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Observe: Drag

I love The West Wing.

Recently, I rewatched the entire series and was struck by a scene between Bruno Gianelli and President Bartlett in episode 8 (season 3): The Indians in the Lobby.

In this scene, Bruno talks about drag in sailing. Specifically about letting the most efficient action and patience assist you in resolving it. I was struck again with how good this advice is for voice use.

What usually happens is that we encounter an issue. We start throwing everything we have at it, sometimes before we understand the issue. In the worst-case scenario, it sort of works but the remedy may be causing more “drag” than the initial problem.

Today is a good day to observe how you approach challenges in your voice use and communications. Note, how you want to respond and wait a minute. Is there a clearer way to perceive the issue? Is there a more efficient, and perhaps elegant, way to resolve it?


This Friday at 12:30 pm EDT, Gina will be live on FB. These will be short voice alignment sessions aimed at voice skills building. Watch it on the GROW Voice FB page. I hope to see you there.


Gina Razón is the Founder and CEO at GROW Voice LLC, a full-service verbal communication studio in Boston’s Back Bay.  She has over two decades of experience as a teacher of voice and speech, is a communication and change facilitator, and is a voraciously curious voice user.  Gina has worked professionally as a classical singer for over a decade and more recently as a professional public speaker.  For more information on the studio or to book Gina visit www.growvoice.com.