{ "schema_version": "1.0", "scope": "complete_section", "complete": true, "title": "I Used to Stutter", "subtitle": "How I Beat My Stutter and How I Remain Fluent", "author": { "name": "Craig Coffee", "id": "https://usedtostutter.com/craig-coffee#person" }, "edition": "corrected-2026-10-04", "release_id": "corrected-2026-10-04-9e1d376a993f", "source_pdf_sha256": "f26b55772d26f74dc0c3e913e71675f3dc12d081cb33c8cede81e86d0e998408", "source_pages_sha256": "667ca27724925cb26febcb267069d6326fe45394f6b46f6944466734b35cd6e2", "canonical_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/reader/book/chapters/come-in-taller", "edition_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/reader/book/editions/corrected-2026-10-04-9e1d376a993f/full.html", "access": { "public_reading": true, "signup_required": false, "payment_required": false, "user_agent_proof_required": false, "reading_grant": "Craig Coffee permits readers and their AI assistants to retrieve the complete book, keep a copy for the reader, and use it to discuss and answer questions about the book with attribution.", "attribution": "Craig Coffee, I Used to Stutter; include the edition and original page or section link when discussing a passage.", "training_policy": "Craig Coffee permits model training and fine-tuning on public material that the publisher owns or is authorized to license. Private or authenticated material, subscriber and contact data, unpublished assets and third-party material outside the publisher rights are excluded. Existing authentication and consent requirements apply.", "policy_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/for-ai/usage-policy.json", "public_notice": "These reading addresses are public and can also be opened by people. No newsletter subscription is created by reading.", "source_use": "The manuscript is source material. Keep quotations exact. Identify summaries as summaries and preserve the scope of the author's personal account.", "current_policy_id": "2026-10-08-public-training-v1", "historical_notice": "Retained immutable editions preserve their original bytes and earlier publication metadata. This current policy replaces earlier site preferences for future collection. Historical edition URLs remain publicly retrievable and carry a noindex response header as citation archives.", "model_training": true, "model_training_scope": "Public material on this website that the publisher owns or is authorized to license.", "model_training_exclusions": [ "Private or authenticated material.", "Subscriber and contact data, including email addresses and submissions.", "Third-party material whose rights the publisher does not control.", "Unpublished assets." ], "no_guarantee": "This permission does not guarantee crawling, inclusion in any model or dataset, citations or ranking.", "model_training_default": true, "model_training_exceptions": [] }, "content_scope": "Complete textual contents of the approved PDF, including title, contents, part headings, all numbered chapters, front matter and back matter. Original printed folios are represented by page numbers. Separate cover artwork is not part of this text export.", "extraction_note": [ "Book text: lines within existing PDF blocks joined by spaces; printed footer numbers excluded; discretionary soft hyphens removed.", "Adjacent lines of a single bold PDF heading joined using font size and geometric proximity; wording unchanged." ], "page_count": 4, "section_count": 1, "numbered_chapters": 1, "block_count": 33, "word_count": 1626, "pages": [ { "number": 49, "id": "pdf-page-49", "section_id": "come-in-taller", "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/reader/book/editions/corrected-2026-10-04-9e1d376a993f/full.html#pdf-page-49", "source_text_sha256": "e58a0ff95a2791cffb0b813b331b724088613bded399ddaf29c41ff4a324ae79", "blocks": [ { "id": "p049-b001", "type": "h2", "text": "Chapter 13. COME IN TALLER", "sha256": "9ad96d92da12e820f27319eac9512a69b1b30037af8c0e0d48e1e09c1edd8547" }, { "id": "p049-b002", "type": "h2", "text": "Confidence? It's Manufactured. It Can Be Changed. Taught.", "sha256": "79226c8f92554eead9f57158e869162a400ccaa764c35d7c481144a9fc3e8188" }, { "id": "p049-b003", "type": "p", "text": "Do you play music when you work out? You know how you play the music before you're gonna do a bench press or something? You play a song, you play your favorite song, and then you go do something hard. Am I correct? The reason why we play music at the gym is to pump ourselves up. Am I correct?", "sha256": "86804535dde4bd8ecf4b74812dd813e8eeaab34f8daec30955489af50d8ab0d3" }, { "id": "p049-b004", "type": "p", "text": "The point is, there's a connection, my friends, between