How do you find your voice if you haven’t lost it?
I know what people mean when they talk about finding your voice – at least I think I do. They have in mind becoming comfortable with your communication style. Discovering what it is you want to say, or perhaps can’t stop yourself from saying.
Speak up, speak up!
It is not so much about volume as it is confidence and fluency.
Still trying to get started
Only doing it is doing it – and doing it will reveal things to you – style, comfort, cadence, purpose, congruence. All important and mostly elusive. The ‘what if’s’ are not your friends. What if people don’t like me? What if I can’t say it well? What if I get it wrong?
Start and be ready to adjust – but if you stay quiet we all lose out – we need to hear from you.
Starting again
Sometimes we stop speaking for ourselves – because we’re paid to speak for someone else. At other times we get distracted, or follow a well-meant recommendation, rather than our own hearts. In these cases, we do need to find our voice – again. Stand up, reconnect and speak up like we used to, and how we need to – now.
Using rather than finding
The practical path is more using than finding. Learn, develop, grow, and work on taking forward steps, even if they feel small. And again. And again.
- More journey than arrival – learn to count a good journey an important measure of success.
- Put your voice to work. Try and fail a little – good now, better later.
- Can I challenge you to record something every day – even if it is only 60 seconds – and use it to stretch both your comfort and skill zones.
Your voice doesn’t really need finding, it needs using.
See
The new Descript promo movie – fun and informative. Why does it work?
Hear
Pick your own from this week’s top 10 from Apple and let me know what you learned – I like the look of number 10 I think.
Read
Seth Godin Blog post – Five useful questions – power in simplicity
And finally
- Pick good role models
- Learn to tell a good story well