A guest co-host joined a well known podcaster on her show.
One of her bug bears, the guest shared, was when podcasters use “anyway” to segue between topics.
The host agreed. It was lazy language.
I chuckled a few minutes later when the host couldn’t help herself.
“Any-way”, she droned…”it’s time for a short break.”
Because “anyway” was one of her habits.
Her vocal blankie.
Despite agreeing intellectually that it was poor form, she couldn’t stop herself using it. She probably wasn’t even aware that she did.
That’s the challenge with habits.
You can’t think your way out of them. You can’t rely on willpower to override them in the heat of the moment.
Instead, you could remove the cue. But in her case, the gap between the discussion and ads isn’t going anywhere. The cue stays.
Or, you could replace the response. Have a line ready to fill the space before the habit does.
With enough repetition – and plenty of missteps – it will take the place of “anyway”.
My suggestion?
“And with that in mind, let’s go to a short break…”.
The use of another “an…” word will make it easier to switch.
Anyway...let me know if you know the podcaster I’m talking about.
P.S. Shhh...this is only for introverts
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