![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.mazurchak.com\/pictures\/govorit@2x.jpg\")
\n<\/div>\nM. himself is a well-known actor, both in theater and on screen. He does solo monologue shows, just him on stage for two hours, holding the audience’s attention the whole time. Old-school craft.<\/p>\n
I enrolled because I wanted to level up my communication. There were 22 in-person sessions twice a week. Each class lasted an hour and a half, in a small group of five.<\/p>\n
So, how to speak to be understood?<\/h2>\n
The main point of the course – speak clearly. Like this – imagine you walk into a liquor store and ask for a specific bottle of wine. That’s it. That’s the level of clarity you want everywhere: you have a goal, you say what you need and your words just do the job – clean and easy.<\/p>\n
Don’t expect people to figure out what you mean. That’s your job. It’s your responsibility to speak in a way that makes sense to the person listening.
\nSpeech is the number one human tool.<\/p>\n
But before you can master it, you have to notice it.<\/p>\n
Most of the time, speech is just something we run on autopilot. To control it, you need full awareness, like really understanding the machine you’re operating.<\/p>\n
The two biggest enemies of good speech are autopilot and speed.<\/b><\/p>\n
Just because we hear someone speak doesn’t mean we understand them.<\/p>\n
Real understanding means thinking about what you’re hearing and relating it to yourself.<\/b><\/p>\n
And for that connection to happen, the speaker needs to actually have something to say. We’ve all seen it when someone starts talking, trying to come up with an idea as they go and you have no clue what they mean. That’s what happens when you talk before you’ve even figured out your own point. That’s where the pause comes in. That’s your moment to form an idea.<\/p>\n
When someone’s talking to you, look at them. Don’t turn away or close your eyes just to “focus” on their words. People don’t speak with just their voice.
\nExample: imagine you urgently need a Sapsan ticket from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Your phone’s dead, the app’s useless, 5 minutes left before sales close. You negotiate with the people in line, squeeze your way to the counter. The ticket agent slowly types in your passport info, checks for seats. And then she says something.. At that moment, you’re laser-focused, eating her alive with your eyes.<\/p>\n
So if you’ve shown up somewhere and you’re spending your time there, then really listen, eyes included. Respect yourself and the person you’re talking to. If you decide to speak, show up for it fully.<\/b><\/p>\n
And when it’s your turn to speak, stop worrying about how you look. That’s the very moment you actually look alive.<\/p>\n
Why are pauses the most important part of speech?<\/h2>\n
Don’t waste your time memorizing every single word.<\/b>That’s not the goal. Your real job is to communicate meaning — to get your message across. And once you focus on that, the right words will come naturally.
\nA memorized script doesn’t help you communicate meaning. It just makes you sound like a robot. And when you’re stuck trying to remember exact phrases, you stop being present. Same goes for reading from a script. The goal becomes “don’t mess up” instead of “make them<\/p>\n
One of the exercises from the course is to learn to speak in one breath:
\n‘To sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock,
\nIn a pestilential prison, with a life‑long lock,
\nAwaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock
\nFrom a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block.’
\nThis verse should be spoken the way you move through a slalom, entering each turn smoothly.<\/p>\n
You don’t need to rush through the verse without stopping at the turns. If you’re speeding, it means your only goal is to get it over. But the real goal is to make sure the listener understands you. And it’s totally fine if you forget or replace a few words, as long as you understand your purpose, the listener will hear you.<\/p>\n
Always take a pause before you start reciting a verse. Remind yourself of the task – to communicate meaning. Then focus on the technique, but don’t lose sight of the goal. The pause is the most important part of speech. That’s the moment when you lock in on the purpose of your message. If you skip the pause, then what are you even saying?<\/b><\/p>\n
Autopilot speech wants you to stick to the familiar path.
\nIt’ll have you take a breath where it’s easy, not where it makes sense. But breathing is a tool – you use it to separate your message into clear pieces.
