Tim Ferriss suggests that we begin thinking with more precision and that a good start would be to avoid using these 10 words:
1. Happiness
2. Success
3. Should
4. Responsible
5. Realistic
6. Reasonable
7. Spiritual
8. Good/Right
9. Bad/Wrong
10. Moral
He says these words are so overused that they’re meaningless. I disagree, of course, especially about the term happiness. It doesn’t matter if other people’s version of happiness is different from mine. I don’t expect us to be having the same image and feelings when we use the term. Yes, the term is vague, but that doesn’t mean there’s not a powerful concept behind it. A concept well worth exploring and discussing. And that, of course, is the purpose of this blog.
Hmm, I think we would lose a lot if we stopped using some of those words. Maybe we should stop misusing them? I dunno.
Thanks for visiting my blog today! It’s always great to see someone new.
I don’t think these words are overused, they just have different meanings to different people.
Tim is an interesting guy. I love the irony of the title. I don’t really agree with what he says in the article – but it is certainly an article that will make me think twice before using these words.
Thanks for stopping by, Peter.
meaningless in a generic sense, but who uses happiness and success to define others anyway? It’s a personal value!
Jessica, Shirley and Daz,
🙂 Thanks for coming by. (Sorry I’m so late in saying that, Jessica and Shirley!) I agree, happiness is personal, and that’s one reason the subject is so fascinating. How dumb would it be if we couldn’t talk about important things just because we have different definitions.
i’m sorry. i suppose i should deeply think about what
tim ferriss has to say about this. but that kind of picky-picky about simple semantics just makes me kind of tired.
i like the very word “happiness.” it’s fun to say.
my inner 12 year old prefers all those words.
i don’t argue with my 12 yr old. it was a very good year.