Re-Wire Your Speech….

April 18, 2012 by Leave a comment

I recently completed a sales training that attempts to “re-wire” the sales persons brain on how to sell for the large dollar sales. As I read the book, at times I felt overwhelmed and found myself re-reading paragraphs over and over because I didn’t understand something. Then, refreshingly, at the end of the book, I read a verse that said, “start by picking just one behavior to practice. Don’t move on to the next until you’re confident you’ve got the first behavior right.”

 

The light bulb went on, and I began thinking about my speech and my continued battle in the fight for fluent speech. As stutters, we frantically and desperately look for a strategy or behavior will make us more fluent. We bombard our brains with multitudes of techniques, theories and mind sets, usually finding ourselves at first excited, but then frustrated when we don’t find success.

 

I am writing this post for this exact reason. Pick a behavior or strategy that you really want to focus on with your speech. STOP! Being more fluent is not a behavior or strategy, that is an outcome. Identify a goal such as, limiting secondary behaviors when introducing yourself or using an easy-on-set technique when you get a block.

 

My guess? You’ll be a lot happier and much more successful with the results you get.

Filed under Miscellaneous

Famous Series: Jack Welch

April 3, 2012 by Leave a comment

Jack Welch is the former Chairman and CEO of General Electric, he is said to be the catalyst that brought GE to the global player that it is today. He is a very confident man and has achieved great success throughout his life. The thing that Mr. Welch and I have in common is not that we are both multimillionaires, but that we both have a stutter as well as a pretty awesome mother.

The story of how he got so confident starts way back in grade school.  His mother told him he had a stutter because he was too smart and his brain moved too fast. Well, this little vode of confidence from his mother gave him the desire and passion to be successful and not let something small and insignificant like a stutter hold him back. Mr. Welch can definitely be an inspiration to people who stutter, but also to people who don’t stutter.

It is easier said than done, but if you learn to not sweat the small stuff and to not let what other people think about you dictate how you feel about ourselves then you will be better for it!

My Parents. My Inspiration.

Thanks For Reading!

-Jordan

@JORDMICHAELS

Filed under Famous People Who Stutter, Inspirational

Things To Remember…

March 20, 2012 by 1 Comment

I can remember  participating in speech therapy from as far back as second grade when my parents used to have someone come to my house with a box of toys and games as a way to help with my speech. I have had speech therapy almost all of my life. Through the thousands of hours of speech classes that I have been to I have picked up many ways to deal with my stutter. In this post I will offer a list of ten things to remember that will facilitate smoother speech. It is hard to concentrate on all ten simultaneously while speaking, but nonetheless it is still a good list that has undoubtedly helped me through my life in dealing with my stutter.  

Things to Remember (In no particular Order)

- Relax

- Be Confident

- Stutter Openly

- Don’t Be Too Hard On Yourself

- Use Techniques

- Keep Good Eye Contact

- Don’t Shy Away From Speaking Opportunities

- Take Deep Breathes

- Don’t Get Frustrated

- Don’t Let Stuttering Hold You Back From Something You Want To Do

Additional:

- Have a Good Sense Of Humor About Your Stuttering (From our friend at www.StutteringIsCool.com, Daniele Rossi)

If you have something else that you try to focus on to help with your stutter then please share with the Stuttering Professionals, we’d love to hear what you have to say!

Thanks for Reading!

-Jordan

@JORDMICHAELS

@StutteringProJM

Filed under ..of Jordan Michaels, A day in the life..., Techniques

Famous Series: Marilyn Monroe

March 14, 2012 by Leave a comment

Marilyn Monroe was rumored to have a stutter. The National Stuttering Foundation published a list of famous people who stutter and she is on this said list. So it is my understanding through doing some additional background research that the rumor isn’t so much a rumor, but it is true. There have been many successful famous actors and actresses with a stutter, but what makes Marilyn Monroe so interesting?

Marilyn Monroe started her career off as a model. She was then discovered by a film maker and got her big break which sprung her into a very successful acting career. The interesting aspect about Marilyn Monroe’s life, in regards to stuttering,  is that no one ever really heard her stutter. I believe this can be attributed to her speaking very softly and slow. If you ever listened to her she sounded like she was not speaking in her real voice. As a person who stutters I can tell you that if I try to speak in a different voice then 99 times out of a 100 I will not stutter. The reasoning behind this? I have no idea, but it obviously worked for Marilyn Monroe. I have no intention of changing my voice so that I will not stutter. Everyone is different and Marilyn Monroe is no exception.   

Marilyn Monroe

Thanks for reading this short post!

Stay tuned for the next one.

-Jordan

@JORDMICHAELS

@StutteringPro

Filed under Famous People Who Stutter

The Next Step…

February 28, 2012 by Leave a comment

The Next Step…

Now that I have completed my studies at Chapman University and have earned a Master’s in Business Administration my next goal in life is to start a career. I do have several jobs right now, but none of which will surmount to a full-time career. The first step to starting a career is knowing what you want to do and seeking out employment opportunities in your desired profession. Knowing what you want to do is the hard part, at least for me it is. The interview process shortly follows the first step. For me interviewing is fun, exciting, and enjoyable. However, this has not always been the case as I used to let my stutter hold me back. I still get nervous, but that is normal.

Story Time:

The first job I ever interviewed for was at the local Baskin Robbins; it was the Summer going into my sophomore year of high school. I had some friends of mine working there so at the time I wanted to join them. The only problem was I needed to interview with the manager. I was petrified as I thought to myself “What if he thinks I am stupid? What if he thinks I won’t be able to communicate with the customers?” Those (evil) voices in my head followed me to my next job interview at Juice It Up a year later and Outback Steakhouse another two years after that. I wasn’t worried about the actual interviews; I was just embarrassed of my stutter and what my managers-to-be would think of me. I ended up working at all three of those places and I am still employed at Outback as a waiter.

Now, almost six years after my last job interview I am starting the process over. A couple of key differences are I am looking for a full-time career not a part-time job and my outlook on stuttering has dramatically changed. I had two interviews last week, both of which weren’t good fits for me but still good experiences. I went into the interviews confident, prepared, and most importantly not worrying about what the interviewers thought of my stutter. This helped me be more relaxed and I was able to be myself. I actually enjoyed the interviews which is something I never thought would be possible.

Point of Story:

The point to this post is don’t let anything hold you back from what you want to do. I am not sure what my future holds for me, but I do know that I won’t let being scared of an interview stop me from getting there. Whatever it is in your life that may be holding you back from what you really want to do remember that life is too short to worry about the small things, in my case stuttering.

The Next Step…is determined by me and what I want to do, not what I am scared to do.

Thanks for reading!

-Jordan

@JORDMICHAELS

@StutteringPro

Filed under ..of Jordan Michaels, A day in the life..., Inspirational

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