How to Interview with a Stutter: Part 1 Affirmations

“How to Interview with a Stutter” is one of the biggest dilemmas facing the adult stutterer. Where nearly everyone is nervous meeting someone for the first time, interviewing makes the situation even more intense and high pressure. As a stutterer, even the most routine interactions can feel painful and cause severe anxiety. For this reason, interviewing or difficult conversations where we are asking that our needs be met or asking for a raise may not happen at all, because it can feel paralyzing. In this series we are going to go over some of the tools we teach in the self study course of Pro90d that deal specifically with How to Interview with a Stutter.

One of the best tools to master for interviewing is developing a mindset for confidence and smooth speech. This is so much easier said than done, as we have discussed in some of our other series. To really develop a mindset, you need to train. The two ways to train your mind are with visualizations and affirmations. Think of yourself as an athlete. Right now, you are a beginner at the sport of smooth speech, and you will be training your mind to deliver a great performance using affirmations and visualizations. Here are some of the ways these work, if you want to see more and get exclusive access to all of our teachings and coursework, see our self study course!

You CAN Win at Work

When you are going into an interview, you might be so nervous about your speech disfluency, that you are not even pumping yourself up about how great you will be in the job. This is key number one to mindset. It is a trick because you are really focusing on why you got this interview. You got it, you earned it on merit. Merits and mouthwork are not one in the same. You deserve to be in the room and have attention. You need the job and the job needs you. No one is paying as much attention to your speech as you are. Use the affirmation, I can WIN at work. I AM qualified.

You ARE a great speaker

Second, the affirmation, I am a great speaker is vital to repeat over and over again. Leading up to your interview and also daily. Why? When you consistently are in the mindset that you are not a great speaker, you are psyching yourself out. You have all the tools to communicate effectively. When you engage in daily activities, reward yourself with positive self talk. I am great at grocery shopping, I am great at ping pong, whatever you are great at, you congratulate yourself. Now extend this to your speaking and especially before a big pressure speaking engagement. You will notice that you will develop more confidence and then it will materialize.

NO ONE IS THINKING ABOUT YOU BUT YOU

Remember that the person who is most focused on you, is you. Focus on your body language, visualize yourself speaking and presenting yourself as a viable candidate and the best candidate for the job. Keep visualizing yourself in a new better paying position. Visualize yourself moving up the job ladder, visualize yourself effectively managing others, and it will start to become easier to focus on the job and less on your speaking in it. The visualizations are so important because the rest of your communication, really is not about speaking. It is about all your body language and how you are presenting yourself to your colleagues and your boss, speaking is just a small part.