Gyaan: The less we speak, the better

It has come to my notice – albeit a little late – that the less we speak, the better we are perceived to be. My mom has always been saying it…but since she could never give me an example, I didn`t trust her. Today, I have an example.

I can.

The above sentence is powerful and is loaded with meaning. If I said that to my boss, he is bound to give me a double promotion and an Exceeds Expectations ranking.

I can deliver

The above sentence dilutes the power that I feel when I say “I can.” By adding ‘deliver` I am adding a filter and the listener tends to think that I can only ‘deliver`. Whatever ‘deliver` means.

I can deliver pizza

Now, the power has been further diluted by two filters – ‘deliver` and ‘pizza`. “I can deliver” was definitely more powerful than “I can deliver pizza.”

I can deliver pizza for money


Now I am telling the listener exactly what I want him/her to listen…this is dangerous because I am leaving nothing to his/her imagination. In short, I am not making full use of my listener`s powers of imagination.

Moral of the Story: Speak less, start a blog and write more.

By Jamshed V Rajan

Jammy, as Jamshed V Rajan is affectionately called, is a wannabe stand up comedian. He has a funny take on most things but documents only some of them. If you are interested in chatting up with him, do drop him an email at jv.rajan@gmail.com or message him at +919650080255.

18 replies on “Gyaan: The less we speak, the better”

wrong one…looks like you are right. the last two days my boss gave me so much work that i didnt even have time to respond to the comments

you are right,but like everything else there is a flip side to the maxim. 18 years back I said “I do” where I should have said “I do not”. And I am still suffering (My wife too feels the same way).

Smini…you have to be a Malayali…nowhere else in the world do they come up with such creative names! And are u saying that the blog post was inspired by somebody else or are u saying that u were inspired by the blog post?

Himani, i think consultants need to be excused from this rule. If you ask them to not ‘Talk’ how will they earn a living and bake bread at home?

As for Docs…i dont trust anybody who covers his face when he/she goes to work!!

Dear fan from Naachgaana.com, thanks. I had seen this sometime back…wonder why I am there coz what I write isn’t humor…i just document the lies i tell my colleagues on this blog.

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