One of the most annoying traits when speaking is the use of verbal tics. We have all heard them once. If you are aware that your speech is littered with these filler words, it would be a good idea to work on eliminating them because they detract from your message: your audience loses focus on what you are saying. Instead, they start counting!

Words like um and oh They are the most obvious. They are common; they are annoying; and, mark your speech. Two other frequently heard words or phrases are as and You know.

Generally, the umsand ohThe s are filler words that are heard mostly during a presentation, a live interview, or a long conversation. As and You know, instead, are words spoken out of habit. Some people resort to the phrase You know at the end of a sentence. Others use it at the beginning of the award; and, there are those who use it both at the beginning and at the end of a sentence.

As is more often heard by the Generation Y population and is reminiscent of a ‘Valley Girl’. The problem with the word. as it gives the wrong impression. The constant use of that word sounds young, immature and uneducated; definitely not the image you want to project if you intend to further your career. In fact, it’s certainly not the best impression to make if you’re also hoping to improve your personal life.

Most people are not aware of these verbal tics until they hear themselves on a recording. In one case, a young man he was working with was so upset with himself when he heard the amount of umsand ohs in his personal introduction (he couldn’t say his first and last name without a um!) that he swore he would stop before his next class.

By our next session, her verbal tics had disappeared. How did he accomplish this feat?

1. Concentrating on listening to yourself when you spoke.
2. Allowing yourself to pause, breathe, and then continue.
3. Practicing out loud.

You can break these habits if you are motivated. Recording yourself and studying the playback is your first step. Your second step is to allow yourself to pause instead of filling that space with sound. The third step is to pay more attention to yourself when you speak. By doing so, you will make your delivery much more interesting and rewarding for both yourself and your audience, you know?