Words are everything
They are how we communicate. How we get what we need, asking for help, connecting with others, and solving problems to mention but a few. Without them we would never understand each other. And, most telling, ourselves.
The words we speak have HUGE meaning. It’s not just what we say but how we say it.
And words have even helped bring down Governments and altered the balance of power. That’s precisely what happened in the UK at the end of the 1970’s.
In 1978 the British economy was struggling with over 1.6m people out of work. The ruling Labour government itself was struggling to stem the tide. The opposition Conservative party wanted to appeal to the nation in a big way to win back power as a General Election was predicted by 1979. It chose to employ the creative minds at the Saatchi & Saatchi agency to come up with a memorable campaign idea. They did this amazingly in a clever and brilliant reframing of words.
In an infamous poster and series of magazine ads they featured a long snaking line back into the distance of jobless people queuing for their dole (unemployment) money with the slogan ‘Labour isn’t working’. A stunning double meaning in one.
The result? The Tory party swept to power in 1979 with a 43 seat majority under Margaret Thatcher. The genius reframing of words also reframed the mentality of the public because we all think in words more than images. But with the two combined together, no-one could forget it.
Reframe for gain.
I am an avid runner. And runners often play the reframe game. Not to show off, but to encourage their inner thinking about their achievements and spur them on to even better results.
Recently my running club took a trip to Benidorm for their half marathon. It was humid and a tough little course and even though my time was decent it was a little way off my usual. But I was proud of it given the conditions and route so I happily announced to all who asked how I got on that ‘It was my International PB (Personal Best)’.
Sounds good, huh? Well, I had never ran an international event before so whatever my finishing time, it was bound to be a PB. But that’s the point. I reframed it to feel good about the result. It also fosters self-encouragement, and to harness determination to achieve faster on the next one abroad. No harm done and a win-win in mindset and spirit. It’s how many club runners roll.
And that’s how the reframing works. Its paints a different picture in your mind. To take situations and to reposition the outcome or scenario in a way that introduces the beneficial flip side out of it. Not to mention the fact that it might even drive you to what you should be doing anyway. Take a look below to see this at work.
How to reframe.
Here’s a couple of reframing examples for you that show you how it’s done.
- You have been turned down again for promotion. REFRAME – It’s proof that it’s time to recognise you are far more adept and talented than where you currently work, and now you are going to go after that dream career move you really want.
- Another wrong relationship ends. REFRAME – no longer will you date girls/guys just to have a partner, from now on it’s only the ones you are really attracted to that you haven’t had confidence to get to know before.
- Bank account all empty again at the end of the month. REFRAME – You are worth so much more as a person but first you are going to spend less on things that don’t matter and grow some investments with big goals at the end of them.
Effectively this is the turn around factor. Like the Conservatives turning around something bad (they were not in Government and the unemployment levels were growing) and making into some thing good for them, and soon after for the nation itself. You can mirror that too. At the same time you reset your words on a given situation, you will be resetting your mentality as well. The first automatically updates the second.
It’s said the mind plays tricks but it can also be tricked. Reframing is the trick to play. A winning trick.
Change the words, changes the thinking and perspective, And that changes your small beliefs into bright new elevated ones.
Reframing is retraining for gaining the good times back (and yes, a double meaning for my running intended!).