How To Speak Filler Word Free in 5 Steps

Rick – A Filler Word True Story

**The following is based on a true story. The names have been changed.

Rick, an executive at a medium-sized business in Nashville, TN, looked himself in the mirror and stated his daily affirmation. “I am leading my organization to year over year double digit growth.”

Rick smiled briefly and then frowned as another thought flickered in his mind. “Do my employees believe in me?”

Sam, an employee at Rick’s company, recently attended a Communication Skills workshop. During the “Eliminating Filler Words” segment of the workshop, Sam couldn’t hold back.

“My boss, Rick, always ends sentences with the words, ‘that way’. He says, ‘Blah, blah, blah, that way. Dah, dah, dah, that way.’ It’s so distracting! When Rick speaks at a big meeting for the company — there can be two or three hundred people in the meeting room — it’s like a competition amongst me and my co-workers counting how many times Rick says ‘that way’. We aren’t listening to a word Rick says except for, ‘that way’. We tally the number of times Rick says it. Everybody jokes about it. It so destroys Rick’s ability to communicate! It’s complete destruction!”

Rick’s employees see him as a laughingstock instead of an effective leader. Rick’s use of filler words has devastated his attempts to communicate and damaged his image as an effective executive.

Filler Words Defined

What are filler words? World Champion speaker, Ed Tate, defines them as “verbalized mental pauses”.

Filler words are also needless phrases used habitually, like Rick’s use of “that way” in the story above.

Like trash in a yard, filler words should be discarded to make your speech neat, clean, and impressive.

Type 1 and Type 2 Filler Words

You probably hear filler words all the time. For example, if you ask a friend for the time, the conversation might go like this.

You: “Hey, Tony, what time is it?”

Tony: “Uh. Let’s see. Uh, 4:09.”

You: “Thanks.”

In that exchange, Tony used the filler word, “uh”, twice.

“Uh”, along with the words, “um”, “so”, and “like”, are commonly used filler words. I call these Type 1, or “T1”, filler words.

T1 filler words are like those annoying lumps that form in cream of wheat when it’s not stirred well during cooking. They’re ok if there are one or two. But too many ruin the whole dish (where the “dish” is analogous to your speech).

I’ve found T1 filler words to be moderately challenging to eliminate from the speaking habits.

A tougher type of filler word to stop using is what we’ll refer to as Type 2, or “T2” filler words.

Let’s say you ask your friend, Teresa, how her day has been. She replies as follows.

“Oh, let me tell you what happened to me this morning. I got to work and my boss, Rick, asked me to put together an emergency TPS report. And so I was like, ‘Ok, sure.’ Then Rick said, ‘Can you give a summary of the report at our meeting this morning…that way?’ And so I thought, ‘Seriously?! This morning? I’m not ready for that!’ And so I was like, ‘Rick, well, I mean, if you really want me to. But I’m a little nervous.’ And so Rick was like, ‘I believe in you. You’re a pro and I know you will do a great job…that way.’ And so I thought, ‘Ok, wow, I don’t want to, but you, like, really believe in me.’ And so I said, ‘Ok Rick, I appreciate you giving me a chance. I’ll do it.’ And so I did it…and it went great! And by the way, Rick really should stop ending all of his sentences with, ‘that way’. Just sayin.”

Did you pick up on the frequently used filler word phrases in Teresa’s response? If you didn’t, then re-read Teresa’s description of her day and pick out the filler word phrases before reading the next paragraph.

In the excerpt above, Teresa used the phrase, “and so”, seven times. That is an example of T2 filler words.

Teresa also used the T2 filler words, “was like” three times. And Rick chimed in with his filler word phrase, “that way”, two times.

T2 filler words are like pieces of spinach stuck between your front teeth while you’re at a dinner party with friends. You don’t know they’re there, but your friends sure do.

And like that spinach, you won’t notice T2 filler words unless a friend tells you about them, or you see them in a mirror (a mirror for your speech is described below).

