Ice Chip #160
Last week's Ice Chip focused on a bit of personal history regarding my passion for Re-Framing messages and the fun I have with the process.
Two years ago, the content of Ice Chip #59 and Ice Chip #60 focused on looking at the wording of the Ten Commandments. Please click here for those two commentaries. (They are at the bottom of the page, starts with #62, then #61....)
Discussing this issue did result in feedback from several people around the world. I appreciated the conversations then—and hope this Ice Chip will spur some conversation now.
Easter morning Nancy and I were heading to a breakfast meeting about 40 miles away. It was a glorious morning. The Cascade mountains, still snow capped, glistened in the morning sun. We enjoyed the view commenting how much it reminded us of the Glenn Highway between Eagle River and Wasilla, Alaska.
As we were chatting, I noticed an LED marquee in front of a large church on I-5. Here is what it read in bold red:
Jesus isn't here.
He has risen.
If you took a moment to read about Ice Chips 59 & 60, you saw that the focus of BETTER Word Choice is – well, just that!
BETTER Word Choice!
Regarding the message on the church marquee, I think they wanted to share:
He has risen.
Taking this discussion to another level, consider the following.
"For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst." (New Standard American Bible, 1995)
My interpretation of the above statement suggests that at that church, as is millions of others, when the believers gather in His name, He is in their midst.
How about Re-Framing the message on that LED marquee to read –
Jesus is here.....
And
He has risen.
The purpose of Remember the Ice is to summarily remove the “(K)notty Words” from the English Language, because of the chaos they impart to a message.
The goal is to simply state what you want to say.
He is here among us, AND He is risen!
Some food for thought....
Thank you for your feedback and comments.
Empowering Regards,
Bob
Ice Chip #159
This week's Ice Chip is a reflection on my own Faux Pas that turned out to be a silver lining in a moment of “(K)notty Word”-dom.
Imagine being the creator of a magnificent concept. One where people were amazed at your ability to talk about it, share examples and they wondered if you were perfect at this skill of being some kind of “word choice” machine.
As the creator of Remember the Ice, I have had the pleasure of creating what I believe is a magnificent concept; and have had some comments wondering if I had reached that perceived “Nirvana” of eradicating “(K)notty Words” forever more.
Allow me to set the record straight with the help of my good friends Mark Taylor and Elaine Betts.
The three of us were part of the pre-conference meeting of speakers for the Get-Connected 2011 held at The Woodlands Resort just north of Houston, February 4-6. It was going to be a great conference on networking, effective communication, sales, marketing & branding, and other pertinent areas to assist in growing your business. Each presenter had the opportunity to share who would be a good referral for them and the connections they were looking to make.
Rick Itzkowich, co-founder of Productive Learning & Leisure and creator of QuoteActions, was speaking about his LinkedIn program that weekend.
I knew how great his QuoteActions program is, being a sender, and wondered if he considered combining it with his new LinkedIn concept. He asked for comments so I raised my hand, stood up, and asked:
“Rick, why don't you combine your QuoteActions with this exciting new program you will be sharing.”
As I continued my comment, “I have had great success being a sender of QuoteActions and think it would definitely tie in well with your new idea.”
As I stood there waiting for Rick's response, I noticed Mark and Elaine sitting to my left—looking at each other and then at me with a “did you hear what I just heard?” look of surprise on their faces.
The meeting lasted a few minutes and we prepared to get the conference started in the next 45 minutes.
Mark and Elaine came up to me and in stereo shared; Bob, are you aware what you said? I looked at them quizzically and said, “No, what did I say?”
Mark shared,“You, the master of articulation, actually uttered a “(K)notty Word” in public, outside of an example of poor word choice. I saw a crack in my perceived armor that I had you wearing. I wondered if you would ever slip. Now that I have seen it, I can relax a bit, and know that—yes! He is human. AND there is hope for me to become more effective at demonstrating my Remember the Ice skills. I can be a good practitioner and know that even the master has an occasional slip.”