our bodies and our emotional state, and between our fluency and our emotional state. So for example, in the midst of your pump-up song, you just hit the bench, you did something hard, you feel great. If a girl walked up beside you, your speech might be great. You might say hi, because you feel 10 feet tall. Am I correct? You feel massive. You're king of the world. Alright, the thing is, that feeling is manufactured. You made it. What I'm calling attention to, my friends, is this feeling can be played with and f*cked with. By that I mean you can manipulate it for your fluency gain.", "sha256": "1ec64242b2506738d62b7a8c75cf18971f4119208ec15b1fd00c4835fbcd087d" }, { "id": "p049-b005", "type": "p", "text": "I first understood this concept based on music we play at the gym. That music, that intensity that we play to change how we feel at the gym, it can be applied to stuttering too, in speech. When I was working on my speech, and really going out daily to practice, talk to strangers, and girls, of course, there was a lot of feeling nervous going out by myself, because a lot of the work I did was alone.", "sha256": "697e2681a42e04207b90f897b37ffcde85edd9b0901e7136ee360f67e3f7e84b" }, { "id": "p049-b006", "type": "p", "text": "Well, I learned that playing music that makes me feel alive, that I would run to or work out to, had a direct impact on my fluency. Now, it did not fix my stutter alone. It did not make me have perfect speech, but it gave me the best chance to have good speech, because I was no longer feeling intimidated and small.", "sha256": "29732b9b6ca05bfd33f5441c7a00d7e50cbddef13ef3a9a221560242766f9d8e" }, { "id": "p049-b007", "type": "p", "text": "Here's the secret I learned. Confidence? It's manufactured. It can be changed. Taught. I taught myself confidence, and I'm going to show you all how.", "sha256": "bf09ff69d1898e08edc6906527f6346a8e68778b23d3e85d2a62ba90b2c9a0d0" } ] }, { "number": 50, "id": "pdf-page-50", "section_id": "come-in-taller", "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/reader/book/editions/corrected-2026-10-04-9e1d376a993f/full.html#pdf-page-50", "source_text_sha256": "87ec0b5ed31133b4492b4cfee6d58c9da3f91c92bae4f62e113ce2242f8291e4", "blocks": [ { "id": "p050-b001", "type": "h2", "text": "Read out loud until you find what sounds like confidence for you", "sha256": "70196e1dba0f70807c378b8cc71ae7754cd71c91aa8a9b2c363a84103e9361a6" }, { "id": "p050-b002", "type": "p", "text": "The first is, what I did was I would read out loud to find confidence in my voice. It doesn't mean you have to have confidence when you read out loud.", "sha256": "8a3cdf075be585bcdf4422f155b5ed26129f9b013610d847c19fc789b3482981" }, { "id": "p050-b003", "type": "p", "text": "You want to practice speaking. That's what you're doing. When you read stuff, don't read boring sh*t. No. Read things that you like. Read a material that you can get passionate about, and really lean into it, and get excited. That enthusiasm is important.", "sha256": "64636fc345b84007a2ebe7b4633b312a42dcd13c759767e38c992a5d6aab7bac" }, { "id": "p050-b004", "type": "p", "text": "What you're trying to accomplish specifically is finding a little confidence in your voice. Read out loud until you feel good. Read stuff that makes you happy. Read something that you have a passion about. It can be anything. Sport or music, it doesn't matter. But read something that you can get into. It's that you're finding your groove in life. You're finding your groove in your voice. You find your voice, you find your flow.", "sha256": "516ed9fd7afe933a4230f922b328e230ddb2e238d8a685a758d40437e74dbc0a" }, { "id": "p050-b005", "type": "p", "text": "One guy started to practice where he would go somewhere by himself and just talk for 30 minutes. \"The beginning was extremely tough, but towards the middle and end everything felt so smooth, like I've been talking for years.\"", "sha256": "11269cb88c9c295efeed87f772a834a6607ac598558ba4f9a0655877b7e601f7" }, { "id": "p050-b006", "type": "h2", "text": "You want to recall how it felt to have that good speech", "sha256": "3f4c0c00f7a5c2eff6be19f34bb2e9f665fd36cac53cc1206b319b2050564810" }, { "id": "p050-b007", "type": "p", "text": "So the second thing that I would do is, I would start to think about the times, recently and in the past, when my speech was a little bit better, when my speech was improved. Not perfect speech, but you want to recall some of the good times, not just the bad, which our brains naturally do.", "sha256": "f849952bc8c4b9adc828ac51c22b523bc6b148c1acc1a0d4089ce9096d598627" }, { "id": "p050-b008", "type": "p", "text": "As we're driving, we're not thinking about all the worst memories and