Reviews by Hubie Goode: Let’s Talk About Mental Leverage, Pt. 8

Build A Mental Word Bank of Dynamic Words and Expressions

One of the ways people make internal judgements about us is by the words we use, and the way we use them. Therefore, your verbal skills and your vocabulary have a lot to do with your success in life.

You don’t need a huge vocabulary to impress other people. In fact, if you just added 100 to 200 words, that is probably all you would need. Therefore; if you pick the right words to learn, they can do the work of 1000 or more.

Once again, this is an advantage of mental leveraging. You will not need to take expensive vocabulary courses, or memorize long lists of words. There is no need at all to learn big words either, unless, of course they have to do with your occupation.

All you need is a natural way to expand your vocabulary in a way that will impress people that you are indeed intelligent without being pedantic. Um, that is, a “show off”.

Keep a small notebook in your pocket at all times, so that whenever you see or hear a word you don’t fully understand write it down. Then later, when you have time, look up the words you have acquired. Once you have determined what they mean, try to recall how they were used when you read or heard them. Think about them in that context and other possible uses for them. Decide which ones you want to keep.

Start using them in your conversation, get comfortable with them, and this will firm them up in your memory. My father once told me that if you use a word five times, it’s yours. (Good luck with Antidisestablishmentarianism. heh.)

From time to time go over the words you have collected and revisit their possible use in your vocabulary. The results can be dramatic if you are looking to move up in a company that uses lots of college graduates. The more “high falutin’” words you use in an upwardly mobile arena, the more assumptions will play in your favor. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck....

One more thing you can try is to read more material by writers who are above your level. So let’s say you don’t really understand much of what’s in the Wall Street Journal. You can pull random articles from that periodical and with a dictionary, slowly increase your level of understanding, if not for the overall information, then certainly for the basic uses of the words that may be on the outside of your usual conversation pool.

And, of course, as I do here, you could start writing a blog. Trying to use a higher form of vocabulary without sacrificing meaning. This is a little more work if you are not ready for it, but it can really help you to internalize a more sophisticated form of speech in everyday life. If you can write for an audience that is above you in the educational ranks, and still make a valid communication, then you are on your way to joining them. Good luck.

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