As a coach, I am consistently privileged to be speaking and working with business owners, executives, organizations, and teams. Most importantly, in all these conversations I am very cognizant of the language being used with whom I am speaking with. The words being used in any conversation can either be empowering or disempowering to ourselves and those around us.
Zig Ziglar once said that “the most important conversation is the conversation you have with yourself.” With that, while listening to many conversations I hear language that really doesn’t serve the person speaking. Understand that our words dictate our thoughts, which dictate our actions, which dictates our results. With this understanding, you can see how important the words we use actually are.
The two most important words in the human language are I am, however, only if used correctly. Everything that is said after the words I am creates your destiny or who you are. Your I am language can either be empowering words that move your forward and lift you up or words that disempower you and stunts your growth. “I am a great leader of my team” are empowering words that serve both the person saying them and his or her team. “I am always late” are disempowering words that do not serve anyone.
Think of the word try. Try is an escape word. Remember that your subconscious mind is always listening and if you tell it to try, it will do just that and not focus on executing.
I hope you now possess a better understanding of how important the words we use really are. Let’s go out there today and use only language that will empower us and all those that around us.