How speaking fast could ruin your career in Singapore

8 out of 10 of my clients here in Singapore speak very fast.

“It’s just the way I talk. I tried to remind myself but still have difficulty slowing down.”

“People always ask me to repeat, which frustrates me.”

“I speak so fast that I feel breathless after some time.” Did you experience similar frustrations?

You might think speaking fast is your natural energy or even think it projects an image of being efficient. The key in communication, however, is not efficiency, but effectiveness.

Effectiveness is determined by how well your listener, be it one or one hundred, gets your message, without misunderstanding or misinterpreting your message. Speaking fast affects your clarity.

If you speak fast, you are not enunciating. You may have been asked constantly to repeat yourself as people can’t catch what you’ve said.

Speaking fast reduces your credibility. Studies show salespeople who speak fast tend to lose more prospects.

Your potential clients’ will shut down in the first 2 minutes if they have difficulty following you, and they’ll lose trust in you.

Speaking fast projects less confidence. If you speak fast in your presentations, you’ll be perceived as too nervous, lack of confidence and steadiness.

That is not the image you want to leave on your audience. You may have tried to keep reminding yourself to slow down.

However, after a few minutes you find yourself on the fast lane again!

To slow down in the natural way, you have to get to the root of the problem.

As a speed talker, you may have the following three issues:

• You breathe shallowly. Speaking fast is the result of shallow breathing. You speak from the top of your lungs.

A deep breath with the support of your diaphragm takes time to sink into your body. When your voice is supported by such deep breaths, it’ll not only slow down by itself, but sound more calm and confident.

• Your jaw is tense. When you speak too fast, your mouth is not opening wide. If you put your hands on your jaw area, you find your jaw seldom moves. This explains why you lack clarity, as your words get stuck in your mouth.

Do a few jaw-opening exercises by saying the word “ah” several times. This will help open and relax your jaw. When your jaw is open, you’ll slow down in your speech.

• You focus is not correct. Speed talkers focus too much on the content, i.e. whatever they want to convey, and have overlooked whether the listener, be it one or one hundred, could catch up, could understand and have time digesting the content.

Those who speak very fast in presentations may put too much focus on themselves: “What if I say something wrong”, “What if I forget what to say” or “What if they get bored.”

If you could focus on the listeners and concern about what they can get out of listening to you, you’ll be more likely to slow down because you care about whether they can follow you, whether they can understand you, and whether they have enough time digesting what you’ve said.

When you solve the root problems of speaking fast, you’ll never have to suffer from getting asked to repeat yourself or get frustrated that people can’t understand you well. You’ll sound much clearer, more confident and credible. When you slow down, your career will speed up.