Ellen Petry Leanse,
entrepreneur
and Apple and Google alum,
shares
“I started paying attention,
at work and beyond.
It didn’t take long to sense something
I hadn’t noticed before:
women used “just”
a lot more often than men.”
“I am all about respectful communication.
Yet I began to notice that
“just” wasn’t about being polite:
it was a subtle message
of subordination,
of deference.
Sometimes it was self-effacing.
Sometimes even duplicitous.
As I started really listening,
I realized that striking it from a phrase
almost always clarified
and strengthened the message.”
One of my early business mentors
told me the same thing.
He would interrupt me
every time I’d use ‘just’
because, as he stated,
it was a sign
that I shouldn’t be listened to.
Eliminate just from your vocabulary.