#37 - Perfectionism & Court Reporting: What if I make a mistake?

Transcript

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Court reporters hold one of the most important roles in the justice system.

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We're entrusted with the official records of the courts and we also have to run our own businesses, which is not something most of us were prepared for.

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I'm Bryn Seymour, freelance court reporter and life coach, and I invite you to join the discussion about the problems we face and the solutions we create on the unique journey of a stenographer.

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Welcome to the Entrepreneurial Court Reporter Podcast.

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Welcome to the Entrepreneurial Court Reporter Podcast.

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Okay, so in the last episode, episode 36, with Shalini Khawadabam, attorney, there was a part of our conversation where we talked about making mistakes and how every human being makes mistakes, and it's okay and I agree with that 100%.

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But as court reporters, it's a little different.

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Of course, every human being is going to make a mistake.

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So the only reason I said I can't agree with that, especially not on the air, on the record, as a court reporter is because, even though perfectionism it's not necessarily a good thing, it has its pros and cons.

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Actually, it's funny because I was just listening to Mark Kisslingberry talk about perfectionism and I've heard him talk about this concept before as well and I was already planning to do this episode.

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I already had my notes and my bullet points ready and I was going to talk about perfectionism and like is it okay for court reporters to make a mistake?

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How much should we be perfectionists?

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And, as Mark would say, say he was explaining basically that 25% of court reporting students are the type, or even court reporters like myself actually I think I fall into this category kind of are the type of people who will write completely perfectly and clean, but they will drop in order to write everything clean instead of trying to keep up and making mistakes and making it messy in order to keep up.

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They'll drop and that's not a good thing.

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And I think I kind of fall into that category because that's kind of like what I do and that is my downfall and that is what I have to work on.

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But, at the same time, court reporters do have to have a certain level of perfectionism in order to advertise our services, in order, like we're being paid to produce as close to perfect of a transcript as possible.

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So if there's a mistake you know, of course there are going to be mistakes here and there maybe a small thing, but if there's a big mistake, something really bad, that can cause huge problems.

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So we're being paid, the amount that we get paid so that we can afford to get our transcripts double-, triple checked.

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You know, you get it scoped by one set of eyes and then proofread by another set of eyes and then we are the final set of eyes.

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So there's a lot that it has to go through in order to become perfect and that's why we're paid.

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We're expected to uphold that level of accuracy.

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So, while it's true that there may be some times that a mistake slips through the cracks, it's not something that court reporters should feel is okay, like I've had a couple of instances where agencies would come back to me in like a heated rage because of an error.

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I wish I still had my let it be, written email address so that I could go back and remind myself of what those mistakes were.

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But the agency was so upset with me and I was like a baby court reporter, right.

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So I was still learning and I was still getting the hang of things and I think that I had, you know, not the confidence.

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I didn't have the confidence to speak up and to clarify things for the record, and I got nervous and I got scared and I didn't speak up and things got out of hand and I put inaudible or something like that in the transcript or like unintelligible, something like that, and they came back to me so upset and so angry and with such a negative energy and it was so.

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It made me feel so bad.

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But at the same time I know it's not the end of the world.

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I know I'm not going to get arrested for putting that in the transcript.

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I know that it's a.

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It's a mistake.

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Okay, that's why we have a rat of sheets.

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That's why you know we can fix it.

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It's not a big deal.

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I'm going to fix it and I'm going to send it back to you.

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I'm going to take the extra time to go back and figure out what exactly it was that was said.

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I'm going to remove the inaudible.

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So just know that you should never, ever put inaudible or unintelligible or anything that indicates that you don't know what was said at that moment, because, as human beings who are there to take down the record, we are expected to clarify what was said and not put inaudible or not, you know, miss anything.

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We have to make sure that we get it.

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So that was totally my fault and my error, but it's a mistake.

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Okay it's, I'm new, I'm learning, and at that time that's the way that I took it and I wasn't gonna like beat myself up and say I'm never taking a job again or I'm taking a break for a few months because I'm so upset about this.

