I like to refer to myself as a proficient typer, but I by no means can keep up with my brain. Realistically, I would say that I am capable of typing 80 words per minute with about 85-90 percent accuracy; however, my brain works more rapidly than that. Over the years, one thing that I have found to be particularly frustrating is when typing letters, documents for seminars, or speeches, Microsoft Word can be incredibly cumbersome with all of its auto correcting, spell checking, formatting and paragraphing – it seems overly complicated. For those who have a relatively short attention span, like me, the feedback Microsoft Word gives can be distracting to one’s thought process.

A couple years ago, I started typing all documents in Notepad. Although Notepad’s formatting is not the best, it allows for thoughts to flow effortlessly and reduces clutter to provide efficiency. Notepad helps declutter your thoughts because it does not distract you with pop-ups, like when using Microsoft Word. So, why does it continue to be underutilized?

I continue to notice that people who use Microsoft Word on a regular basis write differently than they speak. If you haven’t used Notepad in a while, give it a try; try not to focus on proper grammar, sentence structure, speeches, seminars, or lectures. Try writing in a natural speaking form and I am certain you will find Notepad to be valuable. I wouldn’t recommend publishing something written in Notepad, but I would recommend taking what was typed in Notepad and pasting it into a Word document – that way, you are able to go through additions and revisions that need to be made. Conversational approaches to writing, while using Notepad, provide for a much higher quality output. It helps from a performance perspective because I am able to spend less time worrying about formatting, punctuation, or spelling, and spend more time on content.

Tips for using Notepad:

· To access Notepad on your computer, begin my hitting the ‘start’ button

· If you have Windows 7 or Vista, type Notepad in the search box, hit ‘enter’ and it will pop up

· If you’re still running Windows XP or something older, hit the ‘start’ button, hit ‘run’ and type in Notepad

· You also can find Notepad on your computer by clicking ‘start’, then ‘Accessories’