Speed 2

9. Subject familiarity. If you have to look up words to see what they mean, or do some background reading or research to understand what you are indexing, this is obviously going to slow you down. Subject familiarity will also help develop cross-references because you know what other terms the reader might look under.

10. Physical capability. This is where many indexers have a hard time. Physical capability can severely limit how fast you index. Things like a physical inability to focus for long periods of time, carpal tunnel and repetitive stress syndromes, back problems that prevent sitting for long periods of time, and more, have a large effect on how fast you can index, or how long you can index in a "sitting".

Someone without any of these physical ailments will be able to move through material and complete a project at a much faster pace.

Even something as "simple" as allergies, where you blow your nose frequently, can actually break your thought processes and slow you down.

11. Family situation and lifestyle preferences. This, in my observation (and that's all these factors are--my own observation) is the single biggest area that slows many indexers down.

They have children that need attention. Spouses that need a meal. Homes that may take more time cleaning. A gazillion loads of laundry to do. Volunteer work they participate in, either as a family, or an individual.

Sometimes, we have little control over our family situation. It may control us!

But, not all indexers lead lives like this. They may not have children. Or perhaps their children live several hours away. Instead of the indexer having to cook a meal, it could be the spouse cooks the meals. Perhaps the indexer lives in a very small space and it doesn't require much upkeep. And so on.

This frees the indexer, without any harm to the family, to work longer hours. This allows the indexer to move through substantially more material in a day, leading to projects that are done much sooner--meaning, what is a "rush" for one indexer is just a normal day for another.

In addition, preferred lifestyles affect how fast we can index, or move through material. Many indexers don't work weekends or evenings, or if they do, they charge extra.

For other indexers, their preferred lifestyle is different. They want to work more hours.

These are what I often call "entrepreneurial spirits." They love what they

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