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No, it's fine, just get over it, just fix it and move on.

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And I apologized to the agency and even to the client I.

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You know, when I sent the corrected version, I actually I was working with my transcript manager and and she was also included in the email and I, just as a leader because, as you know, I have her working under me, I'm a leader I knew that the way that I handle this situation is going to reflect what type of court reporter I am, what type of person I am and what type of leader I am.

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So how was I going to respond?

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You know, was I going to get upset and and like talk back to this agency and yell at them and say, how could you speak to me like that or stop working with them?

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No, I would just, I just like profusely apologize.

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I actually felt really bad.

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I was like, oh my gosh.

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When I looked at it, I was like how did I miss this and I was also thinking about, like my transcript manager.

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I was like, how did she miss this?

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Like why did she put that?

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Why, you know, this is not reflecting our standards.

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This doesn't reflect my standards and my work.

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And so I just sent an email saying how sorry I was and how I don't know how you know I missed this.

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I don't, I'm so sorry.

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This doesn't reflect my work.

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This is not.

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This will never happen again, and I included everybody in that email so that they could.

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You know, I just tried my best to just be sincere from my heart and apologize and move on, and everything was fine.

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I think, you know, a lot of agencies are a lot of.

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The owners of agencies are under a lot of pressure, so that's why they get.

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You know, they get like that because they're under so much pressure and they have a lot of people relying on them and then a lot of people under them, and I hope that if I were ever in that position of being an agency owner with many court reporters working under me whose work I'm responsible for, I would hope that I would be able to treat them with respect and not yell at them or get upset or send an email in all capital letters.

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But you know, I don't know, I don't.

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I've never been in that position.

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So I can't blame the agency owner for acting that way.

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I, you know, I can't blame.

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The only person I can really blame is myself, because I made the mistake, it was my fault, I took ownership for it and I moved on.

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So that's one example of a mistake, another mistake that I consider making, not related to transcript perfectionism or anything like that, but just in my day-to-day interactions with people.

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So there was one job that I had where I was working for the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, where I was covering the board of parole and I would go to their headquarters Department of Corrections in Albany and I would go up to their office and we would set up and I would be there for three days.

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They would pay for me to stay overnight in a hotel.

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It was actually like a really good job but really really hard work and we would be on the record all day from 8.30 am until sometimes 6, 7, 8 o'clock pm, sometimes even 9 o'clock pm.

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I'm not even kidding.

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It would be because they were trying to cram in like 70 to 90 interviews of inmates in one day, and thankfully I didn't you know when they do that many, they just appear virtually.

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So there they have like a whole setup in the jail and they have these inmates come, or the prison, actually the board of parole.

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These interviews were all state prison, so they would come one after another and the panel of commissioners would just be kind of trying to get through all as many as possible in, because they only have a certain amount of days to get through it, so they have to push through.

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And then the court reporter me, you know, I have to try my best to keep up with them and we would literally not even like we would only have a 10 minute lunch break.

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It was actually I don't think it's legal for them to do that, especially like to me it was, it was to kind of torture.

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So anyway, I'm glad I don't think it's legal for them to do that, especially like to me it was, it was kind of torture.

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So anyway, I'm glad I don't do that anymore.

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It was really hard work.

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Yeah, the lunch break would be like, ok, we would order food, get it delivered up there and take 10 minutes to eat, and you know they would sometimes be still eating while we're on the record.

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But I can't do that because I'm typing everything.

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So I think you know court reporters in this situation have a heavy load to bear and that's why sometimes our job can be difficult.

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But anyway, I pushed through and so one day I met the, the chairwoman of the whole entire board of parole and she introduced herself to me as the chairwoman.

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And then I just like this is definitely a mistake that I made, like etiquette and manners.

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I didn't realize I don't know why.

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Like what went through my mind at that time.

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Maybe I was nervous, maybe I just didn't.

