I was listening to Clubhouse recently when someone shared a brilliant idea.
For the last 10 years he’s told his kids that he, ‘Gets to go to work’…
Rather than ‘Daddy has to go to work’.
The change is subtle, the difference in meaning huge.
He explained,
‘If you say you have to go, kids learn quickly from their parents. They’ll soon have to go to school, they’ll have to tidy their room, etc. I want my kids to enjoy everything they do.’
This made me think about language.
And I think about language a lot.
Why not make some small changes, such as:
- ‘I have to clean the house’, to ‘I’m giving the house a freshen up’?
- ‘I have to cook dinner’, could be ‘Time to create a meal’.
- ‘I need to finish this’, flipped to ‘I’m excited to finish this’.
Small changes in words make a big difference to feelings.
In the UK we’re in ‘Lockdown’.
I know the government can’t really alter the linguistics, but we can.
I’m thinking,
‘Only a few more weeks of cocooning to go :) where I get to stay at home!’
Do you have a favourite change of language?
A copy of my book Flip It https://amzn.to/3kIpMI1 is up for grabs for our favourite.
Please post yours below.
Be Brilliant!
Michael
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