How Your Choice of Words Can Reduce Stress and Empower You
Replacing common phrases in your thoughts and speech can radically improve your work and interpersonal relationships.
Language has a significant effect on how we experience the world, which has a correspondingly significant effect on our behavior. Our word choice can build or destroy relationships, make or break deals, and shape our sense of self. And yet we neglect these effects quite often.
The words we choose create a large part of reality. They establish and define commitments. They feed or change expectations—both in ourselves and in others. Words act as lenses, through which we view the world, and with which we build the narratives of our days, months, years, and lives.
So how much attention do you pay to the words you use?
Let’s take a look at four commonly used words and phrases, and how simply using an alternative can change the game entirely.
Have to, Need to, and Going to
There’s a huge difference between the things you have to do or need to do, and the things you’re going to do. The difference may seem small, but it’s there — and it sets you up to approach that thing as something you’ve chosen to do, rather…