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Why, like what went through my mind at that time?

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Maybe I was nervous, maybe I just didn't realize what it meant that she was the chairwoman.

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I mean, I know what the word means.

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But so then I looked at her and I said, oh, you're not a commissioner, so like that was totally the wrong response.

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That wasn't really respectful.

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And I could tell by the way that she responded back to me that that was totally not the right thing to say and she was like oh well, yeah, I mean I am a commissioner, but I'm also the chairwoman.

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Maybe it made her feel like a little bit awkward for introducing herself as the chairwoman.

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I don't.

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I don't know why I said that, but that's one mistake that I made.

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What else have I done?

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Okay, so according to Merriam-Webster's dictionary, perfectionism means a disposition to regard anything short of perfection as unacceptable.

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And then Cambridge Dictionary defines it, as you know, that we try our best to provide the highest standards possible.

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So a perfectionist has okay.

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So now here's where it gets to be a problem.

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So a perfectionist has excessively high personal standards, personal standards and overly critical self-evaluations.

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That there's a boundary right If there's.

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If it's for our work, it's good.

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But if it starts leaking into our personal lives, and then we're criticizing ourselves and our worth, that's when it starts to become a problem.

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They insist on perfection and accept nothing shy of flawless.

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So this can manifest as criticism of self and others in attempts to, kind of like, control situations and control other people.

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It can manifest in different ways, including having high standards.

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Perfectionists often set extremely high standards for themselves and for others, and they may have rigid expectations of what constitutes success or excellence in various areas of life.

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Also, attention to detail Perfectionists pay very close attention to detail and may become preoccupied with minor flaws or imperfections.

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So this can lead to spending excessive time and effort on tasks to ensure everything is flawless.

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That sounds pretty good for a scopist and a proofreader.

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Those are the kinds of characteristics we look for in a person who's scoping and proofreading our work.

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We want them to go that extra mile to research the words and the names and make sure everything's accurate.

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But, of course, research the words and the names and make sure everything's accurate, but of course there's a boundary and there's a balance.

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Also, perfectionists have a strong fear of failure and a fear of making mistakes.

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They may avoid taking risks or trying new things if they believe they won't meet their own lofty standards, and that leads to self-criticism.

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Perfectionists are often highly critical of themselves and may be overly harsh in evaluating their own performance.

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They may focus on what went wrong rather than acknowledging their accomplishments.

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So this is a big one.

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We need to make sure that we take time to celebrate the wins that we experience, to celebrate our accomplishments and take that time to really acknowledge them.

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So that's why, you know, the first episode of this year was just taking time to reflect, not on what I didn't accomplish, because I definitely fell short of my goals, but taking that time to reflect on what did I accomplish?

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What am I proud of?

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Is there anything that I can think of that I did accomplish, that I'm proud of?

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And the answer was, surprisingly yes.

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There were so many things that I could think of, and then just listing them out and coming up with this list felt so good.

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So taking time to really celebrate your successes is really, really important.

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And then just to recap, so, number one having high standards.

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Number two attention to detail.

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Number three fear of failure.

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Number four self-criticism.

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Number five, this is the one we haven't talked about yet and this is a big one procrastination.

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And I'm sure that, as I was going through those four other ways that perfectionism manifests, I'm sure that many of you were probably nodding your heads in agreement, thinking, okay, that I can see that in myself.

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I definitely that I definitely have those characteristics which you know.

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Like I said, it's good to be a perfectionist to some level in our work, to produce the best workload, but it should not cross the line where we're lashing out at people.

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We're lashing out at ourselves.

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We're yelling at people, yelling at our scopists, yelling at our proofreaders.

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No, everyone's human, you know, everyone deserves a second.

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Okay, so I'm going to talk about one example of procrastination.

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Okay, so there was one job that was horrendous.

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It was so difficult and it was when I was freelancing, and it was pro se litigants.

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So they just would not play by the rules.

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They didn't know the rules, they were oblivious.

