3 Guaranteed Ways to Remove ‘Um’ and ‘Uh’ From Your Speech

3 Guaranteed Ways to Remove ‘Um’ and ‘Uh’ From Your Speech

I have a confession.

I was an addict.

Addicted to UMMMMMs and UHHHHHs.

I had so many UMMS and UHHHHs that my coach bought a bell that shit would ring every time I would say it during a speech so. that I would stop.

It worked pretty well, I must say.

But here are 3 more concrete (and less annoying) ways of removing your filler words (and sounds.

1) C.Y.M

This one is crazy but it works really well.

Seriously, try this.

We usually say filler words when we want to fill in the silence. Most of us are uncomfortable with silence because we perceive it uncertainty i.e not knowing what’s happening.

We then fill it in with sooo… yknoww…uhh…yeah.

Instead, here’s what I want you to try.

The C.Y.M Method or,
The Close Your Mouth Method.

When you speak, at the end of each phrase.

Close your mouth.

Just close it.

Simply because your mouth is closed, you won’t be able to utter any “um” or “uhs” and your speech will immediately sound more polished.

It’s so dang easy but so dang effective.

I can’t tell you how many clients have told me this fixed their issue.

2) Air

Here’s a cool party trick you can try.

Try exhaling from your mouth and saying “UMM” at the same time.

Go ahead, try it.

Pretty easy right?

Now, try inhaling from your mouth and saying “UMM” at the same time.

Try it.

No really, try it.

Did you try it?

You couldn’t do it, could you?

It’s impossible to inhale and say UUUMMM at the same time.

Using this to your advantage, when you speak,

Speak while you exhale and then at the end of your sentence, take a breath.

We usually say fillers between our sentences and phrases so if you can replace it with a breath or a pause,

You won’t resort to filling in the silence again.

3) Length

Try saying your ABCs.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O (You know the rest … hopefully)

Chances are, you didn’t stutter. You didn’t have to think of the next thing to say, you didn’t use any filler words.

Why is that?

When we speak in shorter sentences, it’s much harder to stutter.

So instead of saying one giiaaaaaaannnnnnt sentence.

Train yourself to speak in small sentences by adding pauses.

For example, instead of saying:

“I had a really good time and UHH It was wonderful meeting everyone and UM I can’t wait for the next time we meet”

You could say:

“I had a really good time [Pause]
It was wonderful meeting everyone [Pause]
I can’t wait for the next time we meet!

You’ll sound a lot more relaxed, a lot more in control, with a lot less filler words.

Hope this helps!