Why stuttering gets WORSE when you try to fix it

Hey friend,

When I was about 15 years old, I became deeply frustrated with my speech struggles.

What I had previously experienced as an "on-again, off-again" pattern of stuttering became a more consistent source of pain.

This pushed me to look for a solution. 

There was only one problem: I didn't know where to look.

Here's a picture of an awkward 15-year-old kid 👀

Here's what happened next:

Since one of my older brothers struggled with stuttering quite severely when he was younger, I learned that my parents had ended up with a book on the subject, and one day I found it covered in dust in the attic...

This book seemed promising at first due to how simple it was. It simply showed me one technique...

Dr. Schwartz simply taught his students to exhale slightly before they start speaking.

Looking back, that's not the worst technique I've ever heard of.

But if that's the only tool you have, it probably won't get you very far. I was about to discover exactly that.

(And by the way, although my older brother has since greatly improved his speech, he gives almost no credit to Dr. Schwartz or his technique for that)

So there I was – 15 years old and trying to implement an approach to help me with my speech. And what happened?

The stuttering got worse.

I had my first run-in with this common phenomenon: Sometimes things get worse before they get better.

Was I annoyed out of my mind about that? Yes.

Did I eventually find a better plan and live to see incredible growth as a result? Also yes.

Here are a few takeaways from that experience:

→ Your speech may get worse in the short-term when you begin to face it head-on. Why? Put simply, it's because you're thinking about it more.

→ But understand that this is normal. It's like trying to fix your golf swing: Even if Tiger Woods is the one training you, your shots will probably get worse for a while as you transition from a bad golf swing to a good one.

→ You are choosing between two types of pain: You can either do nothing and stay the same OR you can risk short-term pain but open yourself up the path of incredible growth. Choose wisely.

→ It's not a problem if your speech gets worse before it gets better, but it IS a problem is if the "gets better" part never actually happens.

→ In order to ensure that you eventually turn the corner and see positive growth, you need a good plan, diligence, and a whole lot of patience.

Eventually, you can get to where you want to go.

Will it take time? Of course. Everything of value takes time.

But as someone who has gone through this entire process from living as a stutterer to living as a free speaker, I can assure you it will be one of the most satisfying adventures you could ever embark on.

Make your future self proud. You can do this.

Your coach,
Marcus Lapp @ Speak Your Mind Method