Here’s my 10-step plan on how to deal with challenging words!

Hi!

Have you ever struggled with difficult words?
You are not alone.

I see this so often in my work.
People are speaking, cruising along, everything is going swimmingly….
….and then it happens.
THE. WORD.
That one difficult word that throws you off.
You hesitate.
You try to say the first part of it.
You struggle.
You take a quick breath.
You finally….spit out that word.
And then…communication stops for a second.
A really long second.
You feel awful and embarrassed.
If you had only kept on speaking, you would not feel like disappearing right now.

You’re an intelligent person.
So why did you freak out about this word and stop the flow of communication?

I hear this all the time.
So let’s fix it right now.

I’ve developed a very simple, yet effective 10-step plan to help you avoid situations like this.

1. Say the text out loud to yourself. Feel free to write down all the words you want to say, in full sentences, as it will get them out of your head, and into objective reality. (It’s pretty messy in your head. The less we keep in there, the better.)

2. As you are reading the words out loud, identify the words and phrases that give you trouble. What do you find challenging? What doesn’t flow well?

3. Highlight them in a bright color in the text so you can see them quickly and easily. (If you make them bold, it will not stand out enough and you won’t see it quickly enough.) This is also very effective to see in just a glance which texts need the most work – which ones have the most colors? Those need more time and attention. Bold text just doesn’t cut it when you don’t have a lot of time.

4. Extract the words from the text and make a separate word list with only these words and phrases. Print this out and hang it up. Put each individual word on a post it and post them on your bathroom mirror (this way you can see what your mouth is doing while you are saying these words). Feel free to post them on your fridge door, on your screen, inside a kitchen cabinet, anywhere you’d like to surprise yourself and see these words to practice and say them out loud.

5. Practice them several times a day. Make saying them out loud part of your daily routine. This is how we build new habits easily and comfortably.

6. Then go back to the text. See which words come before and after these challenging words.

7. ‘Hook’ these words into their neighbors and practice these words, now connected, until it sounds natural for you.

8. Now extend that by practicing individual sentences.

9. Now extend it by practicing the paragraphs.

10. Now read the whole text all the way through with total confidence, because your mouth is such a badass!

Tiny tweaks can have such a big impact.
This entire process takes just a few minutes a day.
Try it and let me know how it goes!

Would you like more tips and tricks on how to improve your English communication and confidence? These tips, and so much more (hello 4 hours of video lessons and over 200 pages of workbooks) are waiting for you in Rock That Mouth, my new membership program.

This innovative program is different and extremely effective. There are 4 levels of membership, and VIP members get a personal feedback session. The doors to Rock That Mouth are open for 2 more days. No one can join after Sunday night, January 16. Grab your spot before it’s too late!

Hope to welcome you to the coolest course for your mouth (and your heart)!

See you soon,
Buffi