Like, love and hate

I like it; I love it; I hate it. You say it daily, but what do you mean by these words? Some words are empty containers without meaning. And those words are so ambiguous that we do not even understand what you mean.

Loving it

What does it mean? Does it mean this is your hill to die on, and you will fight with me to make this happen? Or do you consider it a funny little thing, but if it doesn’t work out, you do not worry about it and go on with your life?

When you dig a little bit deeper behind just that one isolated word, you’ll see a mountain of questions popping up that you want to answer to ensure you understand each other and not only use the exact words to mean different things

Remove these words

There are so many words you can use. Why not ban these three words (like love and hate) and choose some different ones (for just a few days)? There are around 3000 words to describe emotions, though we might only use a few handfuls of words. Take some more effort to describe what you think and feel, and see how it changes the conversation.

By changing your words, you do not only force yourself to rethink what you want to say. You also allow the other party to receive more valuable viewpoints.

Words matter

Revolutions start with language. Imagine how much more meaningful your conversations will be by banning some empty words. Think of how much more creative you need to get now. There is no easy way out of using some blanket terms. In the end, everybody wins.