Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction: Congratulations, you’ve made it through the Seven Dirty Words series! Throughout this journey, we’ve explored how innocuous words like Should, Always, Never, Except, Must, Just, and Only subtly influence our thinking, and subsequently our behavior. These tiny rhetorical gremlins quietly restrict thinking, reinforce limiting beliefs, and keep us stuck....
Category Archives: Long Form
7 Dirty Words Part 4: Stop Shrinking Yourself: Break Free from “Just” and “Only”
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction “I’m just a nurse.”“I only helped a little.”“I just followed the plan.” At first glance, these phrases seem harmless, maybe even humble. But when we overuse “just” and “only,” they become powerful tools of self-diminishment. These two small words quietly undermine accomplishments, erode confidence, and distort reality by making meaningful contributions...
7 Dirty Words Part 3: Disarming Your Inner Critic by Breaking Free from “Except” and “Must”
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction “I did well, except for that one mistake.”“I must get this perfect, or I’ve failed.” Sound familiar? Although these statements might seem harmless, they have our next two of the seven dirty words. “Except” and “Must” are red flags for self-sabotage. In this post we’ll not only...
7 Dirty Words Part 2: The Trap of Absolutes: How “Always” and “Never” Limit Your Thinking
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction “Always” and “Never”: Opposites That Work the Same Way “They always leave me out.” “I’ll never be good enough.” At first glance, “always” and “never” might seem like opposites. One declares constancy, while the other implies impossibility. Yet, these words share a common function: they are absolutes...
Stop Shoulding All Over Yourself: 7 Dirty Words Part 1
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Take control of the “Shoulds”: Aligning Expectations with Reality In our introductory installment of “The seven dirty words” we discussed a general approach to building mindfulness and becoming aware of using the words. Our mindfulness exercise focused on assessing your personal energy level and emotional state preceding the...
The 7 Dirty Words Holding you Back: Introduction
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Our words: Should, Only, Just, Must, Always, Never, Except…be on guard for the dirty words: times when we are low on energy and looking for a quick and low effort expression of thought, these little rascals may creep in. George Carlin wrote and delivered a historic comedy bit about...
Email tips
Paul M. Michaud MD, CPE How many times a day to you check your email? How many hours a week, month, year do you spend on email? If you are anything like me the answer is too much. How productive was that time? Likely not as productive as you tell yourself. I get it. Your organization relies...
The Toxic Leader
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP We’ve all heard the “Toxic Leader” term thrown around like a manhole cover. In fact, I made sure the title of this post was set off by the definite article, just to make The Toxic Leader seem even more like the antagonist in a monster movie. This term...
If Everything Is Important, Nothing Is Important
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Some timely holiday season coaching: BLUF: For some of us, a component of holiday stress comes from trying to squeeze everything in the Important/Urgent quadrant. Some practical tips1) Be brutally honest building your 2×2 Important/Urgent matrix.2) Ask the question: what happens if I delay doing this task (or just dump it entirely)?3) Is...
A Model and Metaphor for Change and Growth
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP My family and I attended a fantastic concert recently, and had some humorous goofs with our Navigation app. On the way there, the app brought us physically next to the parking garage, but not to an actual entrance! I often marvel at the precision of GPS and then...