Stuttering Help – 5 Strategies To Speak Freely On The Phone

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Speaking on the phone is a nightmare for a person who stutters. It is a situation which one AVOIDS at all cost.

I hated it, because I wasn’t able to do such an easy job when EVERYBODY else was doing it like a piece of cake without even thinking about it.

But, does it have to be that way?
Can you learn to speak freely with ease and confidence on the phone?

Here are 5 killer strategies which will help you speak freely on the phone.

As a stutterer myself, I used to avoid phone at all cost.

Those were not easy days… actually YEARS! They made me understand what “emotionally painful” really means and how it FEELS deep inside…

I chose emailing or text messaging instead of calling a place. I never was the one who answered our home-phone, I pretended I was busy or couldn’t hear the phone ringing. I avoided speaking on the phone in the presence of others, never made a phone call in front of my friends or workmates. In fact, I made all my phone calls at work during lunch times so nobody would be in our office to hear me speaking on the phone. Instead of ordering a pizza just by making a simple 1 minute phone call, I drove all the way to there, point what I wanted to order on the menu(for some reason it was easier than saying it on the phone), wait, pick it up and drove back all the way to home. I hated phone calls which I needed to introduce myself to the person on the other side of the line. I never answered my phone while I was at the bus, train or in a car with other people.

I never wanted to make phone calls to places such as my bank, university, doctor, lawyer, information places, restaurants, shops, traveling agencies, etc. Calling and complaining about a service was even worse. I think that might be why I just loved the innovation of customer service through internet 🙂

Do you know how it FEELS when somebody tells you “here is the number, give him/her a call…” and you just don’t because of the FEAR of your stuttering and the possible negative emotions it may bring to you?

No, you CAN’T know if you are NOT a stutterer.

Knowing that you need to make a phone call (which is a piece of cake for all your friends) but avoiding it just because of your stutter is not an easy feeling to cope with. It cannot be explained and I don’t think it can easily be understood by non-stutterers either.

I am not telling you all these so you feel even worse about yourself and your stuttering. I am telling you these because I want you to realize how negatively stuttering affects your life… therefore how you can positively and completely change your life once you learn how to overcome it.

Now, let me give you 5 strategies which will help you speak freely on the phone.

1. Speak when you are READY to speak not when you think you are expected to speak.
Don’t rush, take your time, feel free to even pause before you speak.

2. How you START is very important. If you start good, there is a high chance the rest of the conversation will go good. Start with a STRONG voice tone, not a weak tone for not to be heard by others! When you start strong, you won’t HOLD BACK which is the core of stuttering behavior.

3. Your posture and body movements will reflect to your inner game… and that will reflect to your speech, therefore make sure you ACT as if you are relaxed and confident.

4. FOCUS on your techniques and the conversation. Isolate yourself from negative thoughts (e.g: what others are thinking about your speech). If you have hard time focusing, use either a physical or mental object to help you focus. For example, you can pick an object around you and use it as a focal point throughout your phone conversation. As an alternative, you can also totally isolate yourself from the environment and focus on an imaginary object in your mind.

5. Let me give you an advanced strategy as well. Let the person on the other side of the line REALIZE that your speech is not “normal” and you are using some tools and techniques to manage your speech. Remember, we need to accept who we are before we can change and become who we want to become!
This will take the burden on your shoulders, because you wouldn’t have to be perfect and hide your stutter anymore. Do this with strength and pride… and you’ll see that as a by-product it will reflect to your speech in a very positive way.

Go and try those strategies. The more you do it the BETTER you’ll become and eventually you’ll start even ENJOYING making phone calls, which would be a GREAT feeling… until you see your phone bills 🙂

Let me also give you an exercise that will help you reduce your fear and improve your speech when it comes to speaking on the phone.

An Exercise:

Get the yellow pages and find out places to call for practice. Make sure they are “free to call” places so you won’t end up with a huge phone bill higher than your salary at the end of the month. Start with calling 10 places a day. These should be phone calls which you wouldn’t care what the outcome will be. For example, don’t call your credit card company to complain about an over charge and negotiate for a refund. Call places to ask what time they close, whether they carry a specific product or not, get information about their services, etc. Keep these conversations short… 1-2 minutes each.

Phone calls are a mandatory part of a daily life. Think about how many times we are forced to be on the phone(especially at work). We can’t just avoid it all the time. No matter how many times we avoid there will be times which we won’t be able to.

Therefore, it all comes to this question…

Are you going to keep avoiding and go through all those negative feelings every single time you face such a situation?

OR

Are you going to do something about your speech today and start changing everything for better?

Honestly, I can’t answer that question for you.
It is your life, so it is your choice.

But if you decide to go with the latter option, I’d suggest you to start by checking out Stuttering Dissolution Multimedia Program first. It’ll provide you everything you need when it comes to overcoming your stuttering the right way and live a FULLY EXPRESSIVE, CONFIDENT and SUCCESSFUL life… both for yourself and for your loved ones!

If you are interested, go get it now while it is still being offered for a low price.

Wish you the best… and make those phone calls like a “call center superstar” 😉

Your friend,

Chazzler