Consider the two sentences below.
“You did a great job on that presentation BUT I didn’t like the colour that you used on the pie chart.”
“You went through a lot of trouble to negotiate that contract BUT your effort was futile.”
Instead of using the word BUT, try using the word AND instead—or don’t use the word BUT at all. The word BUT negates the sentence that preceded it. Using the word AND forces you to state the compound sentence in a positive way.
“You did a great job on that presentation AND the pie chart would have had a stronger impact if a different colour was used to highlight the issues.”
“You went through a lot of trouble to negotiate that contract. We’ll use what we learned from it to close the deal next time. Good work!”
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I live by this rule. I hardly ever use the word “But.”
Nice read. Simple AND powerful!
It takes a lot of practice Rachel BUT it can be done :-)
Sorry, I meant to say: It takes a lot of practice Rachel AND it can be done.
John,
Great tip. I’m really enjoying your posts. Keep up the good work.
Thanks.
Thank you Harwinder.