Hey Reader,
Happy Tuesday! I brought wisdom. Unfortunately, it arrived wearing clown shoes.
Your first recording will HAUNT you!
Your first few recordings are supposed to “suck”.
Not "could be better." Not "a little rough around the edges."
Suck. Like, genuinely, mortifyingly suck.
And yet we all watch that first playback the same way.
Not like a “Coach” reviewing footage.
They watch it like a detective who already knows who did it.
"Why do I sound like that?"
"What is my face doing?"
"Do I always say 'you know' that much?"
And then, my personal favorite:
"Delete this immediately and perhaps destroy the phone."
(We've all been there. I'm including myself in this one.)
Here's the thing though. You've heard your voice your whole life.
It doesn't feel like something you “Do”.
It feels like who you “Are”.
So when a recording plays something back that sounds even slightly off,
it hits “weird”.
Like finding out your laugh is annoying.
Personal in a way you weren't expecting.
But that first recording isn't a verdict on “You”.
It's just a “Before” picture.
Nobody starts a weight loss journey and gets furious because the “before” photo doesn't already look like the “after” photo!
We'd call that person unhinged. We'd stage an intervention.
We'd at minimum suggest they talk to someone.
And yet. We do the exact same thing with our “Voices”!
We expect to sound “confident” before we've practiced.
We expect to look comfortable before we've spent any real time on camera.
Then the first recording is awkward, and we go…
"Yep. Proof. I knew it. I should stop."
That's not proof you should “Stop”.
It's proof you “started”!
Most of what sounds "wrong" in those early recordings isn't a personality flaw…
Your volume disappears when you're nervous.
You rush.
Your voice goes flat because you're concentrating so hard on saying everything "correctly."
Those aren't permanent traits. They're just “habits”.
Trainable ones.
Growth feels awkward because the “New version” of you hasn't gotten comfortable yet. That's it!
That's the whole mystery.
You don't have to “love” recording...
You just have to stop treating “discomfort” as a reason to delete everything and go lie face-down on the couch.
Watch it.
Notice one thing.
Practice it.
Record again.
It's annoyingly simple, and it works.
Which is actually a pretty good segue into some things I offer...
First, if you Don’t have my free guide, “From Mic-Shy to Camera-Confident”
Here’s an instant download link: https://bit.ly/4orCOK2
Next, I do a free 15-minute call where we talk through exactly what's getting in your way. I'm a 30-plus-year Major Market Radio Personality, so I've heard a lot of "before" recordings. 😉
We'll find the one thing to fix first, and I'll give you something actionable you can use right away. No pitch, no pressure, no homework packet.
(link below)
Stellar Quotes
“Change is not always fast, and it is not always easy, but with time and effort almost any habit can be reshaped.”
Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit
“Habits are the invisible architecture of everyday life.”
Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project
Midnight paintball CHANGED me
Six DJs. A mountain. Four paintball guns. Zero common sense.
That's how our Radio station “Retreats” worked.
After each ratings period, the jocks would disappear for a weekend. Sometimes a fancy hotel. Sometimes a spa.
THIS time we drove up Mount Lemmon above Tucson with coolers of beer and a bag of paintball gear nobody had ever used before.
(“Paintball” was a new “thing”!)
The plan was to wait until morning to play.
Yeah, right.
By the time the sun went down, we were already bored.
So “Midnight Paintball” was born!
On a pitch-black mountain. With steep drops, zero flat ground, and exactly enough beer to make all of that “feel fine”.
No rules. No course. No eye protection.
(Don't worry, we were fine. Mostly.)
Since we only had four guns, the rule was simple...
Get hit, run back to camp, hand your gun to the next guy.
The only light came from the campfire.
Which meant the second you got near it, you were basically a human target with a glowing sign that said: "Please shoot me."
I learned to lift the ice chest lid and hide behind it. An ice chest. For cover.
(Yes, the lid took lots of “incoming”!)
We were very tactical.
One guy climbed to a high ridge thinking nobody would follow.
He was right.
So he just sat up there alone, yelling, "Come and get me, you cocka-roaches!" into the dark for two hours while the rest of us ignored him completely.
We ended up with one sprained ankle and lots of “welts”.
But the thing I remember most isn't the chaos, Reader...
It's how close the six of us got in one night.
There was no agenda. No schedule. No "team building exercise."
Just a bunch of idiots on a mountain doing something ridiculous together. And somewhere between the ice chest cover and the guy stranded on the ridge, something clicked.
That's what a good conversation does. It bonds people fast.
Way faster than any polished presentation ever could.
And that's exactly what I help people get better at. Conversation.
Real ones. The kind that pulls people in and makes them stick around.
Diversions
Your Thoughts
No deep soul-searching required. Just pick the one that makes you say, “YEP.”
| If I hosted a free “Ask Me Anything” workshop on communication skills… which topic would help you MOST right now? |
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Free Coaching!
Your voice has been with you your entire life, but odds are nobody ever taught you how to "use it". Let's fix that. Grab a free discovery call and let's see what's possible. No push, no pressure.
We can do it by Zoom or phone, whichever you prefer. https://calendly.com/roycethewriter/royce-coaching-call
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