Accent Reduction –  The Secret of “If” and “Then”

Plans are good.  And with a super simple plan, you can resist temptation to fall back to your old habit.

When do you always perform that bad habit?

Example: “Whenever I am with another person, I interrupt them before they are finished talking.”

Yes. OK. Now use two words to make the smallest little plan:

If I am with any other person, then I will count 1, 2 after their last word.

It’s called if-then planning, and it is a wonderfully powerful way to help you achieve any goal.

Over a hundred studies, on everything from exercise and eating habits to time management and negotiation have shown that deciding in advance when and where you will do specific actions to reach your goal (e.g., “If it is Friday morning, I will file away all my papers.”) can double or triple your chances for success.

Apply this to your clear speaking habits.  If I am in a meeting room, then I will aim my words to the person in the back of the room – which means I make my voice louder and make all the consonants louder and clearer.

Two words. If, then. Big change.

Be sure to watch our English Speech Tips videos and Accent Reduction Tip videos  for more English pronunciation and accent reduction exercise.

Check out our new advanced weekly speech tip program, our new subscription called ClearTalk Weekly, www.subscription.cleartalkmastery.com

Rerun from June 22, 2016