Successful and intelligent people know well that words and phrases have extraordinary power. Even if they are authentic, many phrases have a negative connotation and can portray an unpleasant image of the speaker. Successful people know what expressions they should not use so that they can always have a solid and positive presence in their work and life environment.
We will examine eleven sentences and phrases that can negatively affect the people around you. Expressions that we should never use, even if they are right. But it is not only because of the negative effect of these phrases that we should refrain from saying them. The terrible thing is the longevity of the effect of these sentences. An impact that may never go away and prevent your career success.
It doesn’t matter how talented you are or how many great things you have on your resume. These phrases can easily make you lose sight of the people who work or live around you and cause team members to view you and your performance negatively. These expressions will have positive consequences and quickly weaken the person’s performance and work personality.
Pay attention and see which of these sentences destroy the working personality in your work environment or have probably used them in the last few months. You can get rid of these phrases with a simple exercise and memorization. An upbeat work personality is essential for your career success, which can easily be jeopardized using the following wrong words.
It’s not fair
We all know that life is an unfair concept. Saying this phrase shows that you are a person who believes in the fairness of life, and the unfairness of a particular point has offended you. This mistake is enough to make people around you look at you as immature and naive.
If you don’t want to show a bad image of yourself to those around you, you should look at the facts positively and constructively and not draw disappointing interpretations from those facts.
For example, when you have not reached your desired job position, you can ask your supervisor the reason in the correct way:
“I noticed that you assigned project X to my colleague. Can you explain to me the reason for this choice? I would like to know why you think I am not a good fit for this project so that I can acquire the necessary skills for the correct positions.”
It is always done this way
Changes and advancements in technology are happening at an incredible speed. The exponential acceleration of technological movement forces us to update our skills and abilities constantly. It may be unbelievable, but the method of solving a problem accepted by everyone until just six months ago may be considered an outdated method today.
Saying, “It’s always been done this way,” can make you look lazy and resistant to change instead of a successful person. Your manager may also worry about having a team member who needs to update their knowledge and individual skills.
There is always a better way to do something. Always try to be one step ahead of your team members by finding new ways to solve problems instead of relying on your previous knowledge and skills. Remember that creative people are more successful than people who only rely on their circle of acquaintances.
There is no problem
When a manager or a team member makes a request or thanks you for something you’ve done, under no circumstances respond by saying, “No problem.” This answer means exactly that request or assignment could have been a problem!
Saying “no problem” can make your manager or co-worker feel like they’re imposing on you. Instead of saying such a sentence, show people around you that you are successful and enjoy doing things related to your job.
By saying things like, “It makes me happy” or “It would be great if I could do something,” you show that you are eager to perform your job duties.
You may say that all these phrases have the same meaning and only look different in terms of the form of the sentence, but don’t doubt that the negative or positive impact of these phrases on the people around you is beyond imagination.
My opinion may be stupid… / Can I ask a silly question?
These phrases are extremely passive sentences that many of us use when it comes to speaking and expressing our opinions. Words that, instead of having a positive effect on team members, have a very damaging impact on our work reputation.
Even if you put the most golden idea of the century in front of your manager and team members after saying, “I know my opinion is stupid…” In their opinion, this golden idea did not come from the mind of a successful person but came from the mind of a person without self-confidence, and It has no value.
Please don’t become your own harshest and most unfair critic. No one will take you seriously without the confidence to express your ideas and opinions. Remember, you can be your character killer.
It only takes a minute
Whatever your job is, you are considered an expert in your field. Undoubtedly, you have worked hard to be successful and get the current position and have spent a long time acquiring the necessary knowledge and experience to be in it. Saying “it only takes a minute” in response to assignments will make your manager and co-workers question your abilities.
No one can trust a person in a hurry to complete assigned job duties. On the other hand, by saying this sentence, you create an expectation in your teammate or manager, which makes them ask you for the results in a much shorter time than the actual time.
Even if you can do the task in less than 60 seconds, it’s better to say, “It won’t take long” in response to that request. With this answer, no one will expect your result before the actual time.
I will try
Think about this sentence for a few moments. Hearing it from a colleague can only mean one thing: I don’t have the confidence, knowledge, or experience to pull off this request!
