Two years ago, I realized that I used only 4 of my 10 fingers to type.
Embarrassing, I know.
My ring finger and my middle finger had to bear the burden of the work that was supposed to be done by all ten fingers. At the end of the day, I could sense that these 4 boys were tired and needed rest. I don’t think these four fingers liked the remaining six.
Something had to be done.
I tried different typing software. But I found their instructions complicated. I tried typing slowly. That didn’t work, either.
Fast forward to today, and I use all my fingers while typing.
What changed?
I realized if I had to eat an elephant, I would need to do it one bite at a time.
I set a simple goal – For the first 3 days, my only goal would be to type the letter ‘P’ with my little finger. That’s it. I was allowed to make mistakes otherwise. No pressure. But if a word demanded the letter ‘P,’ it had to be typed by my right little finger.
After I got comfortable, I did the same exercise for the letter ‘Q’. Within five days, I was typing the letters ‘Q’ and ‘P’ with my little fingers. Progress at last.
Gradually, I introduced “O” and “W”. Then “E” and “I”. And so on. Small increments.
Here’s the thing – Learning the craft of storytelling can be overwhelming. Trying to learn everything at once can get scary. A better approach is to divide the skill into tiny goals that might seem ridiculous at the time. Because eventually, these tiny goals add up.
All my fingers get along very well now. Peace and harmony have been restored.