Lazy language is the fast food of the 21st century.

There's four steps to remove lazy language, each matched to levels of awareness.

At first you wonder why people don’t understand you. You blame how others think instead of how you speak.

Then you start hearing the maybes, I thinks, literallys, ums, and likes. You hear yourself mean well yet sound rude.

Next, you think of the word and stop yourself before you say it out loud.

Lastly, you’re back to being unaware, but now people lean in to hear what you have to say. You sound like you belong in the board room.
If you turn on the jargon, you turn on the smoke machine.

Pick one of these to stop saying this month.

Lazy labels: Turn them into actions.

• "The opposite of slow is flow"

Especially

Very

Thing

Kind of

Corporate Jargon

Innovative

Robust

Seamless

Impactful

Cutting-edge

Non-committal ly words.

Probably

Possibly

Potentially

Personally

Ideally

Hopefully

October carry-overs:

1. you know what I mean

2. basically

3. essentially

4. I think

5. just

6. stuff

7. something

8. maybe

9. interesting

10. Let’s do it later

Cut it if it’s vague, too polite, or too proud.Use it if it’s short, simple, and observable.