Jeff
Keller

Your Words Blaze A Trail

It may be true that a picture is worth 1,000 words, but you still deliver most of your message to customers through your words. For all of us in sales, the careful selection of our words can be the most powerful factor influencing the customer's feelings about us -- and ultimately his or her decision. That's why it is important to understand how Your Words Blaze A Trail.

When was the last time you seriously thought about the words you use each day? How carefully do you select them? Do you consciously choose terms or phrases that serve you well?

Why all this fuss about words? The answer is simple. Your words have incredible power. They can build a bright future, destroy opportunity or help maintain the status quo. Your words reinforce your beliefs, and your beliefs create your reality. Fortunately, you can control what you say. You have the ability to build a positive belief system and to produce the results you want.

In his excellent book, Awaken the Giant Within, Anthony Robbins devotes an entire chapter to explaining the way our vocabulary affects our emotions, our beliefs and our effectiveness in life. In one section, he examines how certain words impact our emotional intensity. For instance, let's say that someone has lied to you. You could react by saying that you're angry or upset. However, if you used the words furious, livid or enraged, your physiology and your subsequent behavior would be dramatically altered.

On the other hand, what if you characterized the situation as annoying or said that you were peeved? This lowers your emotional intensity considerably. Saying that you are peeved, explains Robbins, will probably make you laugh and break the negative emotional cycle completely.

Robbins gives other examples of how you can lower the intensity of negative emotions. For instance, imagine replacing the phrase "I've been destroyed," with "I've been set back." Or try using the phrase "I prefer," instead of saying, "I hate." Of course, you can also intentionally select words to heighten positive emotions. Instead of saying, "I'm determined," you could say, "I'm unstoppable." Or in place of declaring, "I feel OK," try saying, "I feel phenomenal," or "I feel just tremendous."

Juicy, exciting words and phrases lift your spirits to a higher level and profoundly influence those around you. When you consciously decide to use such phrases, you are actually choosing to change the path on which you've been traveling. Others will respond to you differently, and you will alter your perception of yourself as well.

Now, let's take a closer look at the phrases you've been using in various areas of your life.

Relationships

Do the following phrases sound familiar? "All the good men (or women) are taken," or "People are always taking advantage of me." If so, you are literally programming yourself for unhappy relationships. Your mind hears every word you speak, and it sets out to prove you right. If you use phrases like those above, your mind will see to it that you only attract people that will disappoint you or take advantage of you. Is this what you want? If not, stop repeating (and causing your mind to focus on) such negative statements.

Finances

What words do you use on a regular basis to describe your current financial situation and your prospects for the future? Phrases such as "I'm always in debt," "The economy is lousy," or "No one is buying," are working against you. It is far better to choose language that reaffirms prosperity and better economic times. Of course, you won't necessarily have abundant wealth within a few days after changing the way you speak. But the physical conditions can change only after you change your beliefs. Clearing up your language is an important first step.

After all, the people with wealth in this world didn't get that way by moaning about being poor. And the people who always talk about a lack of money generally don't accumulate much of it.

Career

If I were to ask you about your career prospects over the next five to ten years, how would you respond? Be honest. Would you say that things will probably remain the same as they are now? Or would you describe a higher position with more challenges, more responsibilities and increased financial rewards? If you would respond, "I don't know where I'm going in my career," the chances are that not much will change. Your language reflects your lack of vision and direction. On the other hand, if you have a clear goal that you often articulate, even if only to yourself, you stand an excellent chance of reaching that goal.

Health

The power of words to affect our health is unquestionable. For example, imagine that a group of us sat down to what seemed to be a perfectly wholesome and delicious meal. Two hours later, I called and told you that every person who ate with us had been rushed to the hospital and treated for food poisoning. Suppose you felt perfectly fine before I called. How would you react after hearing my information?

You would probably clutch your stomach, become pale and feel very ill. Why? Because my words instilled a belief in you that your body started acting on. This same bodily reaction would have occurred even if I was playing a cruel joke and was lying about the whole situation. Simply stated, your body responds to words that it hears you and other people say. That's why it makes absolutely no sense to keep repeating, "I have chronic back pain that will never go away," or "I get three or four bad colds every year." By uttering these statements, you actually instruct your body to manifest pain and disease.

I'm not suggesting that you deny pain or disease or that you can overcome any illness. But there is certainly nothing to be gained (and much harm that can result) from using language that reinforces suffering and illness.

Have you thought about the words you use in these areas of your life? When we repeat words long enough, it's as if a groove is formed in our brain. Like a record, the needle just falls into place and plays the same tune again and again. The trouble is that every time you say these words you deepen the groove and create familiar pictures in your mind. You strengthen the same old beliefs and get the same old results.

Just because you've said things in the past, there is no reason to blindly continue. While it takes some discipline and vigilance on your part to make changes in your language, it's well worth the effort. From now on, consciously choose words that will point you in the direction of your goals. Get a friend or coach to remind you when you slip.

Remember, it's up to you to speak in a way that will move you toward what you want in life. Therefore, use words that are consistent with the path you truly wish to be on, take action, and watch yourself begin to travel in that wonderful direction.

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