT to help me understand the word overwhelm, and so I asked can you break down the meaning of the word overwhelm?

11:12 And chat GPT said overwhelm refers to the feeling of being overcome or inundated by a large volume or intensity of something, such as emotions, tasks or information. It implies a sense of being unable to cope with the sheer magnitude or intensity of a situation. And then I said can you break it down more? What is the origin of the word? And then the response was the word overwhelm has its roots in middle English, combining over and well, where well means to overturn or capsize. That I feel kind of controlled. A lot of my life last year was being stuck in overwhelm or, as my coach would call it, indulging in overwhelm.

11:57 So overwhelm is an indulgent emotion. It kind of allows our brain to escape from doing the hard task or from whatever it's avoiding. Take the easy way out, which is not actually easy because the feeling is so terrible, but it's like basically allowing us to just shut down and incapable of doing anything. But what I realized as I reflected on the overwhelm I experienced last year, it was mostly related to my goal of wanting to become a better court reporter. So I feel like you know, in school, when we're going to school for our 225s and graduating at that level, everything's very structured.

12:39 We have someone guiding us every step of the way. So I feel like that's what my brain was wanting and expecting, and I wanted someone to guide me and literally take me by the hand every step of the way through my career, rather than me having to figure things out on my own, which is what we have to do basically, when we're thrown into working After graduating. We just start working and there's just so many things that we start asking ourselves, or at least I do. I start asking, I have all these questions in my head and then, like, usually they happen when I'm on the record and then I don't have the ability to write them down because I'm on the record and then I don't remember them so I can't get them answered. So, anyway, overwhelm is truly, truly is my enemy, and I want to conquer it and slay it and I don't want to feel overwhelmed anymore.

13:30 So, basically, okay. So I realized that whenever I'm overwhelmed, whenever I say I'm overwhelmed, it's because something seems too difficult, something seems too big and too much of a task or of a project that I don't even know where to start, and it's like there's the unknown. That aspect of it that's unknown, like the great unknown, is what makes me feel overwhelmed. So what I could do, instead of just shutting down and getting overwhelmed, I could just break it down into smaller, bite-sized pieces, like, for example, wanting to get my RPR. Okay, like I was willing to pay someone thousands and thousands of dollars and I did pay people that much money to help me to get there, and I was like shoveling money out left and right and it was, of course, to the wrong, it wasn't to the right.

14:21 You know that I made, definitely made some spending mistakes, okay, but I realized that having like a big, huge goal and like a whole yearly goal, that maybe just doesn't work for me. You know everything, everyone's different, and so it's all about finding out what works for you and for me. I think what works is just taking things one day at a time, or one week at a time, or just breaking things down, and once I've accomplished one little tiny goal, then I can move on to the next one. So that's what I'm gonna try this year. Instead of overwhelming myself with huge goals and then not even doing anything to get towards them, I just wanna focus on the baby steps.

15:03 So, to become a better court reporter, what do I need to do? I need to start talking to those who have already reached the goals that I have. I need to start asking them questions even though I did ask questions very sporadically and randomly, but this time I wanna do it systematically and make sure I actually record the answers and do it with a plan and not just aimlessly Like I wanna actually listen to the answers and try to take action based on what the answers are. So I'm gonna do that. That's one thing, and then I'm also going to try to spend just five minutes a day. I have a timer, so I'm gonna set my timer for five minutes every day and I'm even gonna set an alarm to remind myself, because it's already January 15th and I haven't actually done this yet, but I wanna start today, so I'm gonna spend five minutes and when I say five minutes, like this is what usually happens I get so into it that it ends up becoming like 30 minutes or an hour, or it might even become all day, because I get really into things.

16:04 But at least five minutes just to consume some free resources from the NCRA, just read some articles and educate myself on any materials that are on that website. Because when I first took the RPR test the written knowledge portion that was what really took away my motivation to getting my RPR, because it just seemed so farfetched. It just seemed so far away, like I wasn't even close to understanding any of the questions or to getting a passing score on that, like I don't even know what I got. I didn't even care because it was just too farfetched and get this. So I'm going to not only spend five minutes a day on these articles, but at least once a month and you guys can hold me accountable to this if I don't do this.

16:54 I'm saying this out loud because I want to commit to doing this. So at least once a month. I want to share a summary of what I learned and what I took away from the articles that I read. So if I really spend five minutes a day reading and consuming these materials that are going to help me to get my RPR and to pass the written knowledge test portion, I will be sharing what I learned and recommending certain articles, summarizing things, and maybe I'll even read them on the podcast as like a study material, because sometimes listening sometimes people need to read things but other people need to listen to things. So for people like me, it's really helpful to be able to listen to things like while you're driving or while you're doing something.

17:37 It just sticks in the brain a little bit more and I can pay more attention when I'm multitasking to something that I'm listening to via audio. So I don't know if other people are like I mean, of course, some people are like that. So maybe I will record some episodes where I'm just reading articles that I found to be very valuable and kind of adding my commentary to it and adding my realizations and sharing experiences and things. So yeah, that's my update. My goal is to be releasing at least one episode a month of just updating you guys and talking about what I learned and sharing my journey to up leveling and then one interview.

18:17 So we have some exciting ones coming up. I have a few lined up and then also I will probably throw in a few bonus episodes here and there. Thank you for listening to the Court Reporter Podcast. Stay tuned for further updates and check back in. I'll also catch you in the next episode. Hey, did you know? There's a K-Food Festival coming up in the Hudson Valley? It's basically like traveling to South Korea without actually taking a flight to South Korea. There's gonna be games, food performances, all kinds of awesome things, and I would love to invite you. If you're interested, check out the registration link in the show notes, and I hope to see you there. I will be singing in Korean, so make sure you say hi to me if you can't.

19:00 All right, hug to you later. Bye, happy New Year.