20 Why PowerPhrases?
Imagine the song sounding like this:It seems like you sort of light up my life.No thank you! So—hello—why do you say these things in your
conversations?
My assistant is a brilliant young woman who has excellent
ideas. My assistant doesn’t sound like she believes in her ideas.
She’ll say,
You may not like this idea, but...or
This may not work, but...If she doesn’t believe in her idea, why should I? If you don’t
believe in your idea, why should anyone else?
I was standing next to a woman at a restaurant who also dis-
counted her message with poison qualifiers. She placed her order
like this:
I was just wondering, could I have a pepperoni pizza? And
maybe a coke? I think I’d like fries too, okay?I am not kidding, I am not exaggerating. I am not making this
up! This elegantly dressed woman was asking permission to
place her order! I was tempted to ask if she gives performance
reviews or requests supplies the same way. Do you do that? If
you do, get over it! Qualifiers dilute your message and weaken
your statements and requests.