30 Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary: The 500 Words You Need to Know to Transform Your Vocabulary.and Your Life

CHAPTER 1

WHY PEOPLE WITH A DYNAMIC VOCABULARY ARE SMARTER, WEALTHIER AND HAPPIER

Words. They’re the foundation of nearly everything of value in our world. They have the power to create, and the power to destroy. The power to inspire and to terrify. The power to enlighten, and also to obscure. In the beginning was the word—this is the opening sentence of the Gospel of John in the New Testament. The word was with God, the scripture continues, and then concludes, "The word was God." You can’t go any farther than that in acknowledging the power of words.

Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address included only 272 words, yet it helped to unify a divided nation during the Civil War and heralded an end of the cruel practice of slavery. On the other side of the spectrum, the 35,000-word manifesto of the Unabomber provided a glimpse into the evil mind of a murderer, and presented its readers with a fearful vision of a technology-driven future.

The truth is, just about every everything human beings have ever created began as an idea, whose fulfillment was then made possible by a precise selection of words. Words of description, words of inspiration, plans expressed in words, dreams expressed in words, and words of triumph or tragedy. A poor choice of words can have a practical effect in building a skyscraper or flying an airplane, just as words can make or break the most important relationships in our lives. Although you may not have given it much thought, your life has been deeply influenced by the words you’ve spoken or words you’ve heard or read.

The goal of this book is to make you aware of the power of words, and to help you put that power to use in the most important areas of your life. You’ll be asked to give this some attention and concentration, but you’ll see that the results are very worthwhile. That’s because a better vocabulary—a larger and more useful inventory of words—will make you smarter and wealthier in the very near future, and happier, starting right now.

If that seems like an overstatement, consider this: words are the raw material —the building blocks—of life’s greatest fulfillment, which is our relationship with other people. Executive Coach and Personal Development Expert Jim Fannin makes this point brilliantly in his discussion of what he calls The 90-Second Rule.

To illustrate the 90-Second Rule, Jim uses the example of someone coming home after a hard day at work. What’s the first thing people say when they walk in the door and see their spouse or significant other? The temptation is to immediately narrate all the problems, frustrations, distractions, disappointments, and other challenges that took place during the day. Many people aren’t even aware of the damage this can do. They just go ahead and unload.

Or, if they’re a bit more self-aware, they restrain themselves by shutting down. They say they want to unwind. They want to have some alone time. Instead of releasing all their troubles on anyone who’s there to listen, they choose instead to shut everyone out.

With this is in mind, Jim Fannin makes a very simple but profound suggestion: For the first 90 seconds after you walk in the door, focus 100 percent on the other person. Make a conscious decision to hear their concerns first. And most importantly, use the power of words to show how glad you are to see them, how much you love them, and how they impact your life for the better.

It’s a very insightful idea and a very helpful one. But what are the tools you’ll need to put the 90-Second Rule into action? Words are the tools. Words are the means for changing a tense and toxic situation into something very different. Carefully chosen words spoken in a caring way over just 90-seconds can bring profound, positive changes to an important relationship.

Yes, words are vital to emotional fulfillment—and also to success in business or a career—in dealing with professionals such as doctors and lawyers—and in virtually any other form of human contact. But most people pay almost no attention to the words they use or don’t use. Outside of any English courses they took in school or any light reading they may do, most people have little interest and no real training in making their collection of words—their vocabulary—the very best it can be.

Research shows that most people read less than one book per year—and that statistic is probably changing for the worse as online media becomes more prominent in our lives. That means the vast majority of the population simply does not continue their vocabulary education past high school. And of those that do go to college, most will not continue to develop their skills with any post-graduate education or training. Rather than looking at their commencement as what the word truly means—a beginning—they see commencement as an end point. It’s the end of learning in the traditional sense of the word, and it’s the end forever.

I remember a story recounted by the legendary Father of Personal Development, Earl Nightingale, some years ago. He talked about a young man who left his college graduation ceremony and yelled to his friends: I’ll never open another book for the rest of my life. Earl said those were the saddest words he’d ever heard—and considering what he’d accomplished in his own life, I’m sure that was true. Earl Nightingale personally wrote and recorded more than 7000 radio programs during his career—and if you’ve ever heard them, you know that Earl was truly a master of the English language.

And what does being a master of the English language really mean? It’s simple. It just means having a good vocabulary and knowing how to use it. A dynamic and abundant vocabulary is among the most precious possessions you can ever have. Vocabulary is currency. Each word added is a dollar in your mental wallet. It is your ticket to a creative and fascinating life; a more fulfilling marriage; more positive influence as a parent; reaching your career goals; recognition as a leader in your community; earning more and learning more. Each word used is exercising the mind muscle—the most important muscle of all. And the best news of all? It takes only 30 days to build a foundation of words that will support success in every important area of your life.

