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Impromptu Training Schedule

It’s very easy to read a “How-To” book without ever getting past the “This is great stuff” stage. Unfortunately, information alone will not help anyone—you must know how to use it. I am thrilled with everyone who has read Split Second Thinking, but I am more excited to hear that students practiced my suggestions and improved their skills.

In case you have not reached the application stage yet, I want to provide you with an “impromptu training schedule” that will help you appropriate the actual skills to make you a better speaker. This training schedule only takes fifteen minutes a day, five days a week to complete. After one month, I can guarantee you will see significant results. With the tournament season already underway, why not start today?  

1.)  Read aloud five minutes per day. 
 
Choose one of the great works in English literature as suggested on pages sixty-three and sixty-four of Split Second Thinking.

2.)  Choose three of the words you read each day and perform the substitution drill on them
 
Choose moderately difficult words, be creative, and become your own thesaurus.

3.)  Practice one example card per day.
 
This will ensure that you not only remember your examples, but that you know how to present them in a compelling way.  

4.)  Develop two example cards per week.
 
You cannot obtain a repertoire of solid illustrations without preparing them. If a tournament is approaching soon, you should increase the number of cards per week accordingly. You should have at least fifteen at a tournament.

5.)  Describe a scene or object once per week.
 
You can do this whenever you have a moment’s leisure. After you complete the drill in your head, be sure to verbalize the description as well. Otherwise, you may not be forming accurate, complete sentences. 

6.)  Give two after-dinner impromptu speeches per week . 
    
Talk someone in your home into listening to you and playing the part of the critic. This is your most certain route to improvement.