There is a time and a place for hope. The people in Japan need our hope and our prayers.
If you are a speaker or do any type of presentations if you use the word hope, it is time to give it up.
Why give up hope?
If you tell your audience or client, I hope to..…fill in the blank….STOP HOPING and DO IT!
Why? Because you can share, educate, help, guide, whatever you do for your audience or client, you can and will do it.
When you tell them you hope to do it, you leave them with some doubt about your abilities to actually accomplish it. They start to wonder if you are really going to do it. Is that what you want or do you want them to have complete confidence in what you are sharing?
When you say any of these….
I hope to help you
I hope to leave you with
I hope you will understand
I hope you will see
Give your audience confidence with….
I can help you
I will leave you with
I am going to share how you can
I will show you how you can
You will see how you can
So what do you think, are you hoping it will happen, or are you doing it?
Words have meaning and we need to plan our talks accordingly. I get the message but it may be more appeopiate to suggest we give up the Overuse of the word ‘Hope’.
Excellent point Joe. It really is about the overuse of “Hope” and using it in your presentation can take away from your message. Now once you share what you know can help we all hope the audience will use it!
Edie, Great post. I feel the same way about the word “try.” It’s one thing to use it when you’re not sure if something is within your ability, but we mis-use it all the time: I’m going to try to eat better. I’m going to try to keep my house clean. I’m going to try to work out 3 times a week. When people use the word try in those instances, they’re really saying, “I’m not fully committed.” I think we should stop trying and just do it!
You are so right Wendy, we are either going to do it or we are not. I have caught myself in the try trap before. It is about deciding and doing..period.