The Linguistic Power: Two Tricks for Effectively Speaking Your Desires into Being

This podcast episode, "Speak what you want into being: two tricks to using your word effectively," delves into the profound, almost magical, power of human speech. Dr. Orion Taraban elucidates how the physical act of speaking—from muscle contractions in the larynx to the vibration of air particles and subsequent neurological processing in another's brain—allows one to literally transmit and conjure thoughts into existence. He references the ancient meaning of "abracadabra" as "I create as I speak" to underscore the inherent creative force embedded in verbalization, setting the stage for practical advice on harnessing this power for personal success.

The first trick presented is to strategically "trap yourself successfully" through language. This involves a critical distinction between soft, non-committal statements like "I'll try to go for a run tomorrow," which provide easy loopholes for failure without consequence, and firm commitments such as "I will go for a run tomorrow." The latter, by creating a clear commitment and the possibility of actual failure, paradoxically increases the likelihood of engaging in the intended behavior, often driven by the motivation to avoid failing. The core idea is to eliminate self-sabotaging language that undermines intention and commitment.

The second trick focuses on the inverse: actively avoiding speaking what you don't want into being. This encompasses behaviors like worrying, complaining, and gossiping. Dr. Taraban cites a quote, attributed to Robert Downey Jr., stating that "worrying is like praying for something you don't want to happen." The rationale is that by dwelling on or verbalizing undesired outcomes, one inadvertently invests time, energy, and focus into them, causing them to grow larger and potentially manifest. This highlights the self-fulfilling prophecy aspect of negative verbalization.

In essence, the episode advocates for a conscious and intentional approach to language use. By firming intentions into commitments and actively cultivating desired outcomes through positive verbalization, individuals can leverage the inherent power of speech to shape their reality and foster personal success. Conversely, by eliminating language that creates loopholes or feeds negative possibilities, one can prevent self-sabotage and redirect mental and verbal energy towards constructive ends, thereby bringing what they truly want into being.

what are we really doing when we speak by squeezing certain muscles in our larynx we can vibrate particles of our exhaled breath such as they vibrate other particles propagating distributed patterns of energy through the air until such patterns are filtered into someone else's inner ear and cause the little silly in their cochlea to bend thereby transmitting electrical impulses to the auditory processing center in their temporal lobes which will reconstitute those neuronal firings into hallucinated sounds which are recognized as concepts and in that way by squeezing my muscles in just the right manner i can literally put thoughts into your mind

abracadabra originally literally meant i create as i speak

use your language to trap yourself successfully that is to trap yourself for your own good

I'll try to go for a run tomorrow

If the threshold of successful action is merely the attempt then how can we truly fail that said you might not end up with anything worth having either

I will go for a run tomorrow

now you're trapped by your own language now you can actually fail but the possibility of actual failure might functionally increase the likelihood that you engage in the intended behavior if for no other reason than to avoid failing

when you use phrases like i will do this or this will happen you firm your intention into a commitment which will make it more likely to occur

worrying is like praying for something you don't want to happen

when you worry or complain you're giving the undesired outcome time energy money and whatever we feed in this way gets larger

rather than ruminate on what you don't want or speak on the things that we fear might transpire use your words to cultivate desired outcomes and bring what you want into being