The Most Powerful Drug: Legal and Potent
“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind” – Rudyard Kipling
Jason, a colleague of mine who had just come back from a trip mentioned to me that he had met a really smart man in our Denver office. My curiousity was piqued and I asked : “What was smart about the guy?”.
Jason thought for a moment and then answered : “He never used the same word twice and his choice of words was simple but not commonplace.”
This was so illuminating for me. Usually ‘smartness’ is associated with good looks, good clothes, skills and other things…but here Jason was unknowingly giving me one of the most overlooked truths of our life – “Its your choice of words which makes you appear smart”.
Words matter and people are influenced by what words you choose to use!
My Collection Of Power Words Which Always Spark Interest
Overall Powerful Words: Discovery, Guarantee, Love, Proven, Results, Save, Easy, Health, Money, New, Safety, You
Killer Keywords
(Fire Up Your Resume)
- Leadership, Influence
- Business Model Innovation
- Cost Reduction, Automation, Out-Sourcing
- Team-building, Collaboration
- Performance and Productivity Improvement
- Organizational Design
- Infrastructure Development
- New Media
- E-commerce, Web 2.0, Internet
- Social Media, Crowdsourcing
- Cloud – Private & Public, SAAS
- Information Management Strategy
- Change management
- Competitive Market
- Product Positioning
- Investor and Board Relations
- MBA, PMI, Project management, ITIL
- Customer Retention
- Business Development
- Corporate vision
- Strategic Planning, Roadmap
- Risk Management, Compliance
Strong! Action!
Energy! Results!
- Authored
- Accomplished
- Collaborated
- Captured
- Constructed
- Created
- Consolidated
- Critiqued
- Designed
- Developed
- Diversified
- Doubled
- Drafted
- Exceeded
- Established
- Formulated
- Generated
- Implemented
- Improved
- Influenced
- Integrated
- Launched
- Leveraged
- Masterminded
- Mentored
- Negotiated
- Orchestrated
- Optimized
- Pioneered
- Presented
- Produced
- Re-engineered
- Spearheaded
- streamlined
- Supervised
- Structured
- Rejuvenated
- Tracked
- Wrote
- Won
Words Which Attack
The Subconscious
Use these words with caution! These are words identified by advertising agencies (after years of expensive research) as the most lethal words which have the greatest impact and evoke strongest emotions.
- Suddenly
- Now
- Quick
- Challenge
- Darling
- Compare
- Important development
- Safety
- Need
- Results
- Wanted
Words Which Burn Bridges – “You Should” & “You Have To”
The words you choose can make a big difference in the way you connect with people in everyday life. The words you choose can keep communication flowing easily. And, just easily can the wrong words create disharmony.
Summary
• Do not use words which make people feel that you are commanding them.
• Instead of a direct command – use questions to guide people.
• Review this article for examples of different kinds of conversations.
Do you use the words ‘you should’ or ‘you have to’ ?
Imagine someone telling you, “You should do that.” Your reaction might be, “DON’T tell me what to do!”
“Should” and “have to” have a feeling of judgement or authority and evoke a negative reaction. They burn bridges between two people.
To convert these bridge burning words to bridge builders – rephrase your sentences as, “you may want to”, or “Would you like to try it this way”, or “When is your ETA for this?”
It’s words like these which keep the channels of communication open and flowing in a positive direction.
Remember, a quick way to improve your communication is to purge “should” and “have to” from your vocabulary.
Start building bridges today – start using gentle words like -“would you like to”, “you may want to”, “consider doing it this way”, “when do you expect to complete this”.
Based on a a mail sent by Mary Sebastian, Houston, TX
