Film Producer Mike Todd, who was a talent in his own right, but is most often associated with his marriage to Elizabeth Taylor, is quoted as having said:."I've never been poor, but I have been broke.".This line can be used to demonstrate the power of psychological punctuation, of emphasis. If you punctuate an event in your life with a mere comma, a pause, ever so slight, then it must not have been as significant to you, not as dramatic as if you used a period or an exclamation point.A slight change of terms here and there can mean a lot.
To be poor, well, that warrants at least a period, if not an exclamation point, but to be broke, that's just a blip on the radar, a mere bump on the road, so it rates a comma.There are lots of word pairs that we can examine that tell a similar story.For example, imagine hearing someone say, "I'm feeling a lot of pressure!" This has a negative cast to it, am I right?.
But what if the same person said, "I'm really being challenged!" what then? Challenge is good, it makes us stretch, but pressure is bad, it makes us collapse, yes?.Or, are we really speaking about the same thing?.Given a choice, particularly if you want to maintain a positive mental attitude, what would be a better way of explaining your experience? Are you in a high-pressure job, or are you in a very challenging position?.To a large extent, it's up to you to choose how you're going to punctuate your experience; you're the grammarian of your own emotions.Did the boss or your family member provide feedback, or criticize you?.Are you experiencing a mere setback or an earthshaking failure?.
The next time you're in a funk listen to how you're defining your circumstances.Then ask, does it rate an exclamation point, a period, a comma, or nothing at all?.
.Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of http://www.
Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone®, You Can Sell Anything By Telephone! and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, "The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable," published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D.
from USC's Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.
By: Dr. Gary S. Goodman
