The Power of "Yet"

Occasionally, I devote a post to making simple changes in our choice of words. Today’s word is “yet.”

Adding “yet” to a sentence adds hope – moving from “I can’t use that software” to “I can’t use that software yet.” Leaving opening the possibility of mastering it.

Using “yet” aligns with having a growth mindset, a mindset based on neuroscience and on research about the elasticity of the brain, which says that you can get better at anything you put energy into or get the right instruction on.

“Yet” is an optimistic word and optimism is important because, as a Mayo Clinic 30-year study found, “Optimistic people live about 19% longer than pessimists.” Pessimism promotes depression and helplessness. While it’s difficult to just decide to think or feel optimistically, Dr J. Mitchell Perry, author of The Road to Optimism… suggests that we change how we say things first and that a change in mindset can follow.  

In these challenging times, we can all use some hope and optimism. After all, we don’t have a vaccine for COVID yet and we aren’t yet sure when social distancing will end. Maybe adding this one little word into our vocabularies can help until then.