Awareness Is the Cure

You cannot fix a habit you never hear. So catch yourself on tape. Record five honest minutes: a real call, a voice memo, or a practice pitch. Then play it back and count every filler.

Once you can hear your fillers on tape, you start catching them in real time, and it arrives in stages. First you notice an "um" right after it slips out. Then you catch it as it happens. Finally you feel one loading and swap in a clean pause before it ever escapes.