66. How to speak like a boss

Does your voice convey competence and credibility? Or do you mumble, mash words together and say um and ah too much?This episode explains how to avoid all of the above and speak like a boss babe!

Transcript

Hello, Welcome to That Voice Podcast.

I’m Sally Prosser

Former TV reporter, former PR pro and currently on a mission to help you find your voice and speak with confidence.

No matter who you are or what you do your voice matters!

So unless you’ve sworn a lifetime vow of silence.

This is the podcast for you.

Welcome to episode 66 of That Voice Podcast.

How to Speak like a BOSS.

And as you probably get from my tone I mean like a boss babe or a boss man

Not like an actual boss in the title.

I mean how to speak like someone who sounds mega competent like they know what they’re speaking about, they sound smart and all over it.

And I believe so much of this is to do with the clarity of our speech.

And that’s going to be the focus of this episode.

And hey that’s what the focus of week five of My Six Week Voice Makeover is all about.

I am so close to launching this bad boy.

If you’re sick of not being heard, not being respected when you speak, not being able to command authority when you speak, then you gotta join My Six Week Voice Makeover.

And to do that you gotta be on the invite list.

The link is in the show notes so pause this and go and get your name on there.

Like a BOSS.

Alright as I mentioned speaking like a boss to me is speaking with competence and credibility and authority – a lot goes into that.

Articulation is one of them and it’s what I want to talk about today.

Don’t stress this is not going to be an elocution lesson.

You know that’s not what I’m about.

But there are key things I’d say you don’t want to do if you want to speak like a boss.

One – you don’t want to mumble.

Two – you don’t want to mash your words together.

And three – you don’t want loads of filler words like ums and ahs.

Why, well I’m sure there’s some studies to support this, but let’s just use some common sense, if you’re mumbling and mashing and uming and ahing people won’t understand you, let alone be influenced by you.

That’s the voice that’s trying hide inside not get out there and share its wonders.

So if you mumble, mash or blend your words together and use a lot of fillers like ums and ahs.

Then listen in.

First up let’s tackle how to stop mumbling.

And to do that you need to open your jaw when you’re speaking.

Chances are your jaw is pretty tight, so start off by massaging your lower jaw where it hinges onto your skull, that squishy joint right near your ears.

Then work on drawing it down with your hands, like you’re screaming.

And do that every morning.

Then really be aware of opening your jaw when you speak.

And a good exercise is to chew your words not in the conversation but as an exercise.

Yawning is also great for opening the jaw and throat.

The next thing you want to do is slow your speech down, by making your words fatter.

What I mean by that is stretching out the vowel sounds in the words.

So instead of “thanks so much for having me” it becomes “thanks so much for having me.”

And finally surprise, surprise don’t forget mindset, believe you have something valuable to say.

If you don’t believe that, then your voice will keep hiding and chances are you’ll keep mumbling.

Next up, how to stop mashing your words together.

The slowing down and making words fatter, stretching them out helps with that.

But a big one – especially if you have an Aussie accent.

Is to be conscious of your terminal sounds.

What’s a terminal sound, it’s the final sound in the word.

T’s are ones we love leaving off.

So instead of start – say start.

Disclaimer – if we enunciate every final sound our phrasing will be broken, but it’s a great exercise to move away from the sentences mashing.

So let’s take the line “First on the agenda is our marketing plan”

If we mash it together it becomes –

But if we make sure we hit those final sounds – the t in first, the ng in marketing, the n in plan.

Straight away it’s going to sound clearer.

And if you’re struggling to hit them, then come and join My Six Week Voice Makeover and I will give you some good old fashioned speech exercises to sharpen that up.

Alright, so we’re not mumbling, we’re not mashing words together and finally to speak like a boss you don’t want a whole heap of ums and ahs.

I’m not the um and ah police, fillers can help with fluency for sure.

But too  many ums and ahs will detract from your message, it’ll water it down, and give people the impression that you’re just not all that sure of what you’re saying, which bleeds into a perception of them not being sure about what you’re doing, they’re not sure they can trust you.

So yeh, not great news there.

How to get rid of ums and ahs.

First of all prepare and practice. If it’s an important conversation or meeting where you need to speak like a boss, establish your competence and credibility, then prepare and practice what you want to say. Like, actually practice out loud.

Next, become aware of what your filler words are and when you use them.

So I tend to say SO and alright, and Love that, a lot on my podcast.

And I’m trying to address that so it doesn’t become too annoying for you.

There’s a full hand out to help with this as part of My Six Week Voice Makeover so make sure you’re on that invite list. Link is in the show notes.

Ok, so you’re not mumbling, you’re not mashing your words, ums and ahs are nowhere to be heard and you are on your way to speaking like a boss.

Thanks for listening to That Voice Podcast, for episode details straight to your inbox leave your email at www.thatvoicepodcast.com