How to Stop Speaking Too Fast When You're Nervous at Work
Updated: Sep 7
4th September 2026
Quick answer: To stop speaking too fast when nervous, change the pace you rehearse at before the meeting rather than relying on yourself to slow down once you are speaking. Nerves make you want to get through the moment quickly, which pushes your pace up. Rehearsing much more slowly gives you a slower starting point, so the usual increase in speed is less likely to turn into a rush.
Speaking too quickly when you are nervous starts before you begin talking. By the time you speak, you may already have spent hours wanting the meeting or update to be over.
You notice Thursday sitting in the diary on Monday, and it keeps turning up in your thoughts all week. By Thursday morning, you are thinking as much about getting it over with as you are about what you want to say.
Why do I speak so fast when I'm nervous?
You speak faster because you want the uncomfortable part to finish, and once that becomes the priority, getting through your update starts to matter more than the pace you use to deliver it.
That can happen during a formal presentation, but it happens in ordinary workplace situations too. A two-minute weekly update can occupy far more of your thoughts beforehand.
Andy O'Sullivan surveyed 2,198 professionals and found that 89% were more anxious about meetings and workplace updates than formal presentations.
You can hear yourself racing through a short update while another part of your head tells you to slow down. You know it is happening, which does not make changing it any easier.
Why does speaking too fast make you feel more nervous?
Speaking quickly changes the way you breathe, because you start taking faster, shallower breaths as you rush through your sentences, which makes it easier to run short of breath before you reach the end of a thought.
Once that starts happening, the pressure goes up. You are already nervous, and now you are also trying to speak while feeling short of breath, which makes the whole thing feel more urgent.
So you take another quick breath, move straight into the next sentence and rush a little more. The nerves started the fast speech, but the faster breathing is now making the nerves worse.
Why doesn't telling myself to slow down work?
Telling yourself to slow down rarely changes much because you are trying to correct the speed after the nerves have already built, while you still want the speaking part over.
You already know you are going too quickly. Advice to slow down, pause more or take your time sounds sensible afterwards, when you are no longer halfway through the update.
During it, you are remembering your point, listening to yourself and trying to keep going. Adding “slow down” gives you one more thing to think about at the exact point when you are already dealing with too much.
How do I stop speaking too fast when nervous at work?
If you want to stop speaking too fast when nervous at work, start by rehearsing at a noticeably slower pace than you want to use in the meeting or presentation.
A simple way to do it is:
Take one section of your update.
Rehearse it aloud much more slowly than feels natural.
Leave a slightly longer pause between sentences than you normally would.
Repeat the rehearsal until that slower pace starts to feel natural.
At first it may feel absurdly slow. Nobody from Thursday's meeting is sitting in your kitchen timing you.
The point is to give yourself a slower starting pace, so when nerves make you speed up, you are less likely to end up speaking as fast as you normally do.
How can I slow down if I start rushing during a meeting?
Finish the sentence you are saying, pause, and take one slow, silent, deep breath. Then start the next sentence at a slower pace.
The pause gives you a clear break in the rush. You are not trying to control every word while you are halfway through a thought. You wait until the sentence is finished, take a proper breath, then start again.
If you notice yourself speeding up again, do the same thing at the end of the next sentence.
That gives you something specific to do while you are still speaking, rather than relying on the instruction to “slow down”.
Does speaking too fast when nervous happen in meetings as well as presentations?
Yes. Speaking too fast when nervous can happen in meetings, updates, video calls and presentations, particularly when you know in advance that your turn to speak is coming.
That includes:
giving an update in a meeting
waiting your turn as people go around the table
explaining a problem to a senior leader
talking through figures with a client
answering questions after a presentation
introducing yourself on a group call
The format changes, but the pattern stays much the same. You know the speaking moment is coming, and by the time it arrives you want to get through it quickly.
The urge to finish is what drives the pace.
If speaking too fast when nervous keeps happening, pay attention to the pace you use when you rehearse. The meeting or presentation is easier to deal with when you have rehearsed at a slower pace than the one you normally use.
Frequently asked questions
Why do I talk faster when I'm anxious?
When you are anxious, your body releases adrenaline, your breathing gets faster, your voice may shake and you want the uncomfortable speaking moment over. Put those together and your normal speaking pace can quickly turn into a rush.
Will breathing exercises stop me speaking too quickly?
Breathing exercises can reduce how nervous you feel before you speak, which may make you less likely to rush when you start. They will not necessarily stop fast speech on their own, so it still helps to rehearse your update at a deliberately slower pace.
Should I deliberately pause more?
Yes, but put the pauses between complete thoughts rather than trying to slow every word. A pause after a finished sentence gives you a natural point to take a deeper breath before the next sentence.
What if speaking more slowly makes me sound unnatural?
The exaggeratedly slow pace is only for rehearsal. In the meeting, you are aiming to speak at a natural pace.
Rehearsing more slowly beforehand means that when nerves make you speed up, you are less likely to end up speaking as quickly as you usually do.
Why do I only speak too fast when I'm nervous?
Because the fast speech is tied to the nerves. When you are relaxed, you speak at your normal pace. When you are anxious and want the speaking part over, your pace increases.
That is why rehearsing more slowly before the meeting can help. You are preparing for the change in pace that happens when the nerves arrive.
About the author
Andy O'Sullivan is a public speaking coach in London and the author of five bestselling books. His one-to-one work focuses on professionals who become anxious when speaking in meetings, giving workplace updates or delivering presentations.
If you'd like to find out whether one-to-one coaching with Confident You Training in London would be the right fit, get in touch here.