You undoubtedly can avoid exhausting efforts to do things related to your job. If you are asked to do something, there are two logical and acceptable ways: either you accept it with total commitment or look for an alternative solution to the problem.
Remember that saying “I will try” conveys precisely the photo’s meaning to your audience that you will not do your best to complete the assigned task. From the point of view of the members of a work team, such a person is not considered a reliable colleague at all.
The Person is a lazy teammate / the person is an incompetent colleague
Do not doubt that discrediting a colleague will not bring you any progress.
If your negative description of a team member is accurate, be sure the rest of the team knows about it; besides that, there is no need to say it.
You only discredit yourself by saying it. And if your description isn’t accurate, your team members will look at you like a creep.
Rude, lazy, and incompetent people exist in most workplaces; all team members know them. Suppose you cannot help these people to correct the existing situation or have the power to fire them. In that case, you should understand that by publicly announcing the morals and characteristics of these people, not only will you not get a better situation, but in a way, you will also become the speaker of that disgusting behavior.
Talking about colleagues’ bad behavior is the fastest way to destroy your image and work personality and move away from the character of a successful person. When the team members see that one of the members is repeatedly talking behind other members’ backs (regardless of whether the statements are true or false), they quickly distrust them.
This is not part of my job description
Saying this phrase shows the person as an irresponsible team member who is only willing to do a certain amount of work in exchange for a specific monthly salary. Exhibiting this kind of work personality will likely jeopardize your job security because no manager likes to have a limited robot with a fixed and inflexible schedule instead of a team member.
If your manager or supervisor had a request you thought needed to be more consistent with your job description, the best response is to perform the assigned task in the first step enthusiastically. After that, you can review your job description with him in a pre-arranged conversation or meeting, explain your reasons, and ask your manager to update your job description if necessary.
In this way, you show your manager that you have a solid and reliable work personality.
It is not my fault
Shrugging is never a good way to solve problems. Always try to be a responsible and reliable member of your group.
If you have a negligible impact on the problem, don’t shy away from it and accept the responsibility. If you think the problem has nothing to do with your performance on the project, provide an objective and unbiased explanation of what happened to the manager and other team members.
When the finger of the accusation is pointed towards you, try to provide the existing facts in a documented form to your colleagues and manager so that they can find the root cause of the problem.
When you point the finger at another person to prove your innocence without considering the facts, your peers see the only person beside them as unwilling to accept responsibility for their actions.
The result of this behavior will be the unwillingness of other group members to cooperate with you for a long time. Assuming this cooperation continues, you will always become the first target to be blamed and blamed if problems arise.
I can not
“I can’t” can be just as destructive to a successful person’s work personality as “It’s not my fault.” For work team members, “I can’t do it” means exactly the opposite: “I don’t want to do it!”
Saying this phrase creates the suspicion that you don’t want to finish the assigned task with your colleagues. Suppose you can’t do something because you don’t have the necessary skills. In that case, you should still look for an alternative solution to the assigned task to maintain your working personality as a successful person.
Instead of saying the negative phrase “I can’t,” you can say what you can do. For example, instead of “I can’t work on the project until late tonight,” you can say, “I can start early tomorrow morning.”
Or instead of “I can’t analyze this information,” you can use smarter sentences like “I still don’t understand how to analyze this information” and ask another group member to show you the right way.
I hate this job
Be sure that the last thing successful people want to hear is one of their co-workers hating their job. This expression of hatred quickly shows you as a negative person in the environment and analyzes the morale and efficiency of other team members. Due to the adverse effects that such people have on the team’s confidence, they are quickly identified by the managers and removed from the group.
Undoubtedly, there are always more motivated (albeit less capable) people who can replace opposing team members. If you are unsatisfied with your job, look for the reasons. Sometimes, these reasons are quickly resolved, and you can continue your career in a good mood alongside other team members.
It will be highly beneficial for you to leave these sentences and phrases out of the circle of business literature. Just take a quick look around your work environment, and you’ll see that the colleagues you consider successful need to be using these expressions.
If you are not careful, these sentences will slowly enter your daily work literature and sometimes have a fatal effect on you and your colleagues in a short time.
