Get Better At Speaking With These 5 Tips
Host: Isaac Mashman · April 1, 2022 · Episode 96 · 17 minutes
Transcribed from the episode audio and edited for names and terms. Wording can differ slightly from what was said; the episode itself is the record.
to Chase the Vision of Isaac. Yo, yo, yo, yo. What is going on, everybody? Isaac Mashman here. And you and I listening to another episode of Chase the Vision with Isaac Mashman, the podcast that is all about helping you become a more capable individual through me sharing my experiences and knowledge in business, life, and personal growth. Welcome to today's episode. And today I'm going to be sharing five ways, five tips, five strategies, whatever the hell you want to call it, that you can use in your own life to get better at speaking. And I'm not just talking about public speaking. I'm talking about speaking, yes, on stage, on podcasts in your content, right?
Whenever you're doing content creation on video or even your podcast or audio clips or social audio like clubhouse. And I'm also going to be sharing things that are going to be helping you on your one-on-one calls, your consultations, your sales calls, and all of the above.
Now before I jump into these five tips, I'm super excited to be sharing these with you too. I want you guys to understand the fee. Now the fee for the show isn't monetary. I'm not going to be blasting advertisements down your throat or into your ears every single time you listen to a show. I never run an ad. And if I do run an ad, it's for myself, right? So if I say I never run an ad, I'm meaning external advertisements, but the fee for the show is super simple. All you need to do to give me value is to share this episode if it gave you value to a friend, a family member, a business partner, somebody in your life or share the podcast episode on social media. That's the way that we grow.
That's the way we get in front of more eyes, more attention into more homes and on to more stereos. So anyways, let's go ahead and talk about speaking and how you can get better at it. This is something that is a huge fear of people and something that a lot of people know consciously that they need to improve upon. It's something too that can be extremely daunting because now the center of attention is always going to be on you when you're speaking. So that means that in your mind, people are going to be ripping you apart. People are going to be paying attention to every minor mistake, every single breath, every single um, and to a degree, yes, you are the center of attention when you are speaking, I hope so at least, right? Don't like people over talking you.
But it's not that complicated. And in these five strategies or in these five tips that I'm sharing with you today, I want you to understand that these are relatively simple, but they're overlooked. And because they're overlooked, it really is going to inhibit your own success whenever you're on a call, whenever you're creating content. And you're not going to be seeing the results that you really want. by taking and actually applying these five things to start with, I have no doubt in my mind that you're going to see your results improve. So without further ado, let's go and jump into it. The first thing is to be present.
This is probably the most difficult thing out of this list for me personally. And so I wanted to start with this because whenever I'm on a call, especially or creating a piece of content, not so much, I have to be present.
But whenever I'm on a sales call or whatever, whenever I'm talking or, you know, maybe doing a video call or even a podcast where I'm being interviewed or I'm the one doing the interviewing or, you know, doing a consultation, it's super easy to veer off into nowhere land and you're thinking about everything you need to do. You're thinking about social media posts that you need to make. You're thinking about the other content you need to create. You're thinking about the other interview. Oh, I have to pod or I have to edit this podcast and then I have to publish it and then I have to go and now am I going to close this person on this sales call? Am I going to do X, Y and Z and you're being pulled in so many freaking directions.
You don't know what direction to go in. And the direction that you need to go in is very simply being present and going in the direction of presence. All right, I'd say presence like presence like Santa Claus, but you need to go and be present, especially when another person is on the other end of the phone, the Zoom chat, whatever it is, and especially in person too, you can go and get distracted, you jade dream. And social media has done an exceptional job ruining our attention spans. A goldfish has a higher attention span than a freaking human being. How wild is that? But it's true.
And so if you really want to command more respect and to also be doing what you know you should be doing out of respect for the other person that you're talking to or that they're paying for, you know, consultation, for example, you owe it to that individual to be there 100% to not be thinking about everything else but to be in the conversation.
And this has been a challenge for me too because I'll feel drawn to pick up my phone and to check something. And I'm not saying I'm going full blown out scrolling through social media, but even something as simple as checking an email. Now my attention is being directed to something other than the conversation at hand. And that can be disrespectful without even realizing it. So tip number one is to be present. Tip number two is to study other people. Now, I'm not saying that you need to go out and get a mentor to be better at speaking. Now, if you're a public speaker and that's the career you want to have, then I would say maybe sure you want to have some other public speakers in your corner, another mentor who's spoken on hundreds of stages.
