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The Two-Minute
Self-Assessment

Record two minutes of yourself and score it against six things you can count. Every item is a number, so there is nothing to interpret and nothing to argue with.

2 minutes to record About 20 minutes in total Six things to count
Step one

Record the two minutes.

Use your phone. Do not prepare, and do not do a second take. This shows how you speak on a normal day, not how you speak once you have practised.

What to record

  1. Pick something real. A position you are about to argue, an update you owe someone, a recommendation you have been putting off.
  2. Set the phone at eye level and speak to it as though it is the person you need to convince.
  3. Talk for two minutes. No notes and no script. If you run out of things to say, keep the camera running.
  4. Watch it back twice. Once for the sound with your eyes shut, once for the picture with the sound off.
Step two

Count the six things.

Watch the recording back and tally each one. Count them properly rather than guessing. It takes about twenty minutes.

01

Filler words

Every "um", "ah", "like", "you know", "sort of" and "basically" across the full two minutes.

in two minutes
02

Statements that end going up

Sentences that were statements but finished on a rising pitch, so they arrived as questions.

in two minutes
03

Softeners

Every "just", "I might be wrong but", "sorry", "does that make sense", "kind of" and "I think maybe".

in two minutes
04

Pauses longer than two seconds

Silences you chose, not gaps where you lost your place. This is the one item where a higher number is better.

in two minutes
05

Hands, in the first ten seconds

Times your hands go to your face or hair, or move out of frame, before you have made your first point.

in ten seconds
06

Seconds before you state the point

From the first word to the moment your actual recommendation arrives. Count the seconds.

seconds

Nothing is sent anywhere when you press this. The score appears on this page.

0
out of 12 · lower is better

Where it came from

Send me the full interpretation

Your score tells you how much there is to work on. The written interpretation tells you which item to fix first.
  • ✓What your score means, item by item
  • ✓The one change to make first, based on where your points came from
  • ✓The one-page card, so you can run this again in a month
Thank you. It is on its way to your inbox, along with the one-page card. I will also let you know when Sound Like You opens in October. Nothing else.

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