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No matter how much I tried to, you know, get them to play by the rules, they were just I guess, for lack of a better word really crazy, I think you.

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You guys probably know what I mean, right?

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So pro se litigants, they don't, they just don't really know what they're doing and they're attempting to represent themselves, they're attempting to play the role of an attorney when they're not an attorney, but they have no idea.

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They literally have no idea how to conduct a deposition.

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So I actually admire them for the courage to try, but seriously, I cannot stand pro se cases.

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Watch out, beware of pro se cases.

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Be ready to take charge when you have pro se litigants anyway.

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Sometimes larger agencies will hire a smaller agency to cover a job for them in their coverage area.

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So that was what happened this day.

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The client in this case was a bigger agency who had booked the job through the smaller agency that I was working for.

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So that smaller agency.

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Let me just come up with a name, I'll call her Cheryl.

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So they wanted the job by Sunday night.

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Cheryl, the smaller agency, wanted the job by Sunday night because I guess that's what the bigger agency was requiring.

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So I was just so stressed out with the job and how messy the transcript was, with their constant interruptions and their thick accents and their speed reading through documents that I had yet to receive.

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I told Cheryl straight up that it was going to be kind of garbage if I got it by Sunday.

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So basically, I was procrastinating.

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I was not.

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I did not want to look at the transcript.

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I did not want to look at it, I didn't want to work on it.

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And so I let a few days go by without working on it and I was like avoiding it to the best of my ability.

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I was avoiding it as much as possible.

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And then once I finally started, I was just like, oh my gosh, it is even worse than I expected.

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What Like?

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No, this is the worst thing I've ever done.

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And I asked can I please have an extension so that I can get you a high quality transcript, receive the documents, double check everything?

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And the answer was absolutely no.

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Not so long story short.

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They'd rather me just like submit what I can like.

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Okay, so when you give the agency and I think probably all agencies are are different I actually was really baffled at this because I mean, they were pro se litigants.

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There were another, as I'm thinking about it, like there I think there were attorneys there.

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I'm not sure who they represented, but I'm pretty sure that there were attorneys there and there was also a videographer.

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So obviously there was some money in this case.

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But anyway, they, this agency, they were like absolutely not.

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Like they weren't even willing to check with the client, like, do you need it by this time?

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You know the reporter had a difficult time.

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She needs those documents.

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We don't have them yet.

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Uh, could we just get a?

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Like you know, just having a conversation with the client to ask them is it you know as a court, what time is the court date?

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Or like, do you really really need it by this time?

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For the sake of the accuracy of the transcript, would you be willing to wait like a few extra hours or a day or whatever?

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You know, I don't know.

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In my mind I'm thinking and expecting agencies to have that type of relationships with their clients where they can just ask them those questions.

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But instead of even considering my request, they just shot back at me like absolutely not, how could you even ask that?

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That's so ridiculous.

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They were just like not into the request of an extension.

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They take deadlines very seriously, which is a very good thing.

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It just goes to show like it is.

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It is very important in our work that we should take deadlines very seriously.

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But, like I said I you know I would take this with a grain of salt because the same won't always apply.

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I think, honestly, cheryl was just overcharged by her emotions, didn't think straight and I get it Like when someone orders an expedite wait I don't know if it was an expedite, but anyway, whatever they're paying for the transcript by a certain date.

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They want to uphold their reputation, like I get it.

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I just think it's important to have good relationships with our clients and to feel comfortable being able to communicate.

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And anyway, you know, especially you know when you're learning and you're getting your feet wet.

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You're getting experience as a new reporter.

00:17:27.976 --> 00:17:31.992
Okay, here's another big one with perfectionism Difficulty delegating.

00:17:31.992 --> 00:17:39.259
So perfectionists may have difficulty delegating tasks to others because they believe that they are the only ones who can meet their standards.

00:17:39.259 --> 00:17:44.540
This can lead to feelings of burnout and being overwhelmed because you're trying to do everything.