“Wow, Really?” I said, “I totally missed it.”
Elaine nodded her head in concurrence, smiled, and said, “Actually it is refreshing to know that even you slip on this “(K)notty Word” elimination campaign of yours.”
I thought this personal reflection would be fun to share—especially for Mark and Elaine. For you see, this past week while on a phone call, I did it again. Used the word “NOT” in a conversation. It just popped out there as part of the conversation. Yikes!! (It really is okay..... just acknowledge it and move on to the next opportunity of BETTER Word Choice.)
Having these occasional faux pas experiences remind me that I am constantly learning how to develop my process of Re-Framing messages. AND I realize both you and I will have slip ups. The key is raising our awareness, recognizing the “(K)notty Word” and deciding how we can re-phrase our message.
For me it has been almost 21 years of attaining my moment to moment goal of eliminating those pesky 28 words. (Click this here for the full list.) During that time, the fundamental mantras of
- What do I want to do?
- What do I want to attract?
- How can I re-frame that without a “(K)notty Word”
dominated my landscape of lexicography with respect to paradigm shifts and empowering word choice; and continue to do so, to this day.
Basically, I have a passion for BETTER Word Choice – and hope you do too!
Empowering Regards,
Bob
Ice Chip #158
Faux pas in word choice.....
We're Not Fooling Around -- Check Out Our 3 Day Sale!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don't Forget to Register Your Account Online
Dear Valued Customer,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don't be an April Fool! Shop Now!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don't miss big brands battle for the best fares from $90 RT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don't miss out on 18 months special financing
Lowe's Credit Services creditservices@email.gemoney.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not means “naught”. Nothing. So when you say it,
it is as if it is....
ah.......,
well......
MISSING!!
SEE WHAT I MEAN?
So it looks like:
- Office Depot is Fooling around
- AT&T wants you to forget to register your account
- Be a fool with Omaha Steaks
- Miss the big brands battle on Cheapflights.com
- Miss out on 18 months of low financing at Lowe's.
faux pas means: A blunder (especially used in social contexts); a misstep.
When are these giant companies going to realize their language faux pas in these messages? Remember the Ice can help these companies Increase Sales with BETTER Word Choice!!
If you work at one of these companies, or know someone who does, please contact Bob for a 30 minute complimentary consultation about how to use BETTER Word Choice to improve communication, enhance customer service by creating Exceptional Care for Your Valued Client and, once again, Increase Sales with BETTER Word Choice!!
Reach him by phone or email.
907-862-1983 or bob.nicoll@remembertheice.com
Look forward to hearing from you,
Make it a BETTER Word Choice day, 900 seconds at a time!
Empowering Regards,
the Chief Paradigm Shifter
Ice Chip #157
So, which is it??
Miss the amazing prices!?!?
Or Shop this week's top picks.
Your choice.
Based on word choice and resulting behavior, more will skip and miss the top picks from this well known store. (Some of you may have already figured out whose email advertisement this is.)
Send me your guess.... and, if you are correct; I will send you the brand new Remember the Ice eWorkbook. This powerful tool will be available on Thursday March 29th at 12:01 AM Pacific Daylight Time!!
It contains the many of the tools I use to train my RTI Certified Paradigm Shifters. Most of all, it has the fundamentals necessary to understand the concept of BETTER Word Choice and how you can apply it improve your communication skills. There is a special section on applying the skills to business: The art of providing Exceptional Care for Your Valued Client
All of these great tools for only $3.97!! You will be able to order your eWorkbook on early Thursday morning Pacific Time. One minute past midnight. You will receive a special email with the link on Wednesday March 28th.
Back to the message at the top. What usually follows when a “(K)notty Word” is used? The resulting behavior is the opposite of the desired message. In this scenario the retailer would like their customers to purchase the amazing finds. Unfortunately, the message says to MISS them. In fact is gives you permission – You CAN MISS them.
