Things Smart People Never Say At Work
From entrepreneur.com
There are certain things that should never be said at work, phrases that carry a special power: to make you look bad, even if what you are saying is correct. And the worst part is that, once you say them, there is no way to retract them.
• “It’s not fair” — Everyone knows that life isn’t fair, and saying otherwise suggests that you think it is, which makes you seem immature and naive.
• “This is how we have always done things” — Saying that this is the way you’ve always done things not only makes you seem lazy and reluctant to change, it will make your boss wonder why you haven’t tried to improve things before.
• “No problem” — This phrase, if you say it when someone asks you to do something or you like it for having done something, it implies that their request should have been a problem. This makes people feel like they are being an imposition.
• “This may be a silly idea” or “I’m going to ask a silly question” — Even if you come up with a wonderful idea later, starting with this suggests that you lack confidence in yourself, causing the people around you to lose their confidence in you.
• “I’m going to try” — The word ‘try’ sounds tentative and suggests that you don’t trust your ability to get things done.
• “It’s not my fault” — Trying to blame someone else is never a good idea. Take responsibility. If you had something to do, however minimal, in what went wrong, you are responsible.