But when it comes to getting better at speaking, being a better podcaster or being a better content creator, study other people who have the results. And you don't have to just study people that are on audio to learn how to be better at speaking. you can also study people on stage. Now, I would recommend going and looking into Earl Nightingale and looking into some of the other greatest radio broadcasters of our time and time forgotten, right? A couple decades ago. I've recently acquired some of the actual vinyl records of Earl Nightingale from the 60s, The Strange's Secret. The audio's that I didn't even know existed to, and I've listened to The Strange's Secret dozens of times, but lesser known audio's and I'm like, like, wow, now I have a physical copy.
But if you pay attention to Earl Nightingale's tonalities and how he speaks and the vocabulary and how his conversations flow and how he uses examples in order to break down normally complex conversations and subject matter in an easily understandable and digestible way, it's really impressive actually, once you go and kind of dissect it like it's a science.
And then you have the other side of the equation where you're looking to how somebody is speaking, But you're also looking at how they are moving on stage and their body posture and how their hands are moving. Certain people, some of the best public speakers, if you pay attention to them, they move their hands. And that's to engage the conversation. It's to engage the audience rather, and not the conversation, but to engage the audience to be more interacting, or to interact more rather with what they are saying, with the subject matter at hand. And I also think that sometimes public speakers move their hands a lot to keep track of their own thoughts.
I'm thinking about Jordan B. Peterson. He's an exceptional public speaker, in my opinion. Now, sometimes his vocabulary can be quite complex to where you have to actually definitely be present to even listen to him.
Let alone, I can imagine what's going on through his head in the times whenever he's delivering his speech. But he moves his hand and I think that it helps him keep track of things. And so, as you are speaking, like what I'm doing right now, and you can't see it because I'm not on video, I am moving my hands. I recently hosted a webinar through Mashman Ventures, and it was the first ever webinar we have ever self-hosted. And if you go and watch the replay that's up on the YouTube channel by going to youtube.com, Mashman Ventures, and you'll see the unrivaled personal branding replay from March 25th, I moved my hands a lot.
And it's not even for the person at the other end. It's for me. It helps me keep track, and so finding the ways that you can help stay on track with a conversation or directing an interview in your own life and in your mind is going to be essential. Number three is to read and continue developing your vocabulary. I think that this is essential for long-term growth and for learning new information because I've also seen some speakers and they talk about the same thing in every single speech. And what's the diversification of content at that point? Where can somebody learn something new from you if all you're doing is repeating the same speech over and over and over again.
Now given, right, every single time you listen to something, you are now going to be paying attention and learning something new, not because the content necessarily changed, but because you're paying attention more, your perspective is different. You've learned more, you're in a different situation. And so there's always value that can be had, but I'm talking about really going and improving your subject matter and improving your vocabulary, right, Being able to use higher level and higher caliber words, we think about one of the things that we had to do in middle school and high school, it's taking vocabulary tests.
That wasn't by accident, and so we can speak with more confidence, and so we can speak on a more higher intellectual level. I'm not saying that you need to be Albert Einstein and be Sheldon from the Big Bang and use a bunch of these large words to try to appear more confident and to appear like an expert, but it can never hurt, you know, being able to get your message across in a succinct way and to be able to get your conversation and your thoughts across in a manner that makes somebody stop and think and reflect and study, right? And so by reading, you're now also digesting information and if you are anything like me, I read how I expect the word to be spoken, right? To where if I am speaking and if somebody else is speaking, I am reading it in that manner.
If you, you know, have ever read my book, personal brain and Manifesto on Fame and Influence, I've had a couple of people message me and be like, Isaac, you know, I've noticed some grammar issues. I'm like, if you read it in my tone of voice and how I typically speak, you're going to notice that it flows. That's not by accident. And a lot of people write how they speak. And I personally like understanding how conversations flow, how sentences flow, when there are pauses, when there are gaps in the conversation, whenever the subject matter transitions from one subject to another, maybe there's a break and now it goes into the next section.
There's so many different things that you can learn by reading that can actually help you be a better speaker and be better at speaking in the long haul.
