25 Things People From Maryland Have To Explain To Out-Of-Towners

1. No, Not Everyone Here Is From D.C.

Really? Yes, Really.

2. How To Tell The Difference Between A Jimmy And A Sally

Source: Flickr user Mike Miley

Flip the crab over: if it’s the Washington Monument, it’s a Jimmy (male crab). If it’s the Capitol Dome, it’s a Sally (female crab)

3. Marylanders Will Need To Explain Why Everyone Is Calling You “Hon”

Source: Honfest via Facebook

The “hon” phenomenon in Maryland is pretty intimidating to out-of-towners at first, especially if they arrive during the annual “Honfest” (yes, that’s a thing). But no one in Maryland will apologize for calling you “hon” because not only is it a perfectly acceptable (and awesome) term of endearment, it’s also a pretty fabulous lifestyle.

So, bob your hair, grab some hairspray, get some horn-rimmed glasses, and join the party.

4. Marylanders Can Tell You Anything And Everything About Lacrosse

Source: Facebook user Johns Hopkins University

The state’s official “team” sport is lacrosse so, naturally, everyone is a laxer, brah. When you arrive in Maryland thinking you know what’s what about lacrosse, you get a rude awakening. Don’t believe me? Go to any Johns Hopkins lax game and see for yourself.

5. Yes, This Really Is The State Flag And Not Something Borrowed From The Medieval Times Restaurant

Source: otherpeoplespixels.com

People have a lotof state flag pride in Maryland. And who can blame them? It looks straight out of “Game of Thrones.”

6. Although, The State Sport Is Jousting

Source: Flickr user Jeff Kubina

Yeah, so…officially the state sport of Maryland is jousting. It takes awhile for this one to really sink in when you explain it to out-of-towners but:

1. Jousting is still a thing
2. Marylanders are pros at it
3. Don’t mess with Maryland…They can joust, for God’s sake.

7. Pizza Taste Better When Cut Into Squares

Source: Facebook user Ledo Pizza

Everyone in Maryland knows the best pizza is Ledo’s pizza. Which means, by the transitive property, that the best pizza is square-shapedpizza, not triangle. So you can take a hike, NYC and Chicago. Maryland knows how it should be done.

8. The Only Chips Worth Getting Are Utz

Source: Facebook user Utz Snacks

Everyone is Maryland is crazy about Utz. Ruffles? Lays? What even are those brands? It’s Utz or nothing.

9. Marylanders Always Have To Tell Ya Why The Natty Boh Guy Only Has One Eye

Source: Facebook user Natty Boh Gear

No one really knows why the Natty Boh man only has one eye, however people have some pretty strong theories. The most commonly held belief is that Natty Boh’s eye is with Gunther. Gunther was National Bohemian’s biggest competitor after prohibition in the 1930s and the fact that the Natty Boh guy is still missing his eye is attributed to the famous rivalry.

Yeah, sure, he lost an eye to the competition…but he definitely came out on top in the end.

10. And A Snowball Isn’t Just What You Throw At Your Neighborhood Friends In The Winters

Source: Facebook user Hula Honeys Hawaiian Shave Ice

The best part of a Maryland summer is the snowballs! Maryland is known for its shaved ice and there are stands set up on practically every street corner, all over the state. Hula Honeys is a favorite of many a Marylander.

11. Cal Ripken, Jr. Is Basically A Deity In Maryland

Source: Flickr user Keith Allison

Cal Ripken, Jr. might as well be a god to Marylanders. Not only was he born in this great state, but he played for the Orioles for over two decades, he’s played in 19 All Star Games, and he has won two MVP awards. He’s no joke.

Plus, he’s basically, like, the most charitable man in Maryland and is super active all over the state.

12. Marylanders Love For The Ravens Far Outweighs A Normal Love For A Football Team

Source: Facebook user Baltimore, Ravens

The Ravens aren’t just a football team. They’re a way of life. They saved the sport of football for the state of Maryland after the Colts fiasco (Ugh. Sigh.)

