"TK" is a powerful placeholder that originated from the typesetting era, used to mark unfinished parts of a writing project without interrupting the writer's flow. It's easy to type, doesn't involve formatting, and can help with productivity and writing efficiency.
My favorite productivity tip is just two letters long.
I’m talking about “tk,” a powerful placeholder I learned back in my journalism days. Those two little letters make an appearance every time I’m drafting a presentation or report, and since I often end up explaining to my colleagues what the heck it’s doing there, I figured it was time to write up my official ode. Dear tk, here’s why I love you:
Let’s say I’m pulling together usability findings, and I realize I want to count up how many participants went down a particular path. I could stop outlining my presentation and go back to my notes or session videos to get that number right then — a process that takes me away from whatever writing momentum I was building. Or I can stick in my placeholder — “tk out of 8 clicked the wrong button” — and move on to my next finding.
Or, say I’m writing something — perhaps this very blog post! — and I’m just not happy with the way I’m making a point. I could write and rewrite for an hour — plenty of time to get stuck, go check my email, get sucked into a Facebook hole, and forget what I was trying to do in the first place. Or I type in that abbreviation — “better ending tk” — and keep forging ahead.
Why tk? It’s easy to type, it doesn’t involve formatting, and I don’t have to remember where my placeholders are. (Spell check will find it, and when I command+f my way through a document, I don’t have to wade through a lot of irrelevant matches. Trust me: The only thing that matches tk is tk itself.)
What’s the origin of “tk”? I’ve never found a great, authoritative explanation, though it supposedly harkens back to the days of typesetters. Legend says it’s a way to indicate that material is still “to come” in a way that is easy to spot and obviously not intended for publication. (There’s a lot of intentionally misspelled journalism slang out there.)
Whatever its history, tk is my secret to writing faster. When people tell me that writing takes them forever, picking a placeholder is one of my first tips. I can write down everything I know I want to say, while quickly marking — and then moving on from — the spots I know I need more work.
Another placeholder may work for you — bolding, highlighting, writing COME BACK TO THIS in all caps — but tk will be forever mine. Give it a try the next time you’re stuck!
