Today I want to talk about the use of the word because. This is something I learned a long time ago that really opened my eyes. In fact, l would say I learned it almost 15 years ago and really recognized it not only in my own speech patterns and habits but also in those of my clients. Whether they were early on in my career as just a personal trainer, fitness professional, or moving on to what I’m doing now.
So the use of the modifier, the word “because”, think about how it’s typically used.
“I didn’t workout this morning because I stayed up late.”
Now, what I’m going to suggest is you take that word “because” and replace it with the word “and”.
“I didn’t workout this morning and I stayed up late last night.”
They’re two separate clauses, they’re not really related, they’re one and another. These are two separate facts. This is often used in the area of health, business, even relationships.
“I didn’t do the dishes last night because I was busy taking care of our child.” Okay great, now although this might seem true, really you didn’t take care of the dishes and you were busy taking care of your child or “I didn’t finish the project for my boss because Darcy had me working on a project with her.” Alright, again take out “because” replace it with “and”. “I didn’t finish my project for my boss and I was helping Darcy work on a project of hers.”
You’re going to find that when you use the word because and you replace it with and, it totally takes out the emotion, it gives you a different viewpoint on the situation. It also helps eliminate excuses. So what I want you to do today is really pay attention to what other people are saying. What words are they choosing to use in their explanation? And in your own vocabulary.
Every time that you feel like you want to use the word “because”, I want you to go ahead and replace that with and. If you want to take it a step further, go to your journal right now, hopefully, you’re reviewing your journal on a regular basis. I know it’s tough sometimes or at least it seems tough. When you go back, look and see in your journal if you’re using the word “because”. Now, if you are, I want you to go ahead and take that sentence where you wrote because and either write on another piece of paper or just do it in your head replace it with “and”, and read the whole paragraph.
Oftentimes, what you’ll notice is that in your writing what you’re doing is you’re recording a thought, you’re recording a feeling and you use the word “because” to blame or to apply an excuse to a situation.
I highly encourage you to try this out for yourself, I’d love to hear your comments below. If you’re watching this on Youtube put them down there. If not, please go over to our Facebook community and let’s have a dialogue.
Also, of course, go to authorofyourownstory.com where you can get more tips like this, tricks and insights from other experts as well as deeper dives and our 7-day Course on How to Become The Author Of Your Own Story. That’s it for me today have a great day and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.
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