How do I stop saying "um" and "uh"?
Filler words like "um," "uh," "so," and "you know" are almost always a sign of one thing: discomfort with silence. The brain reaches for a sound to fill the gap while it searches for the next thought. The fix isn't to think faster — it's to get comfortable with the pause.
A deliberate pause is not awkward to the audience. It reads as confidence and control. The speaker feels the silence more than anyone else in the room. Learning to let a moment breathe — instead of filling it — is one of the most powerful upgrades you can make to your delivery.
The other root cause is lack of rehearsal. When you don't know your material well enough to move fluently from one point to the next, fillers rush in to cover the gap. Rehearsing your transitions out loud — not just reviewing the content in your head — closes that gap.
Why it matters: Filler words undermine your credibility. Every "um" signals uncertainty to the audience, even when you know your subject cold. Eliminating them makes you sound more authoritative and prepared.
Practical Tips:
- Record yourself — then listen twice. Use your phone's audio recorder during a rehearsal. You'll be surprised how many fillers you don't notice while speaking. Listen once, then listen again — you'll catch even more on the second pass. Awareness is the essential first step.
- Replace the filler with a pause. Every time you feel an "um" coming, stop and say nothing. Train your brain to accept the silence. This feels uncomfortable at first, but it becomes natural quickly. It also pairs well with purposeful eye contact — look at one person during the pause.
- Slow down. Filler words often come from speaking too fast. When you deliberately slow your pace, your brain has time to find the next word and your mouth doesn't need to fill the gap.
Practice Exercise:
Record a 2-minute answer to a question in your area of expertise. Count your filler words. Then record the same answer again, making a conscious effort to pause instead of filling. Compare the two. Use the iSpeak AI Coach to get a filler word count and delivery feedback across multiple rounds.
Related Resources:
Blog Post by Russ Peterson Jr., iSpeak Owner and Certified Master Instructor:
Corporate Ovations: Your Roadmap to More Effective Presentations
This is iSpeak's comprehensive guide to presentation and communication skills. Each chapter focuses on a critical aspect of preparing, developing, and delivering messages that inform, influence, and inspire.
Chapter 8 of Corporate Ovations ("Say It Like You Mean It") covers pacing, volume, inflections, and silence in depth.
Chapter 12 of Corporate Ovations ("Rehearsal and Evaluation") comes down to this:
Rehearsal isn't about knowing your content better — it's about practicing the transfer of that content to your audience, and the most important things to rehearse are your open and close, since they're the moments your audience will remember most.
Communication Insight
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"Nothing improves until something changes."
Russ Peterson, Jr.
"Everyone communicates, few connect."
John Maxwell
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Albert Einstein
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