Watch your language

Do you want to know the surest way to get what you want in business? Then watch your language …

Let me explain

What is the difference between these two wishes to a genie in a bottle?

I want to have a quality life…

I want to play one hour of tennis with my daughter each Friday morning, before we sit down together for breakfast at our favourite cafe and chat about our week and weekend…

The difference is that the genie will easily be able to grant you your second wish, each Friday! But he will be scratching his head about the first. Quality life? What is it that you actually want?

Remember you cannot hit a target that is just a ‘concept’, like ‘quality’.

Think vapour, liquid, ice.

‘Quality’, like vapour, cannot actually be held in your hands, and it can have absolutely any shape or size because it has no inherent shape or size.

And ‘seeing my daughter every week’ is liquid, like water, you can actually hold a bit of it in your hands before it slips away.

But ‘playing one hour of tennis before breakfast each Friday’ is like ice. You can hold it, feel it and know exactly its shape and size.

The very same thing can happen when you think about your business:

I want to grow my business (vapour)…

I want to increase sales from $2.4 million to $3.3 million by July 2014 (ice)…

And how about:

One day I want to take a break from my business and go away on a long holiday (vapour – when is this ‘one day’?)…

Before Christmas I want my business to be structured so that it does not rely on me being there everyday and for everything. I will book a Christmas skiing holiday to Europe and I will keep an eye on the business operation from there (ice)…

Watch your language (pun intended) and beware of the power of words!