How to use fewer filler words: a pause exercise

To use fewer filler words, choose one repetition you notice in your own speech and try a short pause in its place. Take an ordinary work question, answer it aloud, then repeat your answer. Compare how easy the thought is to follow, rather than counting every hesitation as a mistake.

You do not need to ban every “well”, “like” or “so”. A word might connect ideas in one sentence, express uncertainty in another, and add nothing in a third. This exercise is about a particular answer, not a verdict on the way you speak.

When a word is unnecessary and when it helps

Try removing the word from your sentence. Does the meaning or your attitude change? “Well, shall we begin?” can invite people to get started. “It was, like, a hundred pages” may signal an estimate: deleting “like” can make the number sound exact. Keep that meaning or express it more clearly: “It was roughly a hundred pages”.

A repeated “well” before every part of an update is different: “Well, the file is ready, well, I will send it, well, after the check”. If it adds nothing in this situation, try the sentence without the repetition. The aim is not to remove every hesitation. You need room to think during a conversation.

Teaching example: a colleague asks about a draft

In this fictional situation, a colleague asks whether a draft can go to the client today. The person answering knows the draft is ready but the links have not been checked. The useful information is the state of the work and the next action.

“Well, the draft is ready, well, the links still need checking. Well, I will send it after the check.”

The three instances of “well” do not change this answer. Keep the same facts and separate them with pauses:

“The draft is ready. [Pause] The links still need checking. I will send it after the check.”

The update has not become more optimistic: the speaker still does not promise to send an unchecked draft. The pause leaves space for the next thought. Do not say “pause” aloud or try to leave exactly the same number of seconds after each sentence.

The exercise: one answer, one repetition

• Choose a familiar question: “What is ready, and what is left to do?” Answer about a real task without sharing confidential details.
• Say two or three sentences at your normal pace. Afterwards, recall one word you repeated. If you did not notice a repetition, do not invent one: try another familiar question.
• Repeat the same answer. Where you used the chosen word, briefly pause and continue when you know your next thought. Avoid replacing every “well” with a new “so”.
• Say the answer once more without trying to monitor every word. Did you keep the facts? Could you finish the thought without rushing?

A few minutes is enough for this attempt. If monitoring yourself makes you lose the thought, shorten the answer to one sentence. You can ask someone you know to listen for the particular repetition. They do not need to judge your voice or correct everything you say.

Three self-check questions

• Did I notice a specific repetition, rather than simply decide that I am “bad at speaking”?
• After the pause, did I keep the meaning and finish the answer, or rush and cut sentences short?
• Does the revised answer sound natural for this conversation? If not, what one place will I try differently?

Describe what happened: “I still say ‘well’ at the start, but I paused between the two facts”. That is more useful than demanding zero fillers on the first try. One successful rehearsal does not mean the habit has gone.

Taking the exercise into a conversation

Before your next work call, choose one answer you are likely to need. Prepare its first thought and practise stopping calmly after it. For unexpected questions, see “How to answer without preparation” in the related guides below.

The Impromptu demo linked below offers a short question and 30 seconds to answer. Use it to try a pause in a new situation. You start the timer yourself; the website does not record your voice or count fillers. You check the chosen repetition yourself. The English website demo is a short self-practice exercise; the Telegram app currently operates in Russian. Return to different everyday conversations rather than rehearsing only one fixed sentence.