There is power in the tongue, many would tell you. But a Stanford professor has gone on to prove that language shapes the way you approach your goals, which can in turn make you achieve those goals.
According to Bernard Roth, a professor of engineering at Stanford and the academic director of Stanford’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, the way you speak not only affects how others perceive you; it also has the potential to shape your behaviour.
He revealed that swapping one word for another could make all the difference in how you approach your goals.
Below are two of the examples he gave in his new book — The Achievement Habit.
1. Swap ‘but’ for ‘and’
We all tend to use but rather than and — it’s common for everybody, but Roth suggests to use the word ‘and’ if you want to achieve your goals.
You might be tempted to say, “I want to go to the movies, but I have work to do.”
Instead, Roth suggests saying, “I want to go to the movies, and I have work to do.”
According to Roth, “When you use the word but, you create a conflict (and sometimes a reason) for yourself that does not really exist,”
Meanwhile, when you use the word and, “your brain gets to consider how it can deal with both parts of the sentence” Roth writes.
2. Swap ‘have to’ for ‘want to’
Roth believes that using the words ‘want to’ would help you pursue your goal better than using the words ‘have to’. He recommends that people should try the simple exercise of using the words ‘want to’ rather than ‘have to’.
According to Roth, “This exercise is very effective in getting people to realize that what they do in their lives — even the things they find unpleasant — are in fact what they have chosen,”
For example, one of Roth’s students felt he had to take the math courses required for his graduate program, even though he hated them. At some point after completing the exercise, he realised that he really did want to take the classes because the benefit of completing the requirement outweighed the discomfort of sitting through classes he didn’t enjoy.
Both of these tweaks are based on a key component of a problem-solving strategy called “design thinking.” When you employ this strategy, you try to challenge your automatic thinking and see things as they really are.
So, who would take off the ‘buts’ and ‘have to’ from your vocabulary?
Phil