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POWER TOOLS
Hi, and welcome to POWER TOOLS! This one will be short, but I want to clarify some things about the word "BUT"
Part 8: CORRECT USE OF "BUT" Hi, and welcome to POWER TOOLS! This one will be short, but I want to clarify some things about the word "BUT"
Part 8: CORRECT USE OF "BUT" Because, of course, the word "BUT" is often useful and necessary
Because, of course, the word "BUT" is often useful and necessary
We don't always have to use "AND" like I mentioned in the last part
But
Even in these situations, we often get it wrong, such as when we want to motivate somebody, or criticize them
Because we've been taught to start off by praising them to get them to listen and like us
And then we say "BUT" and give them our criticism
We say things like "Good report, BUT it had a lot of typos, you might want to fix them for next time"
This is a situation where it would sound odd if we used "AND"
The problem with this is that whoever hears it will hear "Good report, BUT" Ok, maybe it wasn't that good
And they will leave thinking about the typos, they will have negative motivation
They will fix the typos, but they will be negatively motivated by a desire not to disappoint you again
If we can give somebody positive motivation instead, amazing things can happen
Because it's been shown that people who have positive motivation, instead of negative motivation, although they will perform the same action
Fixing the typos, in this case
BUT, they will be doing it faster, more thoroughly, and more extensively, than somebody who is negatively motivated
Assuming that's relevant to the kind of work involved
It also produces a better general atmosphere when people are positively motivated rather than negatively motivated
So how do we motivate somebody positively?
We say the exact same thing, with the same exact words
But we let the precedent and antecedent to "BUT" switch places
What we say is "That report had a lot of typos, you might want to fix that for next time, BUT it was very good"
Now they will leave thinking about how you liked their report
They'll still know about the typos, but their motivation will be positive instead, they will want to do good work, and make it even better next time
So motivate positively rather than negatively
And make sure people feel better, and do their work more efficiently and quickly than otherwise
POWER TOOLS