How to Avoid Filler Words: 5 More Tips to Reduce Filler Words
Watch out for filler words, the verbal packing peanuts of unnecessary sounds and words that fill your speaking space. Fillers include:
- Sounds- ah, um, err
- Words-literally, very, like
- Phrases- ‘I suppose that’, ‘you know what I mean’, ‘something like that’
Please read 'How to Make the Right Verbal First Impressions: Reduce Filler Words', so you can become familiar with what filler words are and where fillers words come from.
NOTE: For the rest of this article the word fillers mean filler words, filler sounds, and filler phrases.
Fillers can make you sound unprepared, inarticulate, and unsure of what you’re talking about. When you reduce and eliminate fillers you will sound more clear, coherent, and certain when you speak
5 more tips to reduce and eliminate filler words
1) Boost your confidence
Confidence provides certainty and certainty provides mental clarity. When you’re confident you feel in control. People that lack certainty when speaking lack focus which produce wordiness and fillers. A lack of clarity means not knowing what to say which again produces more fillers.
Tip to implement
Practice your confidence posture
Building confidence takes time and effort. For a quick boost posture can influence how you think and feel. For example, if I tell you that I am confident with half closed eyes avoiding eye contact, a drooping frown, and my torso bending like a wet noodle you wouldn’t see my confidence and I wouldn’t display or feel confidence. Likewise if I tell you that I am confident with bright open eyes making eye contact, a sharp smile that could that could cut through canvas, and my torso straighter than a fire pole then you would see my confidence and I would feel confident.
You want to make certain that you look confident when you speak. Ask yourself, ‘Does my spinal posture, body language, and facial expressions make me look confident?’ Most importantly do you feel confident in that posture? Here is how to practice the confidence posture. Look in a full body mirror and pose yourself in a posture that says, ‘I could take on the world right now’. Present to the mirror a confidence that will radiate out. Take note of how you look with your expressions, body language, and posture. You want to mirror that posture when you speak.
Project a posture that says “I’m confident”. Spine up, shoulders down, and chest out conveys confidence. Eye contact and a smile show confidence. Remember to be mindful of how people perceive you and how you perceive yourself. You want people to see that “I can take on the world” level of confidence. Even if you still lack mental confidence, displaying physical confidence gives you a confidence boost.
2) Focus on what you're saying in the present moment
Thinking about five minutes ago, thinking about five minutes in the future, or thinking of something else in the present moment distracts from what you are saying. When people get lost for a moment with their thoughts, fillers come out. Pay attention specifically to what you're saying in the moment.
Tip to Implement
Practice keeping your thoughts within your speaking zone of influence
The area you are speaking and the people listening is your speaking zone of influence. Everything outside the walls of the room and the people listening to you is outside your speaking zone of influence. Even if you speak virtually, the screen or screens in front of you is your speaking zone of influence.
In the moment of speaking you are unable to influence anything outside of the speaking space. Unless you’re telepathic your thoughts have no effect outside the room. If you start to mentally wander, ask yourself, “Am I still in my speaking zone of influence” If you say no then you need to push other thoughts aside. The people you can influence right now are the people listening to you.
An extra tip to stay within your speaking zone of influence is to commit to what you are saying about like it’s the most important thing in the world to tell people. When you give importance to what you say you will have an easier time disregarding secondary thoughts popping up in your head.
3) Think before you speak
Knowing what to say before you say something can reduce fillers. Before you give a reply, take some time together with your thoughts first in silence.
Tip to implement
Buy thinking time through 4 ways.
Take a moment of silence to gather your thoughts before you speak
If you’re asked a question you can repeat the question or use the question to lead into your reply.
Spend a few seconds summarizing what you said.
If you truly need more time to think before speaking then say, “Give me a moment to think about that”.
4) Practice
Much like a first pencil written draft is sloppy compared to a finished typed printed manuscript, speaking an idea for the first time can be verbally sloppy. You’re still in the process of finding clarity of thought. Unless you’re speaking off the cuff, practicing what you will say increases a fluid delivery. Each time you practice/ rehearse you get clearer and more comfortable with what you will say.
Tips to implement
Practice knowing the flow of your outline
Much like how GPS instructions indicate where to go next so you don’t get lost, an outline lets you know what to say next so you don’t get lost with your words. There are lots of different outline structures. Pick one that you find easy to make and follow.
5) Speak in specific concrete language
Vague words, abstract words, and the verbal weeds of wordiness give invitations for fillers. For example, ‘I would like to, ah, tell you something important that will….” Instead of telling, show with specific sensory language.
Tip to Implement
Thinking in pictures instead of words
You’ve heard people say, “What’s the word?”, however you never hear, “What’s the picture?”Pictures have more specific details to talk about. When possible, think of your mental pictures when selecting your word choices. Mental pictures have specific images which bring clarity and conciseness to your spoken words.
Fillers cannot exist in pictures. What does a ‘you know what a mean’ look like? What color is “very’? What shape is, ‘actually’? What is the size of, ‘UM’?
Your life experiences contain pictures you can speak from. Instead of searching for words to say, search for the pictures which will show what you want to say.
Reduce and Eliminate Fillers
For more tips on reducing fillers read 6 tips for reducing and eliminating fillers when speaking.
Overtime you can speak filler free and sound more clear, coherent, and certain when you speak.