"But" and "and"

By On

The story we tell ourselves makes a difference. The words we use make a difference.

Here are two statements:

  1. "I had to reach the office early, but I'm stuck in traffic."

  2. "I had to reach the office early, and I'm stuck in traffic."

Very similar statements, and yet so different.

The first statement uses "but", and it ends up paralysing us. We had to do something, but now we can't. That's it. There is a connotation of helplessness and bitterness in this statement.

The second statement uses "and", and it ends up empowering us. That statement feels incomplete because it raises a question at the end, i.e., "What now?" There is a connotation of opportunity.

The words we use to tell our story make a difference. It influences and determines our worldview.

Mindfulness of speech becomes so important.

(Originally written on 26 Apr 2022)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How I got my running habit to stick? (Productivity hack included)

By On
Image
I am a regular runner, and running is a major anchor in my life. I run every day, and I try to do it in the mornings, but I get it done in the evening if that’s not possible. I don’t miss my runs without a proper reason. But this wasn’t always the case.  I had started running in 2017, but I just couldn’t get myself to stay consistent. Last year, I started using an application called Nike Run Club, and its guided runs shifted my perspective—not just about running, but about performance in anything we do in life. So, “What was that shift?” you might ask. Well, let me present this idea to you. There are two terms that are really important to understand here, and even though we know them, we have different ways of looking at them. The two terms are efficiency and sustainability.   Let’s look at their definitions once. Efficiency is defined as “the quality of doing something well with no waste of time or money,” and sustainability is defined as “the ability to continue or be contin...
Read more

How does a more aware consumer affect the marketing approach?

By On
Look at any product around you right now and ask yourself a question: “Why do I have it?” You’d either have an answer or you wouldn’t, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that you have it, and you bought it because you thought you needed it. Now, whether that need is valid or not is a different thing and depends on the individual. But the fact that some brand was able to make you realise that need or induce that in you is a success in marketing. We live in a world where all our necessities are met, and for the first time in the history of any species, we’re probably the ones who face a problem because there is an excess of food to eat and things to have.  We know that we probably don’t need most of the things we possess, and that’s why minimalism is picking up so much because we’ve become smarter at telling the difference between essential needs and acquired needs. So the question I want to ask is, What does it mean for marketers? I believe this brings forth challenges to mark...
Read more

Marketing gets a bad rep and it's not okay!

By On
I was recently having a conversation with someone who is a really skilled doctor and has been in the industry for quite some time. He doesn't have any online presence for his practice because he is one of those people who is very cynical about persuasion and influence. Consequently, he considers marketing an unethical practice. He had his own reasons and rightly so. Our conversation ranged from the importance of online presence to competency versus marketing. This didn't make much sense to me because I see them as the same thing. But then I thought about it. It's a fact that there are still so many SMEs and local businesses out there who have these negative perceptions of marketing that it's not ethical, not effective, an unnecessary expense and so much more. And there are reasons for that. Not just one, but I believe there are many factors that come into play here. Now, some people are cynical, and that's their personality. No matter how much we try, we can't h...
Read more