You can use Transformational Vocabulary to help others

Once you understand the power of words, you become highly sensitized not only to those you use, but to those that people around you use as well. As a result of my new understanding of Transformational Vocabulary, I found myself helping others around me. I'll never forget the first time I began to consciously use this technology. It was in helping a friend of mine named Jim, a very successful businessman who was going through some tough times. I remember that I'd never seen him so down

before.

As he talked, I noticed that he described how depressed he was, or how depressing things were, at least a dozen times in a twenty-minute period. I decided to see how quickly Transformational Vocabulary could help him to change his state, so I asked him, " Are you really depressed, or are you feeling a little frustrated? " He said, " I am feeling very frustrated." I said, " It looks to me like you're actually making some very positive changes that will lead to progress." Since he agreed, I described to him the impact his words might be having on his emotional state, and asked, " Do me a favor, okay? For the next ten days, promise me you won't use the word 'depressed' even once. If you begin to use it, immediately replace it with a more empowering word. Instead of 'depressed, ' say, 'I'm feeling a little bit down.' Say, 'I'm getting better, ' or 'I'm turning things around.'"

He agreed to commit to this as an experiment, and you can guess what happened: one simple shift in his words shifted his pattern completely. He no longer worked himself up to the same level of pain, and as a result, he stayed in more resourceful states. Two years later when I told Jim that I was writing about his experience in this book, he shared with me that he has not felt depressed one day since that time because he never uses that word to describe his experience. Remember, the beauty of Transformational Vocabulary is its utter simplicity. It's truly profound knowledge—something so simple and universally applicable that the minute you use it, it can immediately increase the quality of your life.

A great example of the transformation that's possible when you change just one word is what occurred several years ago at PIE, the nationwide trucking service. Their executives found that 60 percent of all their shipping contracts were erroneous, and it was costing them more than a quarter of a million dollars a year. Dr. W. Edwards Deming was hired to find the cause. He did an intensive study and discovered that 56 percent of these errors were based on misidentification of containers by their own workers. Based on Dr. Deming's. recommendations, the PIE executives decided that they must find a way to change the company- wide level of commitment to quality and that the best way would be to change how their workers viewed themselves. Instead of workers or truckers, they started referring to themselves as craftsmen. At first people thought it was strange; after all, what difference could changing a job title make? They hadn't really changed anything, had they? But pretty soon, as a result of regularly using the word the workers began to see themselves as " craftsmen, " and in less than thirty days PIE cut their 56 percent erroneous shippings down to less than 10 percent, ultimately saving close to a quarter of a million dollars a year.

This illustrates a fundamental truth: the words we use as a corporate culture and as individuals have a profound effect on our experience of reality. One of the reasons I created the word CANI! rather than borrow the Japanese term kaizen (" improvement"), was to build into one word the philosophy and thought patterns of constant, never-ending improvement. Once you begin to consistently use a word, it affects what you consider and how you think. The words that we use carry meaning and emotion. People invent words all the time; that's one of the marvels[67] of the English language, which is so quick to embrace new words and concepts. If you look through a current dictionary you'll discover the

contributions of many foreign languages, and especially from all kinds of special-interest groups.

For example, people in the surfing culture have created words like tubular" and " rad" to translate their " totally awesome" experience of the waves to their day-to-day lives. Their private lingo gained such

widespread acceptance that it became pan of our common argot and thus the way in which we think. This also brings up the point again that we need to be conscious of the words we adopt from those around us or those we select ourselves. If you use phrases like " I'm suicidal" you have instantly raised your emotional pain to a level that could actually threaten the quality of your life. Or, if you're in a romantic relationship and tell your partner, " I'm leaving, " you create the very real possibility that the relationship's about to end. If, however you were to say, " I'm incredibly frustrated" or " I'm angry, " you have a much better chance at resolution.

Most professions have a certain set of words they use to describe their work and the things particular to their type of work. Many entertainers for example right before they go onstage, get a feeling of tension in their stomachs. Their breathing changes, their pulse races, and they begin to perspire. Some consider this to be a natural pan of the preparation to perform, while others see it as evidence that they will fail These sensations which Carly Simon called " stage fright, " kept her from performing live for years. Bruce Springsteen, on the other hand, gets the same kind of tension in his stomach, only he labels these feelings " excitement" ' He knows that he's about to have the incredibly powerful experience of entertaining thousands of people, and having them love it. He can't wait to get onstage. For Bruce Springsteen, tension in his stomach is an ally for Carly Simon, it's an enemy.

TAKE THESE YARD APES AND GET RID OF THE GREY POUPON!

Following are some fun examples from Newsweek's " Buzzwords" of Transformational Vocabulary used in the workplace...

Daycare

Yard ape: A fully mobile preschooler. Usage: " At least yours is in school. I've got a yard ape to contend with."

Klingons: Hysterical yard apes who latch on ferociously to parents.

Chemobyl Hussies: A particularly nasty diaper, as in, " Honey, you better warn Scandinavia."

Green Elevens: The green, dripping nostrils of a yard ape.

Grey Poupon: The mess in the diapers.

Funeral Directors

This term itself is a major piece of Transformational Vocabulary. What did they used to be called? Undertakers. Then they became morticians, and now they're funeral directors, a term most people find

a little easier to take...

Shake 'n' Bake: Cremation without a funeral home service. Usage: " Oh, this guy's just a Shake 'n' Bake."

Peekaboo: A brief viewing of the body and short service, usually involving only family members.

SWAT Teams

Avon Calling: Blowing open a door with a shotgun.

Lawyers

Shopper: A financially dependent spouse with no personal income, as in " She'll need a ton of alimony. She's a shopper."

Bombers: Divorce lawyers who seek to destroy the opposing spouse by setting all of the assets for their own client.

Tanning Salons

Caspers: Pale-skinned customers. (Derived from Casper the Friendly Ghost)

Iguanas: Overly tanned, leathery customers.