I have been on this forum for a few years now and I haven't seen any posts about dealing with stutting in business. This suprises me because I just read a statistic, which states that 1 in 10 people stutter. And I would think that even a minor stutter can be a barrier to building a business, because building a business invloles networking, pitching, and well...talking.
So I'll be the first to admit..I have a minor stutter. My stutter isn't the typcial sutter where I get hung up on each and every sound of a word. I tend to get STUCK on words, usually words that begin with vowel sounds 'a', 'e', 'i', 'o' 'u'.
So for example., if I am talking to someone then I might have trouble saying something like orange. So as a result, I'll start slurring my word to say oooorange. but I'll do it real fast. Or in some cases, I'll substutite an entire word or sentance to avoid the word orange all together.
Another example....and this will sound crazy. But here it goes...
My name is John. I have trouble saying my own name sometimes and I really have to push it out. There have been times when I have met people and I have looked like I don't know my own name because I couldn't get it out. It's rare for me to screw up my own name, but it does happen on occasion. I just laugh it off and act like I was caught off guard.
Most people don't know that I have the type of stutter that I have. This is because I hide it very well. I'm always thinking of alternative words to say if I get stuck in a 'sound block'. So a normal convo for me includes everything that non-sutters think about, plus a lot of alternative words and entire sentances that I can string together to ensure that I don't get stuck.
I have managed to communicate effecitvely with people, I have given presentations to students at schools, I have pitched to crowds, I have pitched to investors, and so on all without major problems because I have learned to think fast on my feet when I know that I'm about to get stuck. But this is hard and overwheling. It causes me to get very tired and shut down at times.
I suck most on the phone and in areas where I cannot see the person that I'm talking to. This is when I sutter the most. I think this could be due to stress because I cannot read the person. I'm about to rev up phone sales so I'm trying to figure out a way to become more fluent with my speech.
So does anybody here stutter in some form? And if you do, how do you deal with the issue when you are networking and communicating with people?
BTW - Don't ever let something like this be an excuse to get in the way of your fastlane dreams. I look at it as a blessing because I have learned how to think fast when talking and adapt/change when I'm about to get stuck.
So I'll be the first to admit..I have a minor stutter. My stutter isn't the typcial sutter where I get hung up on each and every sound of a word. I tend to get STUCK on words, usually words that begin with vowel sounds 'a', 'e', 'i', 'o' 'u'.
So for example., if I am talking to someone then I might have trouble saying something like orange. So as a result, I'll start slurring my word to say oooorange. but I'll do it real fast. Or in some cases, I'll substutite an entire word or sentance to avoid the word orange all together.
Another example....and this will sound crazy. But here it goes...
My name is John. I have trouble saying my own name sometimes and I really have to push it out. There have been times when I have met people and I have looked like I don't know my own name because I couldn't get it out. It's rare for me to screw up my own name, but it does happen on occasion. I just laugh it off and act like I was caught off guard.
Most people don't know that I have the type of stutter that I have. This is because I hide it very well. I'm always thinking of alternative words to say if I get stuck in a 'sound block'. So a normal convo for me includes everything that non-sutters think about, plus a lot of alternative words and entire sentances that I can string together to ensure that I don't get stuck.
I have managed to communicate effecitvely with people, I have given presentations to students at schools, I have pitched to crowds, I have pitched to investors, and so on all without major problems because I have learned to think fast on my feet when I know that I'm about to get stuck. But this is hard and overwheling. It causes me to get very tired and shut down at times.
I suck most on the phone and in areas where I cannot see the person that I'm talking to. This is when I sutter the most. I think this could be due to stress because I cannot read the person. I'm about to rev up phone sales so I'm trying to figure out a way to become more fluent with my speech.
So does anybody here stutter in some form? And if you do, how do you deal with the issue when you are networking and communicating with people?
BTW - Don't ever let something like this be an excuse to get in the way of your fastlane dreams. I look at it as a blessing because I have learned how to think fast when talking and adapt/change when I'm about to get stuck.
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