The following quote is apropos to learning steno:

“The success mechanism within you can work in the same way to produce ‘creative doing’ as it does to produce ‘creative ideas.’ Skill in any performance, whether it be in sports, in playing the piano, in conversation, or in selling merchandise, consists not in painfully and consciously thinking out each action as it is performed, but in relaxing, and letting the job do itself through you. Creative performance is spontaneous and ‘natural’ as opposed to self-conscious and studied. The most skilled pianist in the world could never play a simple composition if he tried to consciously think out just which finger should strike which key- while he was playing. He has given conscious thought to this matter previously- while learning, and has practiced until his actions become automatic and habit-like. He was able to become a skilled performer only when he reached the point where he could cease conscious effort and turn the matter of playing over to the unconscious habit mechanism which is a part of the success mechanism.” -From, “Psycho-Cybernetics” By: Maxwell Maltz