I hear it in myself and it really bothers me. 

I hear it from you, whoever you are, and, yes, I can detect it in a nanosecond, it usually bores me.

When I hear it from preachers, teachers, public speakers  – and I am one of them – it really annoys me. It annoys me because it reveals a lack of preparation and the assumption that you can waste an audience’s time. 

But, I try to be patient. 

I’m referring to auto-speak.

Auto-speak is the gear people (we) go into where people repeat things they’ve said a hundred times.

Schtick. 

It’s preachers as rehearsed comedians who stop at the same laugh-points, rely on the same cliched puns, retell the same decades old “miracle” and “small-world” stories. 

I invited a well-known yesteryear sports star and public speaker to address a group of athletes.

“Fresh,” I said, “I want you to speak from your heart, a practiced script. I want the men to meet you, now, not the ‘when we’ person.”

He declined.

When we (you and I) resort to auto-speak we stop communicating, connecting with our audience, be it 1 or 5000 people. 

Say it to me. 

I am willing to hear it. 

‘I am as tired of your schtick as you are. Let’s really talk.”        

———-

Unrelated —- it’s my sons birthday today….. I love you, Nate: