By Liz Radzick of Manifest Consulting

Fran Capo is The Guinness Book of World Records fastest talking female clocked at 603.32 words in 54.2 seconds. That works out to 11 words a second! Chances are no-one is going to give you an award for breaking the speed barrier when you are talking quickly. What you may get instead are confused listeners who feel bowled over by your rapid-fire speech and who eventually tune out.  So for you fast talkers out there here are some speed bumps you can use to help you slow down.

1. Breathe: Oxygen is Free

Most people do not breathe before they speak, so they end up running out of air and then rushing to the end of the sentence.  Begin by taking in a breath this way: put your hands on your ribs, and breathing  SLOWLY through your mouth fill up the space between your hands. Breathe in for 4 beats, hold for 3, and exhale for 5. Think of breathing wide vs. deep because you don’t want your shoulders hitching up around your ears. Do this a few times and you will notice that you start to relax. When you speak you should be exhaling at the same time; when you notice you are starting to run out of air, top-up the breath and continue. Most fast talkers run their sentences together and breathe infrequently.

2. Use Word Stress

Now using a nursery rhyme like Jack and Jill, take a WIDE breath and say “Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water” then top up the breath and say “Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after.” If you are still racing through the rhyme, really stress the rhythm of the lines: “JACK and JILL went UP the HILL…” while looking at the second hand of a watch or clock.  You should be reading at 2 words a second and every time the second hand moves is when you should be saying a stressed word. Yes, THAT SLOWLY. I know it feels dorky. Stay with me!

3. Practice a Real Life Situation

Type out what you say on your outgoing voicemail at work. Capitalize the words you want to stress e.g. HI, YOU have REACHED SANDRA CAPELLI at APPLEGATE ACCOUNTING. I’m NOT AVAILABLE  to TAKE your CALL right NOW…”etc.  Read it aloud slowly with the stress and the breathing. If you sound robotic pick-up the pace a little. Now record yourself by calling your voicemail and see if it sounds slower than your old message. Chances are it does.

For additional practice, read aloud from the newspaper, the novel you’re reading or if you have kids use their storybooks which are meant to be read aloud. Going slower will allow you to think more clearly, connect with your audience and feel more confident. GOOD LUCK and NOW go PRACTICE!

Are you a fast talker? Have any suggestion on how to slow down -share them with us!