Craig Coffee https://usedtostutter.com/reader/book/editions/final-2026-09-22-ca5394386fc0/chapters/me-and-you 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.Public reading is separate from foundation-model training. Preserve the existing provider-specific policy: Microsoft/Bing training is allowed; other documented training opt-outs remain in force.

https://usedtostutter.com/reader/book/editions/final-2026-09-22-ca5394386fc0/chapters/me-and-you

Chapter 3. ME AND YOU This is the kind of stuff that never existed when I was on my journey. There was no one who had gone through it, who had spent all that time, and who was willing to share. There was no path, and there was no one who showed me how to do it. All the long, slow, dumb way. I was handed a golden key the whole semester I'm a freshman in high school, and it's a very big high school to me. We're all required to take a language, and I take Spanish. The funny thing happens when you're in a new class: wherever you sit on the first day is where people sit for the rest of the year. It's just how it is. Try it. I sat next to this sophomore, who's this big, tall guy who played basketball. His name was Erik. We got to be friendly, and he was funny, and he liked me despite my stutter. In the second week, we start talking about this science teacher who I have, who's this old guy who had been around for a long time. This one teacher never changed the quizzes or their tests. My new friend Erik saved his entire complete notebook, containing all of his quizzes and tests from that same teacher last year! I was handed the keys to the whole semester. All the quizzes, all the tests. I didn't have to study the material. I could study the tests. I had the answer key, and the answer key never changed. Question 2, if the answer was C last year, on this year's quiz, the answer was C as well. That was true for all the questions on all the quizzes and all of the tests. I was handed a golden key the whole semester. All of the work was done for me. All of the hours of study and prep in figuring out what to learn were done. I was handed it. It was done for me. That's my story. That's my Erik story. This is what I would have loved when I was stuttering badly, if someone showed me how it really works in the real world. If this isn't a shortcut, man, I don't know what is. I am telling you the raw f*cking truth. I can shortcut the information, but there's no shortcuts in the amount of work required So here's the truth, or what's behind the curtains. It doesn't take long to learn all the sh*t that I share, but it takes a while to practice it. To go do it in situations. Because that's what it takes, you actually doing it. You got to put in the time, as I've said, there's no shortcuts. I can shortcut the information, but there's no shortcuts in the amount of work required. I can't promise that you can beat your stutter because it takes work, but it's not hard to reduce it. There's no cure. I'm never going to be a natural 100%, the smoothest talker in the world. It won't go well at first, probably, because it's new. One thing you can do right now is learn how to talk to one stranger a day. The point is, and this is key, there's no quick fix. When we talk solutions, the hardest part, really, is to rewire your brain with what we're going to discuss. I'm being transparent, and I'm pouring out my own soul here. I Talked to One Stranger a Day Since I Was About 14 One of the things I discovered right around the same time, or shortly afterwards, was that my speech was slightly better if I started the conversation with someone, compared to if they started it with me. So if they asked me a question, I felt about 2 inches tall, and I felt very intimidated, and I had bad speech. But if I started the conversation myself, I felt I could control a little bit more, perhaps, but my speech was slightly better. I still stuttered badly, but it was slightly better. When you're in that kind of pain, you'll take something that's slightly better. So shortly following the episode when I was crying in my parents' driveway, I started my once a day challenge. Now, of course, I did not call it that at the time. But what I challenged myself to do was talk to one new person per day. One new person per day. Wherever I was, if I was at the store with my mom and dad, I would ask a store employee. If I was at school, I talked to some teacher who I did not know, or a school employee. But it was important to do that. I started to do one conversation a day with people. At first, it was not intentional, and then it became intentional. This was practice. This was what I was doing. But at first I did not know anything. I'm telling you what I would have begged and pleaded someone to have told me. I can't go back in and share this with my old self, but I would have shared this same exact stuff. It's me and you talking here, man.