Ice Chip #21

Welcome to your weekly Remember the Ice Chip.

Checking the pulse. 

For several years now I have been a fan of one of the most epic sporting events held in the month of July.  The chase for the “Maillot Jaune” – the famous Yellow Jersey of Le Tour de France.  By the way, I want to wish a Happy Bastille Day to my friends in France. 

The cyclists demonstrate an attention to detail as they traverse the 2000 plus miles of French countryside, with an occasional trip into neighboring countries.  The flatlands lead to magnificent mountain peaks and back to the Champs Elysees for a fantastic finish.  The combination of persistence and stamina required for this annual event is said to be similar to running a marathon a day for three weeks. 

They keep track of their progress in several ways.  One of them is to keep “checking their pulse.” 

As a reader of the Ice Chips, you have begun to investigate your own tour of empowering word choice.  I would like to suggest you check your articulation pulse as you share your written and spoken messages.  Just like the cyclists have their daily rituals of training, you have ones of identifying the (k)notty words and coming up with empowering alternatives. 

A local client in Anchorage has asked me to create a “flash card” of empowering words that they can use regularly following an upcoming seminar for their staff.  The main focus is simply to eradicate the “(k)nots” and replace them with empowering words. 

In Remember the Ice, we identify the main culprits as: 

Not and the Hit List Six. 

Not

Don’t

Can’t

Won’t

Wouldn’t

Couldn’t

Shouldn’t 

For your new ritual of using empowering word choice, I would like to suggest the following:  Re-Framing Five - 

Do

Can

Will

Would

Could 

Just remove the (k)notty words altogether, and substitute the Re-Framing Five when appropriate. 

Notice I have eliminated the words “should and shouldn’t”.  Neither offers much value in terms of being empowering.  (For more comments on this, I refer you to Chapter 3 of Remember the Ice and Other Paradigm Shifts) 

So, here we are with a simple act of checking your articulation pulse.  As you compose your message internally, stop.  Do you have any (k)notty words?  Re-Frame them.  Use one of the Re-Framing Five. Simply restate your message from an empowering point of view and experience the enhanced results. 

Have a phenomenal week, and share your new insights with me, 

Best regards, 

Bob

July 14, 2009 | Filed Under Ice Chips, RTI 

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