What Filler Words Do to You

Do you use filler words?

Low to moderate use of filler words is ok. Keeping them to a minimum or eliminating them is ideal. Why? Because filler words will do one or more of the following:

How to Eliminate Filler Words – The Steps

Do you want your best, most knowledgeable self to come across when you communicate one-on-one or to a group? Then reduce or eliminate filler words from your speech by following the steps below.

Re-read the above list of what filler words do to you. Realize that filler words prevent you from projecting your best self. Know that they can ruin your attempts to communicate, make you seem less professional, and damage your image.
Set a goal to eliminate filler words.
Frequently record yourself speaking. A recorder is like a mirror for your speech. Record yourself when you’re giving a speech, or answering questions from your manager, or responding to questions in a group meeting or Q&A session, or talking on the phone with a friend. Listen to the recording to see if you’re using filler words.
Aim to speak filler word free every time you speak, not just when giving a speech or other select settings. To root out a filler word habit, you’ve got to overwrite it with a new habit. The new habit is that of speaking filler word free.
Distract your listener

Therefore, whether you’re talking with your mom, your child, a customer, an employee, your manager, a friend, or yourself, work to speak filler word free. This will require paying attention to all of your speech. It will require diligence. And it will eventually result in your speech being impressively free of filler word clutter. This will allow you to present your best self when you speak, and that will make the effort worthwhile.

Filling in the Hole Left by Filler Words

You might be wondering, “What do I say instead of using filler words?” The answer is, nothing.

T2 filler words can be safely eliminated with the only effect being that your speech will become clearer, more effective, and will show you in a good light. To see this, go to the Appendix, which shows Teresa’s (above) verbal dump without instances of “and so”, and with the phrase “was like” replaced with the word, “said”. Also, Rick’s uses of “that way” have been removed.

In the case of T1 filler words (e.g. “uh’, “um”, “like”, and “so”), pause instead of saying them.

Pausing shows confidence and poise. Or, if your pause is going to take more than a few seconds, you can say, “Let me think about this for just a minute.” Collect your thoughts, and then speak.

David S. – A Filler Word Free True Story

A few years ago, I worked with a guy named David S. When I met David he was a Systems Administrator in his company’s Information Technology (IT) department.

David had a professional air about him, the source of which, initially, I couldn’t place. It wasn’t his technical savvy — David was a good employee, but was not a technical superstar. It wasn’t that he “dressed for success” either. David dressed neatly, but not in a way that made him stand out.

Then, one day, I figured it out. David’s language was pristine. His thoughts flowed out in well-formed, filler word free sentences.

David’s skill with language made him stand out as articulate and bright.

Soon David became a manager of the System Administrators. Next, he was moved up to an IT Architecture role. Later he became manager of the IT Architects.

David continued his ascent up the company ladder until he became the leader of the Information Technology department for his company.

David’s ability to communicate clearly, without unnecessary fillers, is undoubtedly part of the reason he has been so successful.

Your Choice

Do you want to project your best, most knowledgeable self when you communicate? Then reduce or eliminate filler words. Use the five steps suggested above. If you do, eventually you’ll clear filler words from your speech. Then you’ll present the best version of yourself as you speak filler word free to individuals and to groups.

Appendix: Teresa’s verbal dump minus T1 and T2 filler words

“Oh, let me tell you what happened to me this morning. I got to work and my boss, Rick, asked me to put together an emergency TPS report. I said, ‘Ok, sure.’ Then Rick said, ‘Can you give a summary of the report at our meeting this morning?’ I thought, ‘Seriously?! This morning? I’m not ready for that!’ I said, ‘Rick, well, I mean, if you really want me to. But I’m a little nervous.’ Rick said, ‘I believe in you. You’re a pro and I know you will do a great job.’ I thought, ‘Ok, wow, I don’t want to, but you, like, really believe in me.’ I said, ‘Ok Rick, I appreciate you giving me a chance. I’ll do it.’ I did it…and it went great!”