(k)notty words reframed to empower

I am totally indebted to my good friend Bob Nicoll, author of the excellent book "Remember The Ice" for this Paradigm Shift. I urge you to get a copy of his book, as it has for many others, it will change your life and success!

A true story... "Don't run into the road!" the exasperated mother screeched. Her 7 year old turned his head at his screaming mother as he ran down the pavement alongside a busy street. As he turned his head his feet changed direction and he veered straight into the stream of rush hour traffic. The driver of the SUV slammed the brakes, the taxi following crunched into the SUVs rear. Broken glass, the terrible sound of twisting metal and a woman's piercing scream filled the air. The boy, glanced behind and steered himself back to the pavement.

Don't think of buying Bob's book.

What are you thinking?

Buying Bob's book!

And please, don't think of the colour orange.

... was that a bright orange you thought of or a muted one?

So you want to tell someone to not do this. (e.g. Don't run. No talking. No smoking. Don't forget to reserve your table.)

Bob's advice with this is to follow Steven Covey's advice in the 7 Habits...

"Start with the end in mind"

What do you want them to do?

Now say that.

One of my personal changes that had a remarkable effect on my prospective clients contacting me back. I used to end my emails, "don't hesitate to contact me..." A common enough phrase you've seen many times. What have I (inadvertently) made them think?

Yes, that's right... "hesitate to contact me". The complete opposite of my intention.

Many ways you can re-phrase this, I most often use two:

Contact me when...

Remember to contact me...

And whatever you do, don't think about signing up for our  leadership development now.