Make it a Great Day: The Power of Language in Creating Your Reality

If you’ve called my office in the last 10+ years and gotten my voicemail you will notice I sign off my outgoing messages with the phrase “Make it a Great Day.” This phrase has elicited more comments from people leaving messages than I could have ever imagined. And it underscores the importance that language plays in our perspective, a point I make so often with my clients.

Think about the phrase you probably hear more commonly: “Have a Great Day.” This phrase is a nice reminder. But the way it is worded leads you to the idea that you can either have a great day or not have a great day. And that the having is part of what happens TO you, rather than what you create. We already have enough (or too much IMHO) reminders in our language of our powerlessness or helplessness.

We adopt common phrases like “have a great day” or standard responses to questions such as “how are you?” But do we ever really think of what comes out of our mouths?

Language is a direct link to our thoughts, which reflect our beliefs, which connect to our emotions, which drive our behaviors. And all of these help create our experiences and our perspective.

When people hear the phrase “Make it a Great Day,” they stop and take notice. Why? Because it’s unexpected. In all the comments people have left about this one phrase, the common theme is one of realizing they have the power to choose what kind of day they have. That, my friends, is the power of language. Just changing one word in a common phrase helps to shift perspective – guiding someone from possibly thinking their experience is driven by outside forces to thinking they have some control over their experience. How powerful is that?

So next time you hear the phrase “Have a Great Day,” I challenge you to turn it around (at least in your head) and remember to “Make it a Great Day.” And if you happen to be calling my office, I’d love to hear how you created a great day for yourself.

Photo: smile! © by seanbjack