That’s right. Just 30 days. In one month’s time, you can change people’s perception of your intelligence, emotional understanding and depth. Think of it. For most people thirty days passes so quickly, they take it for granted. Time slips by without any further investment in our mental growth. But, worse than that, they’re no better 30-days from now than they were 30-days in the past. Thirty days go by and they have nothing to show for it.

They have no plan to develop their ability to communicate, or to develop any other skill for that matter. They remain essentially the same person, with the same limited communication skills. And the reason is obvious: without a commitment to positive change, how can you grow? While everything else changes, you just stay the same.

But here’s the deeper irony. You are not the same. Life is a dynamic, ongoing process. Change is always happening, and decline can happen quickly and quietly. As someone once said, You’re either growing or you’re dying. There’s no standing still.

Even trying to stand still is risky. Other people in your life, your work, and in your world aren’t standing still. Especially in the twenty-first century, planning to stay the same is really planning to be left behind. The world moves forward, our careers demand more of us, our relationships face more barriers to successful communication, our children are raised in a different universe than we were. We need to grow just to stay influential in their lives. We can lose connections with our own families and if we don’t continue our education throughout our lives.

Consistently refreshing and expanding your vocabulary is the key to staying up to speed and being in touch. You can make the choice to either grow your vocabulary, grow in your ability to communicate, grow in your ability to influence others, or to be left behind. Keep current or become irrelevant. There really is no third choice.

Each day as technology expands, the universe expands. Your mental landscape must expand with it. And remember: the 30 days you can give to this program are going to pass whether you like it or not. You cannot stop time. Will you use those 30 days to your advantage, or will you miss that opportunity?

Think back to 30 days ago. How different are you today? How different is your ability to communicate, is your arsenal of powerful words? Can you communicate with someone in a new and more commanding way? What can happen when you commit to a program that raises your ability to communicate, to influence, and to inspire up to a whole new level? How could you possibly be worse off after a month if you knew you were going to have brand new knowledge?

Are you ready to make that commitment? Can you take action in favor of self-improvement that expands, sharpens and defines your mind? Will you invest in yourself?

Because you made the critically important decision to purchase this book, I have no doubt that you are ready to make a positive choice. Just by reading this, you are rethinking the power of words. You are acknowledging that language precedes intellectual growth. And this book contains the arsenal, the toolbox, the precious collection of words to build a vocabulary that is second-to-none. Each word is a brick that builds a solid foundation that cannot be knocked down. You will have a better, stronger base from which to communicate all your ideas. And it contains the methodology to make those words stick—to make them an intricate part of your daily lexicon. As natural as breathing, the words will flow effortlessly.

So, welcome. I look forward to challenging you to not just learn more words, but even more importantly, the very best words necessary to achieve your goals in every important area of your life. Your journey to a new world begins here.

But as we get started, I’m sure you’re asking, Who is Dan Strutzel? What makes him an authority? Why should I trust him to teach me such an important subject? I’ve been fascinated by vocabulary and the use of the English language for my entire lifetime. Growing up with a mom who was a stellar high school honors English teacher certainly had something to do with that; as did my childlike curiosity about learning new things, reading books and listening to audio programs on any non-fiction topic imaginable, from comedy to personal development to sports biographies and spirituality. Somehow I always knew that words are the window to the world’s soul.

I continued to nurture that curiosity about learning and language as an English major at the University of Notre Dame, where I studied many of the great books of Western Civilization. Each word was shaping the great ideas of the past that brought us to this moment in human history. I gained respect for the great authors from the 1700’s, 1800’s and early 1900’s, who drew on a rich and verdant supply of words to convey their thoughts. Indeed, these authors treated the use of words as an art form, and compared to many books written today, I must say, it is an art that has largely been lost.

My development as an appreciator of the use of words could be called my romantic stage in learning and developing vocabulary. I was infatuated with language. I loved the sound of words. I was fascinated with the creative use of language, and even liked to dazzle friends and family with the use of words like lugubrious and panoply to show off my education—and perhaps to show my parents that they weren’t paying that university tuition for nothing!

But when I graduated and entered the world of adult life and business, I discovered a very important fact, one that is critical to the foundation of my approach to vocabulary building. I did not know how to apply my new knowledge. Unless you are a novelist, a journalist, or a poet, the mere acquisition of BIG and IMPRESSIVE words is of little value. What’s the point of fancy new tools if we do not know how to use them? What would be the point of this exercise?

After all, how many cocktail parties can you attend to impress others with your priceless locutions? How can you be impressive if most people don’t even know what you mean! You’re likely to come off as clueless at best and snobbish at worst. You will lose your listeners. And when you lose your listeners, you lose your