WHATEVER...

Remember when that expression was all the rage. “What..Ever”! Well, I’ve been working with a lot of really wonderful, successful and interesting people lately but many of them use a tone of voice that I have dubbed “Whatevering…” It’s a tone that sounds like the speaker is bored out of their mind with what they are saying and is sure that what they are saying will bore the listener. Guess what? It usually does. It’s hard to describe the tone but you know it when you hear it. There’s a certain consistent rhythm to each sentence and it usually starts at a low pitch, hits one or two high pitches in the middle then drops to a very low pitch and low volume at the end. Sometimes "Whatevering" is mixed with "Upspeaking" to produce a combination of boredom and lack of confidence. A dangerous combination!  There are many reasons people fall into this pattern and many ways they can rid themselves of it. However, one of the surest ways is to value what it is you have to say and think about your conversation as a gift. If you are engaging someone in conversation or presenting them with information, think about what it is that you are sharing with your listener(s), have confidence that what you are sharing has value and concentrate on how what you are sharing will impact the listener’s life. This will not only energize your voice, but it will energize everything else about you so that you look forward to all your communication. No matter what it is that you have to communicate, you can discover the value in it. Give it generously and enthusiastically like you would any gift you feel is valuable and I guarantee you that your voice will begin to communicate that value and “whatevering” will be a thing of the past.