Introduction
On many occasions, clients have come to me saying, “I have no issues writing, I can write my thoughts clearly, but when I want to speak, I can’t form my thoughts and speak clearly.”
If this is something you are feeling, then you are not alone, as this is very common. I have many professionals, and especially English as a second language speakers, say that they find it easy to form their thoughts in writing, but have a difficult time transferring this to spoken language, especially when they are put on the spot without any structure. When something is important or you are put on the spot, there is less time to process and think to form your thoughts, which may make speech become choppy, harder to follow, and less clear overall. Sometimes these messages are also not concise or focused, and the person may repeat the same thing in a few different ways. Though this is something many people experience, the good news is that there are clear reasons for it, and it can definitely be worked on, practiced, and improved over time.
So why does this happen?
Writing and speaking are two very different ways of communicating and require different sets of skills. In order to use writing versus speech, it relies on different processes in the brain and body. When we write, we have time to pause, reflect, and edit what we are saying. This gives us lots of time to shape and change what we want to say. Imagine writing the way we speak, without taking breaks and just letting thoughts run without stopping to correct, the outcome would be very different.
When we speak, it is in real time. You have to process your thoughts and ideas as you say them. There is no time for editing, there is no delete button to erase what you have said. There may also be other factors involved, such as correct pronunciation of words, especially for those who have English as a second language, which can keep them second-guessing as they go. With writing, we focus mostly on vocabulary, grammar, and clear sentences. When speaking, we need to include all of that on top of managing pacing, breathing, intonation, voice projection, articulation, and pronunciation. If all of these aspects are not working together and well controlled, then the message may come across as less clear, taking away from the strength of what you intended to say.
One of the biggest things clients tell me is, “I have so many thoughts, and when I’m put on the spot I try to say as much as I can, and the message doesn’t come out clear and concise,” or “I know what I want to say in my head, but it comes out wrong.” This is because our brain works faster than our mouth can move. Thoughts are moving quickly, and your speech system can’t keep up, so your speech may come out rushed and unstructured. This can lead to disorganized responses, increased use of filler words, and mumbling.
A big part of it is also pressure, nervousness, and the environment you are in. When feeling less pressure, like when talking to family, people you are familiar with, or speaking about something you know well, it is much easier to speak compared to being put on the spot or in a high-pressure work situation. With pressure, this can affect many areas of speech such as breathing, pacing, tension, and overall confidence. When any of these are impacted, it affects how clear your message is.
So when under pressure, you may ramble more and be less concise, use more filler words, lose your train of thought, feel rushed, be asked to repeat yourself, or even stay quiet and not speak up to avoid this happening. Just know that most often this is not a problem with your language, but more about how you execute your speech.
How to Correct This
The goal here is to make your speech sound structured and clear, not to sound exactly like you do when you are writing. One of the most important things to remember when trying to improve your speech is to breathe and pause between ideas. This can help prevent rushing and speaking too quickly. If you take breaths after every thought, this will naturally help you organize your thoughts and speak more clearly, as you are giving yourself more time to process. It will also help you feel calmer, as consistent breathing can reduce tension in high-pressure situations. Breathing will also support a stronger voice and prevent trailing off at the end of sentences due to lack of breath support.
Over-articulating can also help you sound clearer and naturally slow down your speech. Moving your mouth more and emphasizing key words can help your message come across more clearly.
To help reduce filler words, they can often be replaced with a breath or a pause, or by using simple thinking phrases such as “let me think about that for a moment” or “that’s a good question.” This gives you time to think and organize your thoughts before speaking, especially when asked something unexpectedly. It also helps you come across more clear and organized, rather than uncertain when too many filler words are used.
Sometimes I also teach clients simple communication frameworks to help structure their thoughts, one of them being the PREP model. This is a helpful framework to organize your thinking, especially when sharing your opinion on the spot. PREP stands for Point, Reason, Example, Point. You state your main idea, give a reason why it matters, provide an example to support it, and then restate your point. This gives you a structure to fall back on and helps keep your responses focused, clear, and concise.
Practicing spontaneous speech is also very beneficial. This allows you to practice thinking and speaking at the same time. Working on answering random questions out loud, practicing introductions, and recording your responses so you can play them back, analyze and adjust will help you notice if you are rushing, mumbling, using fillers, or saying too much at once. This awareness is one of the first steps in improving your speech, as self-monitoring while speaking allows you to make adjustments as you go.
One of the most important things is not to overwhelm yourself by trying to achieve everything at once. This all takes time, consistency, and practice. Start with small, realistic goals, such as making one clear contribution in a meeting or reducing filler words in the first few sentences of your response. These small, achievable steps can build over time. When you make one small shift at a time, like pausing more or catching yourself mid-sentence and adjusting, this is what creates long-term change.
You have to give yourself time and practice to feel more confident when speaking and allow your thoughts to transfer more smoothly into speech, which is absolutely something that can be achieved with the right direction and practice.
