Thursday, July 13, 2017

De-dumb your life

Now, before you think I've Americanized myself to such a point that I am comfortable with making up words, I have a point: How many times have you seen a poster with 'De-stress your life'? Does it make you more stressed just reading it? If so, I've got a helpful suggestion the next time you're responsible for writing a motivational poster.


For those of you hard-of-thinking, I'll give you the alternate and correctly-framed sentence: 

'Relax your life'

See? Isn't that so much nicer to read and, more importantly, sits nicely in your head? You're not thinking about stress but you're more focussed on how much nicer it would be to relax a little more. Now, I've read a number of motivational books and, for the most part, they're a little too much like faith than practical advice - but I did have a few take-aways; namely that using positive words internally and externally will result in you being more positive and that using (what boils down to) a chakra each morning will start you off on the right foot. I think those elements do work and you will feel better if you avoid negative words and words which are not conducive to your well-being. On second thoughts, I can re-frame the sentence completely to be even more motivational:

'Aim for your best but remember to still enjoy the ride along the way'

Maybe it's not as pithy but I do think it's better, don't you?