I know. You wonder how can that happen? Especially when the next message is really what they want to say, and what they want you to do. What would you likely do if this was the message you saw?
I would be willing to bet you would be asking the salesperson, associate, manager, or whoever knew; where this week's top picks are located. You would find them, and probably get one of the items.
When we remove the “(K)notty Word” statements; we remove the conflicting message that comes across. We get rid of the unnecessary difficulties that are innocently inserted in our message. When we stop and think about what we want to convey: be specific and add that pinch of panache, the end result is usually a win-win!
Thank you for seeing if you know the retailer who presented the copy used in this Ice Chip. Again, if you can correctly identify them, I will send you the brand new Remember the Ice eWorkbook! It will be available for sale on the Remember the Ice website at one minute past midnight (PDT) on Thursday morning the 29th.
Have a BETTER Word Choice Week!!
Empowering Regards,
Bob
P.S. Recently, several of you who have been receiving the QuoteActions messages that are highlighted below have been having difficulty receiving them. I have been in touch with Rick Itzkowich, the creator of QuoteActions, and he shares this comment:
Bob, Unfortunately your friend is with Comstat.com and it seems that all those subscribers are no longer receiving QuoteActions from any of the senders. This has to do with Comcast servers that flag our messages and block them. My only suggestion is to have your friend create another email address i.e. a Gmail address and then forward the QuoteActions messages to his own Comcast account.
Sorry but there is nothing else we can do on our end to have them let our messages pass.
Warmest Regards, Rick
Other servers have also been blocking the messages. The best recommendation may be to set up a Gmail account as Rick suggests. Thank you for your understanding.
Ice Chip #156
The Subtlety of Language
My friend and fellow BNI Assistant Director, Paul Clegg, from the UK is a great fan of both Remember the Ice and Jim Rohn. In a recent email, he shared a link to Jim's website that spoke about the Subtlety of Language. Thank you Paul for your timely email. Great to hear from you!
There is Subtlety in Language.
How true. How true.
Words mean things.
How we position the words in our statements and questions, paying attention to their juxtaposition– (one of my favorite words!!) – is a key to how our messages are received; and ultimately acted upon.
Here is some of the from Jim Rohn, one of the greatest speakers who ever graced the stage.
I have found that sometimes the subtle difference in our attitude, which of course can make a major difference in our future, can be as simple as the language we use. The difference in even how you talk to yourself or others. Consciously making a decision to quit saying what you don't want and to start saying what you do want. I call that faith. Believing the best, hoping for the best and moving toward the best.
A few examples could be, instead of saying "What if somebody doesn't respond?" you start saying, "What if they do respond?" Instead of saying "What if someone says no?" you say "What if they say yes?" Instead of "What if they start and quit?" you say "What if they start and stay?" Or instead of "What if it doesn't work out?" you say "What if it does work out?" And the list goes on and on.
It is so simple to:
about what you want to say.
Remember the Ice is about raising your awareness.
-
Paying attention to what you want to say.
-
Speaking what you would like to have happen.
-
Focusing on Do, Can, Will, Would, Could. (Re-Framing Five)
-
What if you believed you could—right from the start?
So here is your task for the next 900 seconds.
-
Pay attention to your word choice. Eliminate the “(K)notty Words”
-
Speak what you would like to have happen.
-
Focus on using the Re-Framing Five
-
And believe you can start – now!
-
Then repeat the process for another 900 seconds.
The 900 seconds is only 15 minutes and is quite doable.
Share your Re-Framing experience in an email and it may get posted. Raise your awareness about your word choice. Stop and Think about what you want to say—and Remember the Subtlety of Language.
Thank you Jim Rohn for your wisdom thank you again Paul for sending his comments along.
Have a BETTER Word Choice day! – 900 seconds at a time.
Empowering Regards,
Bob