How Do I Stop Repeating Myself?

When you repeat yourself, it can make you appear absentminded or unable to cohesively convey your thoughts. It is especially important to refrain from repeating yourself during important social interactions such as an interview, presentation or speech. Poor speaking habits are often the root cause of repeating yourself. By practicing your public speaking, you can learn to stop repeating yourself.

Pick a speech, poem or paragraph from a book to practice your speaking. If you have a presentation or speech to make, use this to practice.

Write notecards for yourself. It can be hard to remember what you need to say, which results in repeating information. Notecards can jog your memory and help you stay on track throughout the speaking engagement.

Practice enunciating the words of the text you’ve selected. Do this by talking slowly to your reflection in the mirror, making sure to pronounce every syllable of the word correctly. Many times, a person needs to repeat himself because he mumbles and rushes through the words. By talking to the mirror, you are more self-aware and will notice when you fail to properly enunciate each word.

Work on the pace in which you speak. When speaking informally or during times when you get nervous, you tend to speak faster. This slurs words together and makes it harder to understand. To prevent anyone from asking you to repeat what you said, practice speaking at a slow and consistent pace. Do this by continuing to go through the text in front of the mirror, or enlisting the help of a friend who will tell you when you begin to speak too fast.

Project your voice. Do this by pretending you need to throw your voice to the back of the room without screaming. Good projection also helps maintain proper enunciation and pace while speaking. Improper projection is often an issue many speakers unknowingly have, so remembering to do this is very important when you need to get a point across and do not wish to repeat yourself.