And you can also listen to podcasts. This doesn't just go down to reading and studying other speakers, But podcasts are a great way of breaking down how a conversation flows in between two people, going and listening to different shows where they are known for having exceptional interviews, like the School of Greatness with Lewis Howes or even the Joe Rogan experience. You can love him or hate him, but he has some of the best conversations and podcasts with people that last for two or three hours because he is present, because he is interested in other person and because look, he's there. He is there for that entire span and that is a great example of somebody that you might want to study if you're wanting to get better at podcasting or going back and listening to some of the interviews that I have done on my own show.
So up until this point, we've had number one to be present in conversation. Number two is to study other speakers and other people who are known for what they're doing. Number three is to read and continue developing your vocabulary and number four is to not obsess over the little things. I remember when I first got started with podcasting, I would literally go back and edit every um, every breath, every pause, every single freaking thing about my show and I've already stumbled over myself five times in this podcast at least you guys haven't caught one of them because you are not listening for the flaws. You were listening for the for the juice, for the information, for the meat.
You're not paying attention to the time that I stumble over my words or maybe I, do one of those moments where I completely butcher the pronunciation of a word. You're not paying attention for that. You're not looking for that because your brain is automatically picking up on the things that you know are providing value and overlooking those small things. In conversations face to face, if you actually pay attention to how you speak and how the conversations happen, And look, if you're looking somebody in the eyes, one of you are going to stumble.
You're going to stumble over it yourself. And that's okay. So don't obsess over the little things, especially when you're starting out with a show and expect it to suck. Expect it to literally be God awful. But I can tell you that as you progress, and you do one, and then you do two, and then you do three, and then now you've done 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 different interviews, 90 different conversations and podcasts and monologues, there is bound to be growth. And that leads into the fifth tip of today. And that is to do more of it. If you really want to improve, take these four things that I've told you previously, apply them and do more speaking, get on more podcasts, speak on more stages, create more content and speak behind camera, go and have more sales calls and talk to more people and continue to practice what it is you're preaching and what it is you know that you can use some work in.
If you know that you need some help with public speaking or you know, hey, speak in front of a crowd, speak in front of two people, engage in a conversation. And that is one of the best things because by actually going and applying yourself and taking the action steps and it's like a muscle, right? You're growing your speaking ability and that is going to require a time investment. It might not happen overnight, so don't get discouraged, but know that with time, you're going to definitely get better at it. I've seen people go from, you know, literally being so concerned and self-conscious and having this lack of confidence to starting a podcast and doing 20 episodes and I'm doing a call with them and I'm like, yo, you sound entirely different. Guess what? He got out of his comfort zone, he did more of it and he got better at it.
It'll take time, but it'll be worth it, especially if you're moving into the realm of a business and other forms of content. And you know, it's just a part of life, you know, you grow. You grow. Some people aren't born with a natural ability to speak or they don't have the confidence or they don't have the ability to maybe keep the conversation flowing just yet. Don't sweat it, keep going, keep growing. So let me sum up the five things up until this point. The five ways, the five tips, the five strategies that you can use in your own life to get better at speaking, and not just in public speaking, but in every single case and circumstance in your life where the attention is on you. Number one, we have to be present. Number two is to study other speakers.
Next, we have read and continue developing your vocabulary. Number four is to not obsess over the small little things, the times that you triple for yourself, and finally to do more of it. Take these five different things. Rewind this back. Listen to this a few different times. Be present, study other speakers, read and continue developing your vocabulary, don't obsess over the little things and to do more of it. And I guarantee that you do this for 30 days or 60 days or 90 days or a year, and you come back to me and I was to ask you, well, how are you today? I'm not even going to recognize the person that I spoke to previously because of how much growth you've had.
So guys, if you've got any ounce of value from this podcast, and if you don't know what these things that I'm telling you will work will go out and apply and they come back to me and then share this episode after you've seen the results, but I'm confident that you will. So feel free to share this with the friends and without or with that being said rather, go ahead and be on the lookout for more episodes coming very, very soon. Every Monday, every Friday, see what I did there. I literally just stumbled talking about practicing what I'm preaching. I'm not going to edit this out.
I believe in this then baby. Anyways, I'm going to shut up. You continue chasing after your vision and may your coffee be strong much love.