In Northern Canada there are two seasons, winter and July. When the back roads thaw in July they got muddy. Trucks traveling on the back roads leave deep burrows that become frozen when winter returns. As you enter the backwoods you are greeted by a sign that says, “Driver, please choose carefully which burrow you drive, because you will be in it for the next twenty miles.”
Mark Twain gives us the following advice. “The secret to good conversation is to leave out the wrong words.”
The same can be said of your own conversations. Choose your words carefully; You may have to live with catastrophic consequences for the next twenty years. I have seen many friendships, and business opportunities sabotaged because someone pulled the trigger before they had judged the consequences. Words, once spoken, can never be recalled.
So what I call a quick-draw, “shooting from the lips” words or comments is a chance killer. Even though some try to fluff them off as simply “misspeak” they are still an irreversible disaster in the making. “Of course if your language tools are limited and your verbal choices are in short supply, you’re just shooting blank. Your verbal options may need to be expanded. Studying and crafting your message with new, powerful, and influential words and phrases is a must in the world. “You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression”.
WHY DO SMART PEOPLE SAY STUPID THINGS?
It’s all about habit.
Somewhere in our past we heard our habitual pop-off comments and thought they were clever. We adopt them into our speech patterns. But what you think is smart may sound mean or clever-aleck to someone else. Such a favorite expression that is so carelessly thrown away can live to haunt you for life.
SO WHAT IS THE SOLUTION? As Mark Twain said, “The secret to good conversation is leaving the wrong words behind.”
So the solution is simple, throw away the old one and replace it with a verbal enhancement. Find new alternative ways of expressing yourself. Make your conversations so intense that other people want to be with you and give you your way. You will be surprised what you can get when you ask for it the right way. Better words always make things better.
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