00:17:44.540 --> 00:17:53.159
I've talked about this in multiple episodes that it's so important to overcome that fear of, like, putting your work in someone else's hands.

00:17:53.159 --> 00:17:55.897
You cannot be so scared that you're just never going to try that.

00:17:55.897 --> 00:17:58.236
You have to try it, like find the right people.

00:17:58.236 --> 00:18:04.205
I know it's going to take a little bit of trial and error, which is scary, unless you get really lucky and get the perfect fit on the first try.

00:18:04.205 --> 00:18:05.229
But chances are.

00:18:05.229 --> 00:18:09.318
You have to be willing to kind of work with them and double check that.

00:18:09.318 --> 00:18:11.751
You know, send a few pages here and a few pages there.

00:18:11.751 --> 00:18:14.459
Like it takes time, it takes work to find the right people.

00:18:15.019 --> 00:18:17.573
But delegation, it is a game changer.

00:18:17.573 --> 00:18:23.564
If you take the time, invest the time upfront to build your team, you will feel the rewards of that.

00:18:23.564 --> 00:18:29.623
Your life balance will drastically improve and you will not feel as burned out or overwhelmed.

00:18:29.623 --> 00:18:32.259
So, as court reporters, we are leaders.

00:18:32.259 --> 00:19:00.214
We have to become leaders in order to not only produce a perfect and great transcript all the time and be reliable and exceed our clients expectations, but also, at the same time, be able to have a life and even if you gave up your life and you were constantly working around the clock to ensure perfection and accuracy, chances are, because of that level of stress that you're putting yourself through, you're going to make mistakes anyway, even though you're putting so much effort and so much time into it.

00:19:00.214 --> 00:19:04.063
So difficulty delegating comes from perfectionism.

00:19:04.063 --> 00:19:04.871
Definitely.

00:19:04.871 --> 00:19:08.319
That's one that we should all try to overcome, I believe.

00:19:08.319 --> 00:19:09.430
I think it's important to know.

00:19:09.430 --> 00:19:21.194
While striving for excellence can be a positive trait, excessive perfectionism can also have negative consequences, as we just talked about, such as increased stress, anxiety, difficulty in maintaining work-life balance.

00:19:21.194 --> 00:19:29.294
So finding healthy balance between striving for high standards and accepting imperfections is key to overall well-being and productivity.

00:19:29.534 --> 00:19:32.320
I was just actually in a coaching session a few days ago.

00:19:32.320 --> 00:19:40.238
So I'm in a coaching network and we trade coaching with each other because we're all coaches, so it's kind of like free coaching for us in return for coaching back.

00:19:40.238 --> 00:19:58.632
So I had my session the other day and I was sharing with her how I didn't understand why I wasn't able to stay consistent with releasing these podcast episodes, one of the episodes I just I was holding onto it for so long, like weeks and weeks, without releasing it, even though it was already edited, it was already done, it was ready to be released, but I just didn't want to release it.

00:19:58.632 --> 00:20:00.994
It doesn't feel like it brings enough value.

00:20:00.994 --> 00:20:01.875
But I just didn't want to release it.

00:20:01.875 --> 00:20:03.057
It doesn't feel like it brings enough value.

00:20:03.076 --> 00:20:08.784
And she asked me do you want it to be perfect or do you just want to get it out into the world?

00:20:08.784 --> 00:20:22.202
And I, even though I already know like in the life coaching industry, one big concept is B minus work, because people are so held back by their fear of failure, by their perfectionism, by their high standards.

00:20:22.202 --> 00:20:25.209
So instead of just getting amazing, their perfectionism by their high standards.

00:20:25.209 --> 00:20:41.234
So instead of just getting amazing, getting good, at least good content out into the world and sharing what they have to offer with the world and just like getting it out there, they decide to hold back their good content and not share it with the world because they want it to be perfect, because it doesn't meet their high, high standards.

