Productivity4 min read
Talk, don’t type: how Wispr Flow speeds up my work
Speaking is faster than typing. How I use Wispr Flow for AI prompts, X replies, messages, and specs — and how to try it this week.
Most of my working day happens in text boxes. A prompt for a coding agent. A reply on X. A Slack message, an email, a ticket, a note to myself. None of it is hard to write, but all of it has to be typed, and typing is the slow part.
So I’ve started talking instead.
What Wispr Flow does
Wispr Flow is a dictation app that works anywhere you can type. On a Mac, you hold the Fn key, speak, and let go. On Windows, the default is Ctrl + Win. The text lands wherever your cursor is: a terminal, a code editor, Gmail, Slack, ChatGPT, or Claude.
What sets it apart from the dictation built into your laptop is the clean-up. Flow removes filler words and false starts, adds punctuation, formats lists, and catches the corrections you make mid-sentence. What you get reads like something you wrote, not a raw transcript.
It runs on Mac, Windows, iPhone, and Android, and understands more than 100 languages. At the time of writing, the free plan includes 2,000 words a week on desktop — enough to find out whether it fits the way you work.
Where it saves me time
- Prompting AI coding agents: this is the big one. When I type a prompt, I cut corners. When I talk, I explain the whole thing: what I want, what I’ve already tried, and what must not change. The agent gets far more context to work with.
- Posts and replies on X: replying is much faster now. I read the post, hold the key, say what I think, and it’s done while the conversation is still happening.
- Emails and messages: short messages take seconds, and longer ones no longer feel like a chore to start.
- Thinking out loud: when an idea is still messy, I talk it through without worrying about structure. Then I hand the transcript to AI and ask for a plan or an outline.
- Docs, specs, and tickets: explaining a feature out loud is how I’d explain it to a colleague anyway. Dictating the first draft gets the substance down, and editing it afterwards is quick.
Why it matters most with AI
AI tools can only work with the context you give them. Typing makes context expensive, so prompts stay short and we hope the model fills in the gaps. Speaking makes context cheap. Mentioning the edge case, the constraint, or the thing that broke last time costs you a sentence, not a paragraph of typing.
Here’s the kind of prompt I’d dictate to a coding agent:
The newsletter signup form shows a generic error when someone who’s already subscribed tries again. I want a friendly message instead that tells them they’re already on the list. Keep the form layout as it is and don’t change the API contract. Add a test for the already-subscribed case. I’ll check it by submitting the same email twice in the local preview.
It covers four things: the outcome, the context, the constraints, and how I’ll check the result. Typing all of that feels like effort. Saying it doesn’t.
How to start this week
- Install it and learn the shortcut. Hold Fn on a Mac or Ctrl + Win on Windows. If you’d rather not hold a key, hands-free mode starts with Fn + Space on a Mac.
- Start with replies. For one day, answer your messages by voice. It’s low-stakes, and talking to your screen stops feeling strange surprisingly quickly.
- Teach it your words. Add names, product terms, and jargon to the dictionary. Flow learns some on its own, but adding the important ones up front saves corrections.
- Read before you send. Dictation gives you a first draft. A quick glance catches the occasional misheard word.
The honest limits
- You need somewhere you can talk. A shared office or a quiet train isn’t the place for it.
- It doesn’t replace thinking. Talking fast isn’t the same as knowing what you want. The best dictated prompts still start with a clear goal.
- Check the privacy settings. Your dictation is handled by Wispr’s service. You can opt out of model training and manage your data under Settings → Data and Privacy. If you work with client or sensitive material, look there first and check your company’s rules.
Try it for a week
Pick one habit — replies, prompts, or notes — and do it by voice for the next seven days. Notice where it helps and where you still reach for the keyboard. Keep what works.
That’s the idea behind this newsletter: practical tools and small experiments you can try in your own work, one email a week. If that sounds useful, join the newsletter.