Today I want to share with you the one function in your phone that will save you time, get you organised, and help you to grow! I’m going to teach you how to save time using dictation.

This is a life hack that is saving me so much time and has really helped me to get lots of great ideas that have been running around in my pretty little head into action.

And you know what the best part is, it is super simple and we all have it, right at our fingertips. I can’t wait to help you to unleash the power of this precious hidden gem. Cause if you don’t know about it, I think its going to change your life like it did for me. And as you can probably tell I am so excited to tell YOU about it. You ready for it?

It’s called dictation.

And if you and dictation are already friends, then I am sure you know, what a difference this can make in your life. Let me tell you how it works, and then I am going to show you. Now I am sure you are familiar with those scenes of business executives speaking into an old fashioned tape recorder, a Dictaphone, to tell his trusty secretary what to type for him.

Well this is the same thing.

Only we all have it right in the palm of our hands. No secretary needed. Cause it is in our phones! Yes, all I have to do is press a little button, start speaking and the words start typing right in front of my eyes. Now this is ground breaking for me, cause sooo often I have like a million and 50 things running around in my head, from what to pack to travel next week, where my daughter needs to be this weekend and my ever growing list of things to do like today! This one feature is helping me to grab all of these ideas and get them onto paper (well the notes section in my iPhone anyhow).

But the one main area I have found it super helpful is in writing and creating content.

Cause you know somedays when you sit down cause you know you’ve got to get something out there on a blog, or a Facebook post, and you sit yourself down with your laptop to write. And then your mind is blank and you sit and stare at the screen? I think we have all had those moments.

Well this clever little function (thank you Apple) has totally helped me to get over my writer’s block on many occasions. Cause it does all the writing for me. All I’ve got to do is talk. And THAT my friends has never been a problem for moi!

Best of all, when I have ideas on the fly, I can simply open notes, hit the button and just let my thoughts pour out of my mouth, wherever I am. No need to try and remember anymore!

Now, if you don’t already know about this well kept secret gem, I am going to show you exactly where it is and how to use it.I just found out that I can also dictate on my computer better.

Ok so how does it work?

Right let’s get into it…

So I want you to get out your phone, right now. Are you doing it?

Open any App where you can write text– I am going to say the notes app if you are on iPhone like me. Got it?

Great, now bring up a keyboard by tapping where you are going to type (as you would always do)You with me?

Now I want you to look at the keyboard where the space bar is, and there is a cool little icon that somewhat resembles a microphone there. Now if you press that button, all you need to do is start speaking and the app will automatically start inserting the words as you speak.

How awesome is that?!

So where can you use this feature?

Anywhere on your phone, IPad or tablet that you can type. Like everywhere.

So if you struggle with sending text messages cause the buttons are too small, or you just are really slow – then this feature is going to be your new best friend.

Now I also want to warn you of some of the little things I have learnt along the way. Of course, as these things go, sometimes the interpretations can be a little off kilter, so I highly recommend you go over and review before you hit send or upload.

You can make edits really easily by just tapping on the word or area and then typing your corrections. There is no natural punctuation, so you do need to verbalise the punctuation. This can be a little tricky when you are first starting out, but once you get the hang of it it’s not so hard. The first few times I used it I just kept rolling and then went back over it later. And lastly there is a time limitation, so don’t get caught like I did dictating this long blog only to find that it has stopped recording on me!

But to me the shortfalls are way outweighed by the wins on this time saving feature. Especially if you are just using it to take notes or write a Facebook post.

Another thing I think is pretty cool is that you can use punctuation and formatting and on the iPhone you can even say Smiley, or Winky or Frowny and it will pop in the old school emojis (that I still use mind you) using hyphens, colons and brackets.

One other last thing I think is unreal, is that in my dive into Google to find out more about this cool little function, I discovered that I can use it on my laptop or on a desktop too! So straight into a word doc or blog post. Don’t mind if I do!

I have put together a handy guide on exactly how to use this tool. If you’d like access to this and many more templates, workshops plus more great content, join us inside The Confident Space.

Look forward to seeing you there.

P.S. Did you find this tip useful? Feel free to like, comment, or share. Your support is hugely appreciated.