I was reminded of this terrible disease again this morning from Jeff Walker.

The few people who are not stricken with this malady can truly be considered “the exception.” Most people feel it is their God-given right to exercise the sure tell-tale sign that this disease is running rampant.

Here are the two phrases: 1) “Yeah but …”  and 2) “The problem with that is.” Both suck the air right out of an otherwise, potentially good idea. 

You are probably not aware of the many times you utter these exact phrases after hearing an idea from one of your associates. A knee-jerk response is to poke holes in other people’s ideas. Once you focus on these two phrases you will see what an epidemic we have in this area.

It is easy for me to tell you to remove these two phrases from your daily communications. It will take a concerted, focused effort on your part to respond with, “That sounds interesting. How are you planning to pull that off?”

I hope you can see the difference.

The lesson here is not to be an idea buster. Instead, become an idea stimulator. Ideas, in and of themselves are neither good not bad. They are ideas. And ideas need cultivation, not a life-ending introduction to an unnecessary disease.

Practice saying this: “That sounds interesting. How are you planning to pull that off?”