We Create Our World With Our Words

So we're clear, this is not a religious screed.  It is a look into the power of language.  But I am going to use religion and faith as a lens through which to examine it.  Starting with a text that impacts three of the world's major religions.

In Genesis, God spoke the world into existence.

1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse[a] in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” And it was so.

9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.

11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants[e] yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so.

This is an example of an Ex nihilo creation myth.  The god figure creates the world out of nothing.  This style of creation story is shared across dozens of cultures and nearly every continent.  In most of these stories the world is brought into being through some form of speech.  I think what the ancients understood in their souls was that we each speak our worlds into existence each and every day.  And from that soul understanding their creation story found its roots.

I tell my salespeople as often as they will listen that the art of sales is finding the most impactful words and putting them into their most persuasive order.  We, even in the digital age, speak our months, our years, our very lives into existence.

If we are to be the best sales coaches we can be, we’ve got to be the best speech coaches on the planet.  And that requires us to be students of the game.  To have Educated Sellers, we must be educators.  And the first place we’ve got to learn to teach is in the art and science of linguistics.  My brother shared an article with me on the impact that language how we shape and understand reality.  It’s a fascinating read.  I invite you to take the five minutes to read it. 

https://philosophybreak.com/articles/language-shapes-reality/

And God said.  How are you helping your salespeople speak their futures into existence?  And in turn, how are your salespeople helping your clients see reality differently with their language.  Heady thoughts for the end of a week.  But then again, that’s our job.