Self Improvement
How to speak like the 1%
All great speakers share these 3 qualities.
If you’ve paid attention.
The 1% speak differently.
They don’t speak like you and I.
All great speakers do these 3 things that enable them to speak articulately and intelligently.
1. Expand your surface lexicon
Your surface lexicon are the words you default to.
It comes unconsciously.
If I asked you :
How was the food?
You might have thought of :
- Good
- Tasty
- Awesome
That’s your surface lexicon.
But you could have said.
- flavorful
- seasoned
- appetizing.
You know those worlds, but they’re in your deep lexicon.
So how do you unlock them?
Repetition.
The more you use a word, the higher it ranks in your lexicon.
A Yale study found that a word needs to be used 38 times before it becomes part of our surface lexicon.
Great speakers don’t reach into their deep lexicon every time they speak.
Rather, they expand their surface lexicon with more articulate words.
2. Own the Silence
Silence in conversation is awkward.
But it doesn’t have to be.
Some of the greatest speakers in history have used silence to their own advantage.
Why?
Silence gives you extra time to gather your thoughts and construct an articulate sentence.
But 99% of people are allergic to silence.
They speak quickly, blurting whatever comes to mind, then they rephrase words and add extra details.
Which makes their ideas cluttered.
Look at this video where Steve Jobs responds to an insult.
This is an excellent example of owning the silence.
3. Prune the filler words.
Most people think that filler words are bad.
But, they are a natural part of human expression.
Otherwise, they make us sound too formal.
Like you are reading a script.
The real problem lies in overusing the filler words.
And this problem emerges because we speak faster than we think.
So how do we stop doing it?
Hear the end of your words.
When I started focusing on audibly hearing the end of my words.
I began to speak at a slower pace.
Which allowed my brain to catch up.
And I relied on my filler words less.
Keep your mouth closed until you are ready to speak
Does this sound familiar?
So James, tell me about yourself?
Ummmmmm…well I’m from
Until you have formed a sentence in your mind.
Keep your mouth shut.
Hi!
I’m Soyal, a 19 year old creator on Medium. I’ve been writing on Medium every day for two months, and I’m committed to writing for 365 days straight.
If you find my content valuable, please let me know, it really helps!
