Notes · Note 05 · 3 min read
How to stop saying “like” and “basically” without sounding rehearsed
Nobody minds one “like”. Fourteen in a two-minute answer is a different conversation.
Filler words do a job. They hold your place while your brain fetches the next idea. They also tell the listener you aren’t done yet. Removing them entirely makes most people sound stiff. The goal is to stop needing one in every sentence.
01Find out which one is yours
Everyone has a favorite. It might be “like”, “basically”, “actually”, “you know”, “matlab” or “o sea”. Record yourself talking for two minutes about anything and count. Most people are surprised by the number and by which word wins.
02Let the pause do the job instead
The filler fills a silence you think is awkward. To a listener a short pause sounds like thinking. Practice letting a second go by without sound. It feels long the first few times and then it starts to feel like control.
To a listener a short pause sounds like thinking.
03Start sentences with the point
Fillers cluster at the beginning of sentences, while you decide what the sentence is. If you know the point, start with it. “The budget is the problem” needs no “so basically” in front of it.
04Track it, gently
Count your favorite filler once a week in the same kind of practice. The number will go down slowly, then quickly. Don’t try to fix it live in an important conversation. That’s how you end up thinking about your words instead of your point.
Try it tonight
Answer one question out loud and watch Circus Sideshow color in while you talk.