SafetyLanguage
Say you have a weather app and I'm gonna give you two scenarios.
Scenario one - The weather app says there's a hundred percent chance of rain. So what do you do? You wear your raincoat, your rain boots. Then you get a weatherproof bag and then you take your umbrella and then you dress up appropriately. And then you get out of the house only to notice that the sun is shining. The birds are chirping. People are singing and people are in their t-shirts tank tops and shorts.
Scenario two - The same weather app, says there are 30% chances of rain.
So what do you do? You just wear a t-shirt and shorts, which is okay if you get wet and then you wear some shoes, which are slightly waterproof, and then you just take an umbrella, and then you get out and then you notice that the sun is shining, the birds are chirping people on their t-shirts tank tops and shorts.
Which weather app would you trust the next time?
The answer is the weather app in scenario two. And the reason I'm giving this example is in our real lives. We are in this situation, say you're working and all of a sudden your manager comes and says, “Hey, could you do this task for me?” And then you immediately, caught surprised. And you just say yes, even without thinking about what task are you working on and what other task you need to complete. Or you're in a meeting and then someone randomly volunteers you to do a task and then you are just caught by surprise and say yes.
How many times have you been in this situation? I, for one, have been in this situation so many times, and that's where I learned the beauty of using safety language.
Safety language is a concept where you use phrases as it might fail under the circumstances.
So use words like:
could
should
maybe
might
And prevent yourself from committing to something even without thinking.
So the next time a manager comes and asks you, “Hey, can you do this task for me?” You would say, “Hey, I would love to do this task, but could I do this task after I finish this task?”
Or if someone says, “Hey, do you know how this issue happened?” You could say, “based on what I know, I think these were the situations the problem happened.”
So use those phrases and protect yourself when you're working with companies and also by yourself, some thinking time to make sure you're working on the right thing.
Every instant of time, use safety language folks
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