Are the Things You Say Hurting Your Professional Image?

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

You say them. Everybody says them. They are the popular, “hot” expressions that have found their way into business meetings, emails, and phone conversations.

Let’s consider some that have become popular today. Some of these popular expressions may hurt your image.

Expression One: “Let me be completely honest with you.”

Why would you say this to anyone? If you do, you are saying openly that there are times when you do not tell the truth.

There are variations on this one, including, “Let me tell you the truth” and (even worse), “I’m not going to lie to you.”

Why, oh why, would you ever say these things to anyone?

Expression Two: “At this point in time.”

Why not simply say “now”? To look at it from a different perspective, which of the following sentences do you like more?

• “We are launching this product at this point in time.”
• “We are launching this product now.”

That’s right, the second sentence is shorter, less wordy, clearer. Why not . . . just say that? Unless you want to appear pretentious and affected, and you probably don’t.

Expression Three: “Reach out.”

Everybody seems to be saying this. Some examples include:

• “Chris, can you reach out to Paula?”
• “I’ll reach out to the people in Atlanta.”

Why not just say instead:

• “Chris, can you call Paula?”
• “I’ll email the people in Atlanta.”

“Reach out” makes the simple act of calling or emailing someone sound complicated. Why not keep things simple? If you do, you’ll convey the impression that you like to get things done.

Expression Four: “Myself”

In grammar, “myself” is a reflexive pronoun. (To get technical, that means the subject of the sentence and the object of the verb are the same, but you don’t really need to know that.) But there are correct uses of “myself,” as in:

• “I did a lot of harm to myself.”
• “I hit myself in the foot with the hammer.”
• “I was so upset, I was talking to myself.”

Today, people use “myself” incorrectly all the time, as in:

• “As for myself, I don’t think so.”
• “Please send the memo to Jack and myself.”
• “Christine and myself went to the convention.”

Correct, and simpler pronoun uses would be:

• “As for me, I don’t think so.”
• “Send the memo to Jack and me.”
• “Christine and I went to the convention.”

Using “myself” incorrectly makes you sound stuffy or, even worse, like you don’t understand the most basic rules of grammar.

Expression Five: “Moving forward.”

Is there any way to move except forward, unless you have a time machine in your office? So why use this expression at all?

But you hear it all the time today in business. People say things like:

• “We are going to hold sales meetings every Friday, moving forward.”
• “That is our top priority, moving forward.”

Why not just say:

• “From now on, let’s have these meetings every Friday.”
• “That is our top priority now.”

People Who Use the Fewest Words Let their Intelligence Shine

If you want to let the world know you are smart, capable, and efficient, use the fewest and clearest words possible.

Always be thinking about using the best expressions, your personal growth and how to chart your future from here.

And as for “Let me be completely honest with you” . . . well, let me be completely honest with you. Moving forward (oops!), I’m never going to say that again.

Barry Lenson is an active blogger and author of more than a dozen books, including the Amazon.com Self-Help Bestseller Good Stress, Bad Stress.

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