Is Sloppy Speech Holding you Back?

We are living through a dramatic evolution of our language.  We have text speak to deal with on our phones; emails and other written documentation which is leading to misinterpretation and mistakes.

If that’s not bad enough there is the “sloppy speech syndrome” that too many suffer from.  There are many more of us out in the public arena presenting information; selling products and training.  We dress appropriately, have our powerpoint presentations perfect and then open the mouth and it all falls apart.  

The sloppy speech starts,  filler words like “um,” “ah,” “you know,” “like,” or “OK?” creep in; the speed of our speech increases as we try to get our information across and the awful pronunciation is cringe-making.  New Zealand becomes New Zild, secretary becomes secetry and on it goes.

Are you guilty of any sloppy speech habits?  Have you conquered any of them?  I have.  Joining POWERtalk and attending regular fortnightly meetings where my presentations were evaluated helped break me of a sloppy speech habit.  You know!

We practice choosing our words carefully.  We are careful  in our use of language as we know better communication is one of the keys to career and life success.