There are thousands and thousands of possible briefs and phrases. The trick is to decide which ones you will memorize and use. It's impossible to remember all of them. No one can do that. On the other hand, you can't ignore them. Some words are just too darn popular to stroke out day after day after day.

So you need to find a happy medium. Here are some general tips.

1, Briefs are more important than phrases. A brief is used for a word that is usually multi-syllable or hard to write. Using briefs will cut down the number of strokes on a word. A phrase is used for a series of words that are popular, but for the most part, phrases are made up of words that are not hard to write out. Take these three phrases as examples: at that time, assistant district attorney, preponderance of the evidence. Every word in those phrases has a brief or a one-stroke outline. They aren't hard to write out. Give most of your attention to briefs.

2.  Keep a daily notebook of briefs and phrases. Write them down after each drill. Put an X next to them if they show up more than once. At the end of the day, examine your notebook. Look for the words that show up multiple times in one day. Those are popular words. You will help yourself greatly by learning briefs for the most popular words.

3.  Remember that there is more than one way to stroke an outline. If you don't like the recommended brief, ask your teacher if there are any alternate strokes. There usually are. Personally, I know 8 ways to write the word "and."

4.  If a new brief is still giving you trouble after two weeks of usage, maybe you should discard it. Not all briefs are good. Some are hard to stroke. Some are hard to remember.

5.  Keep a ten-word list of briefs.  Practice them while warming up and between drills.  If you memorize ten words every day, you will know 300 new briefs in a month and 3,650 new briefs in a year.  That is much much more than you will ever need.  And it all starts with ten words a day.

6.  Don't use briefs and phrases before they have been properly memorized and practiced.  If you try to use them before you recall them and stroke them quickly and accurately, you will induce hesitation into your writing.

7.  Don't wait for a phrase.  Just because you heard the word "ladies" or "preponderance" is no reason to stop writing and wait for a phrase to roll by.  Sometimes it does, but not always.  If you are all caught up with the dictation, there is no good reason to stop writing.  Sometimes the expected phrase does not appear.  So if you are caught up and you hear the first word of a phrase, keep writing. 

8.  Don't give up on an outline because it is hard to read.  Don't worry.  Just keep stroking it.  Eventually, you will learn to write it.  The hard part of stenography is the writing, not the reading.  If it helps your stroking, keep with it. 

9.  You will forget some outlines.  Stick them back into your notebook, and learn them again.

10.  You won't be done with learning new briefs and phrases until the day you retire.  So don't stop learning. 

BuySteno.com has several CDs and programs to help you learn briefs and phrases..