I agree with the suggestion that you just finish what you were saying even after the other party starts talking, and will repeat my earlier suggestion that you get rid of the preamble on every thought. Every example you’ve given involves totally unnecessary words at the beginning of your sentence. Don’t say “I think” or “i would do it differently” or “why don’t we”, just say your point right from the get-go, get your idea out there and then qualify or justify or pretty it up however you want.
This is like a real-life version of that movie trope where a character has something really important to say but the other person just keeps interrupting… and rather than saying “SHUT UP FOR A MINUTE!”, or just blurting it out anyway, they give up altogether and frustration, and another 30 minutes of screen time, ensues.
You think those traits are common amongst women from Georgia?
Bless your heart.
This weekend, I had to tell someone, “Did you really just decide that what I had to say was too boring to be worth listening to in the four words you let me say before you interrupted me?”
There’s this great book by Deborah Tannen
That’s Not What I Meant: How Conversational Style Makes Or Breaks Relationships
that really illuminates these kinds of problems.
If you come from a family or culture that talks more slowly then a faster talker may be making conversational pauses that do not even register on you. To their mind, they’re leaving places for you to talk, why don’t you answer!
Reading this book really opened my eyes. I’m from a faster talking family. When I realized some people may need a longer pause from me before they would take their turn in a conversation, that pause could feel awkward and agonizing to me, but if I was able to wait, surprise! The other person had stuff to say.
I know two people from Louisiana. They are VERY different in almost every respect, personality, background, gender. What they share is an extremely long conversational pause (to me).