As humans, we tend to use words to "fill in gaps" while we speak. The scary truth is most of us are not conscious of these words that pop out of our mouth randomly. These unnecessary words a.k.a "filler words" do not serve any real purpose and are used much too frequently. In reality, filler words are a menace and need to be avoided at all costs as they act as a distraction in conversation. These "real bad words" of the English language, namely terms such as: um, uh, like, basically, so, etc, must be eliminated completely.
How to avoid these words?
Oftentimes, people tend to use filler words when they’re unsure of what to say and buying time to think about what to say. The following tips will help you avoid filler words.
Awareness:
While speaking, pay attention to the words that come out of your mouth. This will help you stay in control of the fillers.
Pause:
Take frequent meaningful pauses at the end of sentences.
Vocabulary:
Learn new transition words and phrases and remember to use them. For example, words like, "furthermore", "consequently", "in addition to", etc make more meaning than by just repeating "basically".
Plan:
Plan how you are going to start a sentence or conversation ahead so that you need not look out for words.
Get a Coach:
In spite of taking all the efforts mentioned above, you still have a hard time reducing fillers, then it's time to take public speaking lessons from a reputable coach.
It’s important to realize that the use of filler words will eventually become a habit. How many times have your spotted an "actually" or "basically" in every sentence while listening to your friend/colleague? Even though these words don’t hold any substance, we have been conditioned to think that they make the sentence flow better.
Do you want to make an impactful conversation? Then, the only real solution is to make a conscious effort to catch yourself and correct it.