It ’s been over a calendar week since you emailed your colleague with an important request , and still you ’ve meet no response . get laid they ’re credibly swamped with other things and loathing the intellection of seeming annoying or rude , you type out the most cheerful , least threatening follow - up email you’re able to come up with .
“ I just want to fit in on … ” it begins .
If this situation sound intimate , it ’s in all likelihood not the only substance in your outbox that includes the wordjust . AsThe Guardianpoints out , addingjustis fine if there ’s a specific ground you want your e-mail to go flexible — say , for object lesson , you ’re demand the recipient to complete a project before the agree - upon deadline , or gouge in one more meeting on a day that they ’ve already signal is book .
Often , however , we usejustas a way of life of apologizing when there is n’t really anything for which to apologize . In a LinkedIn blogpost , Google ’s former head of global marketing communicating Ellen Petry Leanse explains thatjustfrequently functions as a “ insidious subject matter of hyponymy , or respectfulness , ” thus giving the recipient more ascendence over the conversation . And it wo n’t just weaken your message — it might also weaken others ’ impression of you as a strong , decisive communicator .
Leanse also noticed that , on her team , women were more likely than men to pepper their subject matter withjust . To see if strike the word would make any difference , Leanse and her squad consort to work on leave out the word whenever possible . Over time , they felt their trust levels go up , and their communication became well-defined and more verbatim .
Of course , Leanse ’s case sketch is only one non - scientific example ofjust ’s permeating encroachment on employees , and not every work is the same . But it could be deserving trying a similar experimentation on your own to see if a moratorium on that pesky little watchword has a confirming essence on how others see you — and how you see yourself , too .
[ h / tThe Guardian ]
