Habits That Undercut You

The right markers only work if you also drop the habits that quietly drain authority:

• Vocal fry — that creaky, gravelly rasp on the last few words of a sentence reads as bored or unsure
• Fading volume — trailing off so the end of a sentence gets quieter tells listeners you doubt your own point
• Filler words — "um," "like," and "you know" pile up under pressure and chip away at how prepared you sound

Clean these up and your strong moments stop getting undone.