7 Phrases We Should Eliminate

We’ve all been there.

We think we have a revolutionary new idea, a brilliant game plan, a strategy that will take our team to the next level. Except there doesn’t seem to be much buy in from those we lead — and we can’t figure out why.

In his book “The Soulful Art of Persuasion,” author Jason Harris argues that our ability to persuade has little to do with the message or idea itself and everything to do with our conviction and our character.

“The quality of being authentically yourself is at the heart of all persuasion,” Harris writes.

He argues that our message is often weakened by some words and phrases that we should eliminate:

“Maybe”

“Probably”

“Sort of”

“I think”

“I could be wrong”

“I feel like”

“This might be a stupid idea, but…”

We don’t need to put disclaimers at the beginning of every sentence that bring additional scrutiny to our message and make our teams feel as though we don’t even believe what we’re saying.

The most brilliant idea without conviction behind it will easily fall on deaf ears.

Let’s commit to eliminating, or at the very least reducing, our use of these seven phrases and see if we can have more success in our persuasion pursuits.