The words you use matter

Use the right ones for the job

Hey there, friend!

In this week’s issue, I want to share an insight about the words we use and some resources.

Let’s get it going.

Main quest 🛡

The main point here is that the words or terms we use to communicate carry a specific meaning or connotation depending on which we choose.

This is especially true in the English language.

We can evoke different ideas in people’s minds by using different words. And we can use this in a positive but also a negative way. 

This is why people use words that are not so popular to start from a clean slate and not have to deal with the added baggage some words already carry.

A good example of this is the term “speed reading”.

For decades, the term has been thrown around in many different ways. People who don’t know much about it think it’s only about “reading fast”.

And many have criticized it as not worth it because it sacrifices comprehension at the expense of speed.

And that’s the problem right there.

The real speed reading methods all include comprehension and understanding of the topics as one of the core components of the method, not only speed. 

(I’m saying “real” methods because there are cheap imitations out there that are nothing more than an unscrupulous cash grab.)

But if you have never seen or read about these methods before, you wouldn't know that fact. The term “speed reading” will give you the impression that it’s just about reading faster.

In cases like these, there are 2 options that jump out. We can either go and make a search in a dictionary or pick up a thesaurus and see if we can find other words that have a similar meaning but without all the added meaning we don’t want.

And when we start using them and people go “what the hell is that?” We can be like “hey, it is a real world. Look it up in a dictionary”.

Or the alternative is to just come up with a new word. Mix 2 words together and get the meaning of both plus some sense of mystery that people think they know but they don’t fully know.

Worse case scenario, you can coin a new term and not only start using it and posting it everywhere but use it as part of a common language and have other people start using it as well.

After some time, the term can pick up momentum and be used by a larger group of people. Getting it close to “official status”.

There are several words who made their way into the dictionary that way.

Next time that you’re trying to communicate something, be mindful of your choice of words. Using the wrong ones can put ideas in the listeners minds that will be hard to take away once they appear there.

Experiments 🧪

If you follow me on Twitter you may have seen my experiments with Stable Diffusion & Figma to make educational comics. (And if you don’t follow me yet, here’s a handy link for you.)

I’m using Clipdrop for that. Mainly because it has not only SDXL 1.0 but also tools like “Stable Doodle” and the “Reimagine XL”. 

When I use it during the night time, I don’t have any queues to wait for. But still, it takes a couple of tries to come up with something useful. 

Looks like I’ll have to level up my prompting skills to get images that are more suitable to edit and add dialogs to. 

Power-ups ✨

This week there’s no particular tool I have to share. Instead, it’s more of a concept. 

That is balancing charges and don’t get too one sided. The best way I can describe that is with an example of this week. 

I found that going too hard on the “getting sht done” side, made it more difficult to do so. And when I took a step back and either did an unrelated activity or took a nap, I could go back to work and make progress on what I had faster and easier.

I have this chip in my mindset that I must do stuff and not waste any moment. So, it’s hard to see at what point I’m doing activities to take a “creative break” or I’m just plain & simple procrastinating and avoiding what I have to do.

From the vault 🏛️

Speaking of being productive and getting things done…

This article is about different ways you can be productive without burning yourself out.

It also has some unconventional advice about the subject that not many people talk about.

That’s all for this week.

Thanks again for reading.

Hope you have a great start of the week and see you in the next one.