One time, I was working for a big company, and I put a decimal in the wrong place; It cost my company a lot of money. At that moment, I felt so cringe; I thought for sure I had lost my job and would never get hired again. I didn't lose my job, and other companies have hired me since then.
I always hear these stories and even have a few more myself. Dyslexics screw up, and they feel like it is the absolute end of the world. They feel like complete failures who can't do anything right. I am here to tell you that you are not a failure, you made a mistake, and that is ok.
When dyslexics go to school, we struggle. The trauma of that struggle often carries into adulthood and the workplace. We see our mistakes and blow them out of proportion, so much so that sometimes it damages our mental health and confidence.
While we are all about normalizing mistakes and finding dyslexic strengths, we are also about providing practical advice that can help make life a little less stressful. We want to highlight 2 ways you can minimize mistakes at work.
1. Use Your Voice
There is no feeling as annoying as going to spell check a word and seeing the dreaded "unknown word" or worse, "did you mean ___," and you did not mean that word!
Use Alexa, Google, or Siri and ask them how to spell the word! Tech will not judge you for not knowing how to spell ethernet, but your coworker definitely will. If you work in an open office and want to hide that you are trying to figure out how to spell a word, here is a bonus tip! Pick up your phone and use voice to text to "send a friend a message," then check how voice to text spelled the word. While not quite as efficient, it is sneaky.
2. Slow Things Down
Have you ever written an email and forgotten to spell-check it? Or maybe you forgot to add the attachment. We all have; our dyslexic minds usually race with thoughts and tasks, and we hit that send button quickly! Then we go back and review to find we made a mistake.
Set a "delay send" on your emails! If you are a Google user, you can change your "undo send" settings to a maximum of 30 seconds. If you don't think 30 seconds after you hit the send button is long enough, you can try Microsoft Outlook (you can add a google account to a Microsoft Outlook account with some tech wizardry). Microsoft Outlook allows you to create a "defer delivery rule," enabling you to set how long you want between the time you hit send and the time the email leaves.
Want more tips on how to minimize mistakes? Hive members check out our comprehensive guide in our resource hub. If you are not a Hive member but are ready to take the next step in your dyslexic journey, join us for a month and start seeing the difference.
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