Take Care of Your Vocal Image

The moment people see you, they begin to make decisions or judgments about you. Those decisions or judgments are reinforced or questioned the moment you open your mouth to speak.

You may have invested a lot on personal effectiveness training, management training, and leadership training. You may have practiced self-affirmation to become more confident and positive. You may even have people design your wardrobe and have been working out for a better physical image. Yet you still see the doubt in people's eyes when you speak; you still find that you are not being taken seriously for whatever you say; you still couldn't get the promotion you may be well deserved; and you still couldn't get the respect you crave for from your subordinates, let alone to motivate and inspire them.

It's all because you fail to speak clearly, confidently, and convincingly. You have long overlooked your vocal image, your voice. You fail to realize how powerful it is to your personal image and professional success.

A person's vocal image could make or break this person. What is your vocal image like? Does it work for you or against you?

The voice you hear yourself is totally different from what others hear. If you have heard yourself from recording, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You were shocked by the voice you hear, "Is that me? How come I sound like this?" Then you started to blame the recorder.

Unfortunately, what you hear yourself from a recorder is your vocal image; and is also how others recognize you. If you haven't heard yourself from recording, you'd better do it now.

The good news is we all can improve our voice with proper training and practicing. You do have a real voice inside of you. The reason you haven't discovered it is because you are not producing your voice properly and correctly. You may be using too much nose, too much throat, or too little chest as an amplifier. Once you find out how to make use of all those organs, you'll be amazed that voice-producing is a physical process and you'll discover your innate rich, warm, and mature voice. When you sound better, you'll feel better and you'll definitely look better.