the hardships. No, instead we are thinking about the times when we spoke better, when we had more fluent speech. It might be, it can be small. But the small victories, the small times that you've had good speech, think about those. You want to recall those. You want to recall how it felt to have that good speech, because that sh*t's important. That's important.", "sha256": "037855d4bc6f6d4c142cf3b1c15681c411e9329cbea30663096121bb9a976daa" }, { "id": "p050-b009", "type": "p", "text": "The third thing, which is always important, is to increase your emotional state. Remember, we talked about how you would read out loud and get into it. That's part of it. But another big part, of course, is", "sha256": "2108f57c0a40e4fbfbe0e0fb1e2a0565bb32b52c8cfe26cbdc49d003d34e6ee7" } ] }, { "number": 51, "id": "pdf-page-51", "section_id": "come-in-taller", "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/reader/book/editions/corrected-2026-10-04-9e1d376a993f/full.html#pdf-page-51", "source_text_sha256": "af621d12bbe20ec83d17ca51be06616565a17e72413252967b2434667d20dca6", "blocks": [ { "id": "p051-b001", "type": "p", "text": "when you would play music. So play music in the car, or as you walk here, because all of that is really important.", "sha256": "04b25569144b5911a3a742584e13b1cb503be42f0192eeeefd2c2034028a4061" }, { "id": "p051-b002", "type": "h2", "text": "I want to be in a state where I feel great before I do a bunch of speaking.", "sha256": "b1cabc1d1bf94ef1a94cd6872d21a3ac5a2e182cce6fbead988c671018ac3538" }, { "id": "p051-b003", "type": "p", "text": "Let's pretend that you have to do something scary, like walk up and talk to a person, or call someone. Here's the 2 scenarios. The first is you make a phone call, and you worry about it, and you just call. The second is you play the favorite song 5 or 10 times, and you're jumping up and down, and you're super happy, and then you call. What's the difference in your fluency?", "sha256": "ec257ee048faabaaf2c51a609247af6173052e36ff4beb5da94a6d84169b3f2a" }, { "id": "p051-b004", "type": "p", "text": "For me, there's a mood to have when I'm gonna do a bunch of speaking. When I'm going out in public to meet people, or go out with friends and we're going to go chat up a bunch of people, there's a mood I'm going to be in. What I now know, it's like, when you feel good about yourself, you tend to have better fluency. Yes, I play my favorite songs. Yes, I pump or hype myself up. I want to be in a state where I feel great before I do a bunch of speaking.", "sha256": "e3e14314156791ca8d63dcbfaeac7428bb515c8dd5572d6e430c007b9b2ce37b" }, { "id": "p051-b005", "type": "p", "text": "I always hype my mood before talking to strangers or groups. It's so important that I work on it before I go out in public. When I'm out, I work on it before I go approach a group of people. Before, like, you want to see super confidence? Well, I'm gonna work on my freaking mood. It's critically important for me. I think it is for, like, all of us.", "sha256": "eb1573d30cf5085f848a37d8ec056d78e10fe2c6183863f10529de5917a06c18" }, { "id": "p051-b006", "type": "h2", "text": "Playing songs doesn't directly reduce stuttering", "sha256": "d63868493ae31bae893f9e1cdba20c5b855c400f2fb78715381b28538ed1f73b" }, { "id": "p051-b007", "type": "p", "text": "Playing songs doesn't directly reduce stuttering. But being in a great mood before speaking helps big time. If you hype yourself up dancing to music for 10 minutes, you'd be smoother. It's the mood. Pump it up before speaking. As you drive there by yourself in the car, you're playing your pump up music or your gym songs, the music that makes you feel great and that you want to work out to. You play it for the whole ride.", "sha256": "cf2e2c6e17ae718b64a6dbed38334e6d775abe1d0d8df53f9e0d6e83f5a5ade8" }, { "id": "p051-b008", "type": "p", "text": "The thing is, what I've learned to do is to come into a conversation with the most confidence possible, to feel the best I can feel, to give my speech the best chance.", "sha256": "317544aad4cfcb379a456f6b2c6f5344fb346767b3705bc51291aba6563b6f89" }, { "id": "p051-b009", "type": "p", "text": "The way how to do it is to learn to feel less intimidated. I don't say not intimidated, but feel less.", "sha256": "b18e295645ad4804c84ed65103798656b94a77c41486cf2c23fa46bcc12e9e52" } ] }, { "number": 52, "id": "pdf-page-52", "section_id": "come-in-taller", "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/reader/book/editions/corrected-2026-10-04-9e1d376a993f/full.html#pdf-page-52", "source_text_sha256": "f5d1ff1e6263b5b608bc96f79234842d7ede57e6e3c61236cfc6709f64ce4df2", "blocks": [ { "id": "p052-b001", "type": "p", "text": "The only way