This post is about how you can create content with your voice. It's a productivity hack I use to write blog posts on the move, without the need for a keyboard.
The idea is simple: speak into a voice-to-text app on your phone while you're walking, commuting, or doing the dishes, then clean up the transcript later. You can produce a first draft in a fraction of the time it takes to type.
Why Create Content With Your Voice?
Most of us can speak much faster than we can type. The average person types at around 40 words per minute, but speaks at around 150 words per minute. That's nearly four times faster. If you can capture your spoken words as text, you can produce content much more quickly.
The other advantage is that speaking is more natural. When you talk, you tend to use a more conversational tone, which often translates into more engaging, readable content. You're also less likely to get stuck staring at a blank screen, because talking flows more freely than typing.
Tools for Voice-to-Text
There are several tools you can use to convert your voice into text. Google Docs has a built-in voice typing feature that works well in Chrome. On iOS, the built-in dictation feature works across all apps. For more advanced transcription, tools like Otter.ai offer high-quality speech-to-text with the ability to edit and organise transcripts.
The key is to find a tool that works for your workflow and produces clean enough text that you don't spend more time editing than you would have spent typing.
How to Get the Best Results
When you're dictating content, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, speak in short, clear sentences. Long, rambling sentences are harder to transcribe accurately and harder to edit later. Second, dictate in a quiet environment if possible, as background noise reduces accuracy. Third, don't worry about perfection on the first pass. The goal is to get your ideas down quickly; you can refine the language during editing.
It's also worth noting that dictation works best for certain types of content. Opinion pieces, first-person narratives, and conversational blog posts are ideal. Highly technical content with lots of specific terminology may be slower to dictate than to type.
Editing Your Voice Content
Once you've dictated your draft, the editing phase is where the magic happens. Read through the transcript and clean up any transcription errors. Break up long paragraphs. Add headings and structure. Tighten up the language where your spoken phrasing was too wordy. The result is often a more natural, engaging piece of content than you would have produced by typing from scratch.
The beauty of this approach is that you can create content anywhere. On a walk, in the car (as a passenger, of course), while cooking. All those pockets of time that would otherwise be wasted become productive writing sessions. If you write regularly, this is one of the highest-leverage productivity hacks you can adopt.