Small words can be very powerful…..
Try = part of me thinks I might do it, I could, I should, but I probably won’t. Yet = it’s inevitable, it’s just a matter of when and then there’s but….. “I really enjoyed the movie, but the soundtrack was a bit annoying”, “That was a great piece of work, but next time, can you format it slightly differently?”, “I know she means well, but it’s not the best way to go about it”.
Such a small word, BUT it effectively deletes everything that went ahead of it. Read those sentences again, this time without the ‘but’.
How often do you give someone great feedback, or pay a compliment, then accidentally negate it by following it with a but?
It can work the other way too, using ‘but’ to deliberately negate something negative …. “I know it’s more expensive the others, but the features are amazing”, “It might hurt a little, but probably much less than you were expecting”, “It could be difficult, but we’ll find a way round.”
So start to notice when you’re using it, and make sure your ‘but’ doesn’t get in the way of what you really want to say.
By Sue Evans, from: http://www.fastandlastingchange.co.uk/doesmybut.html
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