\nYour brain will want to go on autopilot and say things the way you always do – the easy way. You’ll take a breath where you feel like it, not where the thought naturally ends. But breathing should break up meaning, not just give you a break. Autopilot will also make you start talking before you’ve even figured out what you’re trying to say.<\/p>\n
To make sure your listener actually understands what you’re saying, the whole meaning has to fit between breaths. That’s the difference between speaking and writing.<\/b>In writing, we pause at the period. But in real speech, it’s only the question mark that really feels anything like that kind of pause.<\/p>\n
When you’re delivering meaning, it’s like bringing out a cake. It matters as a whole, you don’t serve it pre-sliced. Same with sentences. Don’t chop them up.<\/p>\n
The listener picks up on your mood. Whatever state you are in, that’s what the audience feels too. If the speaker is relaxed, the audience relaxes. That’s why when someone tells you ‘pull yourself together!’ before going on stage – it’s probably the worst advice you can get. Because then the audience ends up listening to someone who’s clearly tense.<\/p>\n
What position should you take in speech, in relation to your listener?<\/h2>\n
Your goal is the motive you’re putting to use. If you didn’t reach the goal, it means your motive wasn’t strong enough.<\/b><\/p>\n
At the core of it, you’re using your brain for someone else: thinking, choosing words and building meaning on their behalf, right in the moment of communication.<\/b><\/p>\n
When you’re thinking for someone else, your full attention shifts to them. In that moment, you’re fully focused on the other person. You’re actively engaging with them, serving them. And for the speaker, it can feel almost like meditation. You sort of dissolve into the other person. They understand you effortlessly – because in that moment, you are them.<\/p>\n
5 things to keep in mind when you speak:<\/b><\/p>\n There can’t be any unfamiliar words in your speech for the listener, they’re black holes. The moment you say one, their attention gets sucked into figuring out what that ‘black hole’ means.<\/p>\n There are always two steps you need to follow: Imagine you’re walking a narrow path at night. Up ahead, there’s a gate, and once you pass through it, the wide road begins.You shine your flashlight on the gate just once, that’s your goal. Then you bring the light back down and watch every single step. Carefully. So you don’t slip. Forget the goal – and you end up in the wrong place. Stop watching your steps – and you fall.<\/p>\n Courage is doing it despite everything because you know your goal. Be courageous in your speech.<\/b><\/p>\n A speaker can only pass on information if they’ve actually processed it, if they’ve understood it and made it their own. If their only goal is to just repeat what they heard, without really owning it, then they can’t truly communicate it.<\/p>\n To control your speech, you need full, conscious control. Otherwise, you’ll slip into autopilot.<\/p>\n Conclusion:<\/b> It’s kind of amazing, no one ever really teaches us how to speak. We just pick it up by watching others. And I’ve always wondered – how is it that some people speak so clearly and you just want to listen to them? But I didn’t have the glossary or the framework to understand what made the difference or how to learn it myself.\n
\nA. Set the goal, and take a pause for it.
\nB. Then, once you’re moving toward that goal, start paying attention to every step you take.<\/p>\n
\nM., thank you – now I do.<\/p>\n",
"summary": "I took a course called “Speech”. It taught me that the most important part of speaking isn’t when you’re talking – it’s the pauses",
"date_published": "2024-08-25T15:22:31+02:00",
"date_modified": "2025-07-28T22:05:01+02:00",
"tags": [
"leadership",
"внимание",
"другие",
"как говорить",
"речь"
],
"image": "https:\/\/www.mazurchak.com\/pictures\/govorit@2x.jpg",
"_date_published_rfc2822": "Sun, 25 Aug 2024 15:22:31 +0200",
"_rss_guid_is_permalink": "false",
"_rss_guid": "59",
"_e2_data": {
"is_favourite": false,
"links_required": [],
"og_images": [
"https:\/\/www.mazurchak.com\/pictures\/govorit@2x.jpg"
]
}
}
],
"_e2_version": 4199,
"_e2_ua_string": "Aegea 11.5 (v4199)"
}