00:20:41.234 --> 00:20:55.221
So in that case, it's actually a disservice to ourselves and to the people who could benefit from hearing these stories and these concepts and everything that we have to offer.

00:20:55.971 --> 00:21:08.394
It's a disservice when you're holding yourself to such high standards, that you're withholding all that you have to offer and just instead just doing nothing, not putting anything out into the world, the concept of the B minus work.

00:21:08.394 --> 00:21:15.961
It's like it's better to just put out a B minus product and this does not really apply to transcripts and court reporting and legal documents.

00:21:15.961 --> 00:21:39.361
But when it comes to sharing something, sharing content with the world like making a video, making a podcast episode or doing any kind of the world like making a video, making a podcast episode or doing any kind of entrepreneurial endeavor maybe a blog post, maybe whatever it is that you want to share with the world, whatever you're passionate about, maybe you want to put together a seminar or a speech, you want to speak at a convention, and then you just don't do it because you're afraid it's not going to be perfect, you're afraid you're going to be too nervous.

00:21:39.361 --> 00:21:46.695
You're just holding yourself up to the highest standards.

00:21:46.695 --> 00:21:47.557
You want to be better and better.

00:21:47.557 --> 00:21:48.682
Well, in that case, the perfectionism has got to go.

00:21:48.701 --> 00:21:50.227
When she asked me that question, it was a game changer for me.

00:21:50.227 --> 00:21:56.442
Ever since she asked me that question, ever since that coaching session, I have not missed a week of releasing an episode.

00:21:56.442 --> 00:22:05.114
My mindset really shift through that one little question Do you want it to be perfect or do you want to get it out into the world?

00:22:05.114 --> 00:22:09.383
And the answer was I really just wanted to get it out into the world.

00:22:09.383 --> 00:22:15.281
And it does feel so good to just release it into the world without the need for it to be perfect.

00:22:15.281 --> 00:22:16.084
Who cares?

00:22:16.084 --> 00:22:26.661
Maybe something's not perfect, but I'm sure that there's more value from the B level podcast episode that I put out than there would be if I didn't put anything out.

00:22:26.661 --> 00:22:28.067
Right, at least it's something.

00:22:28.067 --> 00:22:39.603
So I'm sure, even if one person can be affected, even if one person can be influenced in a positive way or can have a mindset shift or can have any kind of realization or learn something, then it's worth it.

00:22:39.603 --> 00:22:50.124
It's worth all those negative feelings and negative emotions and all the resistance overcoming it for the sake of even just one person being moved by it.

00:22:50.710 --> 00:22:55.971
And I think that it's so interesting that that agency was so adamant about not asking for an extension.

00:22:55.971 --> 00:22:58.323
From their point of view, it doesn't have to be perfect.

00:22:58.323 --> 00:22:59.488
Just get it done.

00:22:59.488 --> 00:23:01.531
Just get the transcript done, get it out.

00:23:01.531 --> 00:23:05.499
That's way better than requesting an extension so that it can be perfect.

00:23:05.499 --> 00:23:09.365
The point is that mistakes will be made.

00:23:09.365 --> 00:23:11.073
It's not the end of the world.

00:23:11.073 --> 00:23:20.480
We are expected to do our best to deliver a perfect product and we shouldn't have the mindset that mistakes are oh whatever, it's okay with a transcript.

00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:26.695
At the same time, we have to understand that mistakes will happen and when they do happen, it's not the end of the world.

00:23:26.695 --> 00:23:29.742
We're not going to die, we're not going to get arrested, we're not going to go to jail.

00:23:29.742 --> 00:23:33.780
We just have to be willing to apologize and fix the mistake and move on.

00:23:33.780 --> 00:23:36.076
Totally, totally fine.

00:23:36.076 --> 00:23:43.722
So I hope this episode has brought some inspiration and I will catch you in the next episode next Tuesday at 8am.

00:23:43.722 --> 00:23:44.565
See you then.

#37 - Perfectionism & Court Reporting: What if I make a mistake?

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