Anthony Robbins AWAKEN THE GIANT... - Lemma Coaching

An effective selection of words to describe the experience of our lives can heighten our most
empowering emotions. A poor selection of words can devastate us just as surely and just as swiftly.
Most of us make unconscious choices in the words that we use; we sleepwalk our way through the
maze of possibilities available to us. Realize now the power that your words command if you simply
choose them wisely.
What a gift these simple symbols are! We transform these unique shapes we call letters (or sounds, in
the case of the spoken word) into a unique and rich tapestry of human experience. They provide us
with a vehicle for expressing and sharing our experience with others; however, most of us don't realize
that the words you habitually choose also affect how you communicate with yourself and therefore
what you experience.
Words can injure our egos or inflame our hearts—we can instantly change any emotional experience
simply by choosing new words to describe to ourselves what we're feeling. If, however, we tail to
master words, and if we allow their selection to be determined strictly by unconscious habit, we may
be denigrating our entire experience of life. If you describe a magnificent experience as being "pretty
good," the rich texture of it will be smoothed and made flat by your limited use of vocabulary. People
with an impoverished vocabulary live an impoverished emotional life; people with rich vocabularies
have a multihued palette of colors with which to paint their experience, not only for others, but for
themselves as well.
Most people are not challenged, though, by the size of the vocabulary they consciously understand,
but rather by the words they choose to use. Many times, we use words as "short cuts," but often
these short cuts shortchange us emotionally. To consciously control our lives, we need to consciously
evaluate and improve our consistent vocabulary to make sure that it is pulling us in the direction we
desire instead of that which we wish to avoid. You and I must realize that the English language is filled
with words that, in addition to their literal meanings, convey distinct emotional intensity. For example,
if you develop a habit of saying you "hate" things—you "hate" your hair; you "hate" your job; you
"hate" having to do something—do you think this raises the intensity of your negative emotional states
more than if you were to use a phrase like "I prefer something else"?
Using emotionally charged words can magically transform your own state or someone else's. Think of
the word "chivalry." Does it conjure up different images and have more emotional impact than words
like "politeness" or "gentlemanliness"? I know that for me it does. Chivalry makes me think of a valiant
knight seated on a white steed, championing his raven-haired damsel; it conveys nobility of spirit, a
great round table about which are seated men of honor, the whole Arthurian ethic—in short, the
wonder of Camelot. Or how do the words "impeccable" or "integrity" compare to "well done" and
"honesty"? The words "pursuit of excellence" certainly create more intensity than "trying to make
things better."
For years I've observed firsthand the power of changing just one key word in communicating with
someone, and noted how it instantly changes the way people feel—and often the way they
subsequently behaved. After working with hundreds of thousands of people, I can tell you something I
know beyond a shadow of a doubt, something that at first glance may be hard to believe: Simply by