It’s counter-intuitive, but the fastest way to say more is to slow down and say less.

Here’s what I mean:

Recently I was working with a client on her storytelling and public speaking skills. She ran an insurance company, and she felt like her speeches to her employees were not “landing” — they weren’t motivating people in the way she wanted.

The thing is, one-to-one, she was doing great. Nice, clear, inspiring.

But over the years, she had picked up a really bad habit, which is that when she stood in front of a group she spoke unnaturally fast and said way too much. She was trying to cram too much information into too little time.

When she first started practicing, it was pretty much impossible to cram everything into her self-imposed 10-minute time limit. She was rushing, and the words alone were taking 15 minutes, and then there was a video too, and some slides, and it just didn’t look possible.

So I listened to the little voice in the back of my head, the one that was saying “Tell her to go slow and see what happens.”

She did, and within three practice rounds the speech had fallen to 8 minutes.

Not 10, 8.

I don’t think I’ll ever forget the feeling of surprise and amazement that I had, watching the timer: 7:57, 7:58, 7:59, 8:00, stop.

I think what happens is that when the speaker slows down, the mind clears. The brain focuses, and the fat is cut, naturally and easily.