Wow! It is quite a story that Clyde Howell wrote. He said in part:
>On the other hand, if we think about being SAFE (focusing on positive,
>safe behaviors) we will tend to be safe.
>Feedback from this effort is expressed in terms of "percent safe" rather
>than the degree to which we were unsafe. This is a radical concept within
>this organization which tracks so many negative statistics that working
>there can be depressing.
In my seminar work I often illustrate this notion by challenging the
attendees to...and I also challenged the readers:
"Not to think of a purple striped elephant, and to put their hands up when
they have done it."
This comes from Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP). That the mind cannot
contemplate a negative. I read somewhere that the accident rate local to
posters that say "DON'T SLIP" is significantly higher than normal. This
is because the mind has to consider how to slip, in order not to!!
Posters that say "DON'T DO DRUGS" have the same drawback.
Recently, I was writing to a client and I drafted the phrase:
"I realize that it will be difficult to
get all your people together for the day."
I caught myself, and re-phrased it to:
"I realize that it will _not_be_easy_ to
get all your people together for the day."
There is a world of difference in interpreted meaning of these two
statements. I guess the message is: Watch your language... it is powerful!!
--
Bryan
Bryan Walton Training People
Oakville, Ontario How To Deliver
e-mail: bwalton@inforamp.net Their Own Solutions
905) 338-1462