You now have a really solid basis for your Better Voice, and in this unit you will be building on that.

So now’s a good time to start bringing into your life what you are practising and learning. Expect this to take time. You’ve been talking in the ‘old way’ all your life, which has become completely automatic, so you’re not going to be able to switch into permanent Better Voice mode immediately.

As always, awareness is the key. It’s only when you’re aware of what you’re doing that the opportunity is there to change it.

A first step

Start small. As a first step, just try out a few things with any family or friends who will be supportive.

If you are saying a word beginning with a good hummy consonant such as ‘m’, ‘n’ or ‘w’, take a moment before you speak to focus the sound in your head as you have been doing in the exercises. Then see if you can keep that focus for a bit as you continue to speak.

Reminders about head focus

Keeping in mind the sound-generating machine in your head from which your voice flows, and the on/off switch behind your forehead, will deter the tendency to slip back to controlling your voice from your throat.

Think of ways you can remind yourself about this during your day. For example:

• Strategically placed Post-it notes: Provided the message on them means ‘Better Voice’ to you, it doesn’t have to let others know what you’re reminding yourself about.
• Placing a fingertip or two on your forehead: As you did in the early exercises, it can be helpful when speaking to touch the place on your forehead from which you imagine your voice flowing down. There are some perfectly natural-looking postures that allow this, such as leaning one elbow on a desk and resting the side of your head in your hand with the ball of your thumb under the cheekbone and your first two fingers on your forehead. See if you can find others that work for you.
• Humming in odd moments: Humming will always be the best way to head-focus your voice. Try to hum for just a few seconds, under your breath if necessary, as often as you can, and especially before you start speaking.
• Associating specific tasks with Better Voice technique: Again as you did in the early exercises, try to associate tasks that you carry out periodically through the day, such as making a hot drink, with remembering and implementing Better Voice.

Prepared phrases

There are going to be a number of words and phrases that you say frequently during the day. Practise these ahead of time, so that when you come to say them you will automatically use Better Voice technique.

The above are just some ideas for starting to introduce Better Voice into your life. You will certainly be able to think of others that work for you. Be confident that, given time. from these small first steps Better Voice will come to be your natural way of using your voice.

You will probably also want to share your experience of Better Voice with your colleagues. Think what a tremendous difference it would make if they all got involved.

You now have a really solid basis for your Better Voice, and in this unit you will be building on that.