Positivt tänkande med support – det är bra!

I’m a 34-year-old corporate attorney in San Francisco. I started my own practice about a year and a half ago–a tremendous leap of faith for me, in part because of speech issues I’ve dealt with since I first started to talk. In the beginning I used all kinds of tricks to try to be fluent in situations where I’d stutter, especially on the phone, but I’m proud to say that I never think about speech issues anymore in my work. I actually truly enjoy talking on the phone for work now–it’s more fun than meticulously revising legal documents!

Public speaking has also become a joy. Last week I gave an impromptu, surprise talk to a roomful of applicants to my law school (the organizer called on me to stand up, introduce myself, and talk, with no prior warning), had no speech problems, and several applicants came up to me afterwards to ask me more about what I’d said. I’m going to be leading a multi-hour workshop in a couple weeks for the management teams of between 10 to 30 potential corporate clients, and I’m excited at the opportunity to meet them, help them with their legal issues, and hopefully sign up some of them as clients.

It sounds like you’re well on your way on the path to fluency. Keep pushing yourself beyond your comfort boundaries, even if there are temporary setbacks–over time, fluency will become something you forget to worry about. And don’t sell yourself short–you should be practicing law and giving clients the benefit of your knowledge and experience, not hiding as a paralegal!!

Let me know if you have any questions or want to chat on the phone or over Skype. I’m happy to see another attorney on the same path that I’ve taken.
Jared