Speak with Confidence

Chapter 6Navigating the Obstacles, Part II

The previous chapter covered three obstacles that are largely driven by what you think about yourself. These next three are more about what and how you think of others.

1. Your Verbal and Mental Tracks

I've been told that the average person talks at between 100 and 150 words per minute (good or bad, I'm on the high end of that) and think about 500–600 WPM. With that kind of difference, it's not surprising that there are always two tracks running in our heads, even when we're in the middle of a speech or presentation. The verbal track is what we are saying at 150‐ish WPM. Then there is all the stuff going on in our head, the mental track.

This is unavoidable, but our brains are able to multitask to some degree (technically, we never multitask, just switch tracks rapidly). Incidentally, the better you have prepared for your presentation, the easier it is for the mental track to separate from the verbal one. If you think of it like train tracks, there's no problem with having two tracks—as long as they're both headed in the same direction. It's when one goes left and the other right that we have a problem.

Now, as an experienced speaker, I know how to occasionally let the mental track run ahead separately, using it to better communicate and connect with my audience. I'm able to pay attention to dozens of little clues and make micro adjustments, all without my speech ever being derailed. Even then, both my tracks are continually pointed ...