Tired of Sounding Like a Child (And You Are Over 21)?

A problem many women experience is hearing themselves on some form or recording equipment and discovering that they sound like a teenager or worse yet, a child. Unfortunately, if this is the case with you, then what you are hearing on your voice mail or answering machine is exactly how everyone else recognizes you. Having a voice that is childlike does not instill confidence in your listeners and it would be to your advantage to make your voice an asset instead of a liability.

Everyone has a better voice inside of them. And that better voice sounds more mature. It does not sound too old or too young. It is ageless. In fact, it will continue to improve as you age even after you have discovered that everything else in or on your body is starting to decline! (Generally this happens after 40.)

Finding your more mature sound means changing the way you produce voiced sound. It is not complicated but is actually rather simple to do. And once it happens, you will be amazed at the difference in the quality of your voice. Your goal then is to make it a habit. When I made the change with my voice while in graduate school, I knew I wanted to keep that lower, richer, warmer sound so I used it as much as possible throughout my day.

One of the best tools for making it a habit is the telephone. If you answer a phone at work or at home, using your new voice every time you answer your cell or your phone will make the process that much easier.

One man with whom I worked was a taxi dispatcher. He answered the phone at work about 600 times a day. This young man made his new voice a habit very, very quickly because of the nature of his job. Most of us are not answering a telephone that many times a day but if you can get into the habit of thinking about your voice whenever you open your mouth to speak, it will become a habit and you will not have to think about it.

You project an image certainly by means of your face, your clothes, your figure, your hair and every other visual aspect of your being. So too, however, do you project an image when you speak. Your visual image may be an asset but if you sound like a child, your visual image becomes much less compelling. Discover your more mature sound and your vocal image will no longer be a liability.