I think perhaps your approach (in your question) is not put together right. Allow me to elaborate: - • For one, I don't think it's a good idea to tell ourselves "don't think about stuttering". We do, and we should - but in the right fashion. • Also, our focus shouldn't be on fluency. That's not fair, because it makes everything into more of a struggle than it needs to be, and we can't ultimately control it. So our focus needs to be on something else. • Moreover, the word "stuttering" shouldn't be construed as a negative word. It's a description of a condition and handicap that some people have, but beyond that, it designates a potential for somewhat odd sounds. That's harmless, and I think we're doing ourselves a disservice if we make it into something hurtful. - So what should we tell ourselves? I think it makes sense to be realistic and constructive, instead of trying to shy away from the facts. In that vein, we should tell ourselves to expect a stutter, since that would help in not getting surprised by it. We need to get used to being in this context without fear, because we'll be there for the rest of our life. It needs to be ours in habit. And what should we focus on, then? Well, obviously not "perfection". We should rather dedicate our concentration to the words we're in the process of delivering. For some, this will mean carrying out certain speech-therapeutical techniques that work for them, while for others, this will mean not paying too much attention to what the other participants in the conversation might think or not think. Some combination of these for all of us is likely. At any rate, our focus is on the basic work: Speech. Not worries about things that only serve to disturb or confuse us. So what do we call it all? Stutter, stammer, block, repetition, prolongation, etc. - it's all descriptive and serves a purpose. We should use these words for what they are. I see no reason - personally, I might add - to try and run away from the semantically posited reality these words belong to. They're real, and so is stutter. We shouldn't avoid dealing with the real - which, as I'm sure you'll notice as well, is actually sort of parallel to using evasion tactics in speech, instead of just entering into the problematic parts by being determined to do so. - That's my opinion. I'm not trying to ignore our struggle, but I think part of our struggle is our reaction to what happens. We can change this by thinking in a different manner - but this shouldn't be a manner that tries to negate things or flip things around somehow. We need as simple access as possible to what's going on, to not waste our resources. We need those for talking.