A quick message from an executive coach on shifting one frequently-used word can shift your entire life.

 


 

TRANSCRIPT: 
Hello, I’m Tony Mayo, the Business Owners’ Executive Coach. As a coach, I’m very aware of the power of our language, how important every word choice can be because -to a large degree- the words we use in here to ourselves and out there to the wider world determine who we are and the results we get. One of the most dangerous and harmful words we commonly use is “but” Yeah, really. Once you try out this shift I’m suggesting, you’ll see a big difference. Think about this. When you say to someone, “I’d love to come to your event “but I have another engagement.”, that word but has just negated and devalued what came before. What they’re really hearing is, “I’d love to come to your event. … “Well, no, actually, I have something more important to do.” Is that the message you want to send? Or an even more common example, someone brings you an idea and you say but what about this problem, but what about that change? The but devalues what they just said. How eager is that person going to be to bring you the next idea when they know you’re just going to butt in and mess with it? Luckily, it’s very easy to get out of this habit. Just replace the short word “but” with the short word “and” “And” is additive. It increases. It puts more into the mix. See how different this sounds. “I’d love to come to your event… “and I have something else I have to do.” I haven’t reduced how much I’d love to come to the event. I’ve just _added_ to it an explanation of why I won’t be there. I’ve heard your idea _and_ we need to consider this _and_ we might also do that. I’m taking what they’ve given me and putting additional things on it. We’re growing instead of pushing things down. So please, stop butting into other people’s ideas. Stop putting your “but” where your intentions belong. Use “and” I hope you enjoy this video, that you apply it and you share it.