Your voice can affect your career opportunities.
For instance, a strong, smooth voice can enhance your chances of rising to CEO. And a nasal whine, a raspy tone or strident volume can drive colleagues to distraction. However, some voice challenges are due to sensitive factors like gender, ethnicity, age and cultural background.
Ways to Improve Your Voice
- Listen to yourself - Record your voice on your phone and listen to how you actually sound.
- Analyze & set a goal for what you want to change - Take note of what you would like to change & actively be aware of yourself when you are talking so you can change those habits. Self-correct & with time it will become second nature.
- Get Social - Ask a friend or co-worker to signal to you discreetly if you lapse into bad habits such as using ‘um’ or ‘you know.’
- Raspy, dry voice? - Increase your fluid intake and avoid frequent throat-clearing to keep the vocal cords healthy. Or, ask a voice coach for breathing and vocal exercises to make your voice more resonant and relaxed.
- Are you notorious for speaking too loudly? - Have your hearing checked if your voice is too loud.
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