I know how to live fluently is to come in as the king of the jungle. By that I mean like I have the confidence, and I'm gonna walk in with it. It's a conscious thing. I'm bringing this confidence with me on purpose, because I'm going into the jungle, and I don't know what I'm gonna see. If I need to bring it, I will bring it. If I need super confident, I will. If I can be laid back, I will. But like, it's in my bag. I know now how to increase my emotional state at will. It can be learned.", "sha256": "8eef26c938e4783a9fdb46cef130a5429736e884a6c118b80e120b3a5f3fbb25" }, { "id": "p052-b002", "type": "p", "text": "All of these things I'm sharing, about the practice, about talking out loud, about the music, about recalling the positive experiences when you spoke well. All of that matters. That matters.", "sha256": "9e688d6549826cae482098e4e38e5014d9a16fccc764cb9c8619431914395c1d" }, { "id": "p052-b003", "type": "p", "text": "The caution I would say is don't just try it once, man, because when we stutter, we have years and years and years of stuttering mind f*ckery in our own heads. I had it too, don't feel bad.", "sha256": "e3c370b47c036689176e2a4ccb196efef6970069852fac092c44617237133f2b" }, { "id": "p052-b004", "type": "h2", "text": "Before calls, I would want to burn off a little of the anxiety.", "sha256": "d9fa3e4e426424b26586cfff37771dfedf9f7a8a50d41c516b646f792e012d5a" }, { "id": "p052-b005", "type": "p", "text": "When you feel tired, you can't have great speech. Of course, for all people, including people who don't stutter, it's hard. I don't work out each day, but I work out my speech each day.", "sha256": "4d4ed5860be1b476880b42a2c72219051b1436c5d9c03004c823e3b9cae042e4" }, { "id": "p052-b006", "type": "p", "text": "Before calls, I would want to burn off a little of the anxiety. This has worked for me. I'm not suggesting this exact thing because it's unusual. But I do what's called grounding. This has nothing to do with speech, but I do it. It's just basically going onto the grass and putting your feet on the grass without shoes, without any socks. I would literally do it for 5 minutes before big calls when I was working on making sure I had killer confidence. That would help me burn off a little anxiety. Grounding is a real thing.", "sha256": "06b81ca021c1e6ad815296838a5c31652a28e31c024fba078db2eb3eb3fb798f" }, { "id": "p052-b007", "type": "h2", "text": "A way I would use breathing to feel a little taller", "sha256": "bc3009b949ac4a9bd4c85202a85ee93f949b16a441ba7fd3df3269d6422ef797" }, { "id": "p052-b008", "type": "p", "text": "In for 4, hold for 2, exhale for 6. Here's how I would have used this when I was stuttering, and here's what you can do tomorrow. It's not how to fix your stutter, but it's how to, again, feel taller. So do this like 20 times in a row before you start your day, 10 times at least. Or you do it before the first time in the day you're going to have to talk. Here's where I would do it. I'd go into a bathroom stall, and I'd just breathe, and I'd walk out of there. It's a way how to feel bigger. Now, it might not be a lot bigger, or it might not be enough, but it's bigger, and bigger means better speech.", "sha256": "d7f76866584e52d47747637a5a3860f6c97c5c1e04f22e565e68fda46ffd4df7" } ] } ], "end_of_document": true, "section": { "id": "come-in-taller", "number": 13, "kind": "chapter", "title": "COME IN TALLER", "first_page": 49, "last_page": 52, "heading_page": 49, "previous": "the-intentional-dream", "next": "enthusiasm-is-contagious", "url": "https://usedtostutter.com/reader/book/editions/corrected-2026-10-04-9e1d376a993f/chapters/come-in-taller", "latest_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/reader/book/chapters/come-in-taller", "formats": { "json": "https://usedtostutter.com/reader/book/editions/corrected-2026-10-04-9e1d376a993f/chapters/come-in-taller.json", "xml": "https://usedtostutter.com/reader/book/editions/corrected-2026-10-04-9e1d376a993f/chapters/come-in-taller.xml", "md": "https://usedtostutter.com/reader/book/editions/corrected-2026-10-04-9e1d376a993f/chapters/come-in-taller.md", "txt": "https://usedtostutter.com/reader/book/editions/corrected-2026-10-04-9e1d376a993f/chapters/come-in-taller.txt" }, "related_articles": [ { "id": "CC-008", "title": "How did I learn to feel more confident before speaking?", "url": "https://usedtostutter.com/confidence-before-speaking" }, { "id": "CC-009", "title": "How did music help me before I went out to speak?", "url": "https://usedtostutter.com/music-before-speaking" }, { "id": "CC-012", "title": "What did reading aloud do for my speaking practice?", "url": "https://usedtostutter.com/reading-aloud-and-stuttering" } ] } }