Since 2000, The Ravens have won two Super Bowls, four AFC North division titles, and made the playoffs nine times. So, basically, they were Maryland’s saving grace.

13. Even Saying “Colts” Is A Sin In Maryland

As you can imagine, Marylanders haven’t really gotten over their “abandonment” issue that the Colts left them with. Who just packs up and leaves Baltimore to go to Indianapolis!

So, one of the first things Marylanders should explain to an out-of-towner? Don’t even say the word “Colts” in the presence of a Marylander.

14. A Marylander Will Tell You How To Craft A Beer

Source: Facebook user Full Tilt Brewing

Maryland’s been crafting beer since before crafting beer was cool. There are amazing microbreweries are all over the state, like Heavy Seas, Union Craft, Brewers Alley, and Full Tilt. You just can’t go wrong with Maryland beer.

15. It’s “Merlin”—Not Mary-Land

Marylanders have a unique accent that out-of-towners sometimes have a hard time understanding. For starters, the state’s name is pronounced, “Merlin’” or sometimes, “Marilyn,” but never Mary-land.

Oh and it’s Bawlmer, not “Baltimore”. Oh, and you don’t “wash” your hands with “water,” you “warsh ‘em with wooder.” Don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of it.

16. The National Anthem is “O” So Important to Marylanders

So, not only was the author of the National Anthem from Maryland (thanks, Francis Scott Key), which automatically makes the National Anthem more Maryland’s than any other state in America, it’s also “O” so wonderful to sing.

Orioles fans are known for yelling the “O” in The Star Spangled Banner louder than any other team in MLB. Yes, Marylanders just have the perfect blend of nationalism and state pride.

17. The Only Seasoning You’ll Find In A Marylander’s Home Is Old Bay

Source: Facebook user Old Bay Seasoning

To a Marylander, Old Bay belongs on everything. There’s no better flavor in the world and nothing better to go with steamed crab.

18. And The Only Seasoning In Restaurants Is J.O. Spice

Source: Facebook user J.O. Spice

So, maybe Old Bay is the best flavor in the world. And maybe it’s what every real Marylander wants on their steamed crabs…but, any true Marylander will have to break it to ya one day: J.O. Spice, the local, family owned spice business actually gives Old Bay a run for its money. Most restaurants in Maryland actually use J.O. instead of Old Bay. That being said, out-of-towners tend to stick to the myth that it’s Old Bay and nothing else.

19. The Miracle on 34th Street Isn’t Just A Movie

Source: Flickr user Kathleen Tyler Conklin

Most out-of-towners have no clue that the real Miracle on 34th Street is in Hampden. During the holiday season, this entire residential neighborhood sets up luminous, and unique decorations—they have everything from a Christmas tree made out of hubcaps to giant light up menorahs that take up the whole front porch.

People flock from all over the state (and out of state!) to see the display, and they’ve been doing so since 1947!

20. The Poe Toaster Has Nothing To Do With Toast

Source: Wikimedia user midnightdreary

The Poe Toaster was a mystery man who came to Edgar Allen Poe’s grave each year, leaving a bottle of cognac and a red rose—his “toast” to Poe. This went on for 75 years, before ending for unknown reasons in 2006, but all Marylanders are hoping for a Poe Toaster comeback one of these days.

21. Everyone In Maryland Knows The Lyrics To All Songs From “Hairspray”

Source: Giphy.com

People in Maryland have a ton of state pride, which explains their love for anything and everything that celebrates Maryland culture. The famous musical, “Hairspray,” is set in Maryland and many of the lyrics to the songs capture the Maryland spirit. So, if you’re from out of town, you should probably get with the picture and at least watch the movie (both versions).

22. Being South Of The Mason-Dixon Line Doesn’t Mean They’re Southern

Source: exploretheline.com

While technically Maryland is in the South people in Maryland consider themselves as Northern as a Northerner could be. That darn Mason-Dixon line disagrees though.

23. Unless You’re From The Eastern Shore

Source: Flickr user laura dye

Just like the Mason Dixon line, folks from the Eastern Shore are dead-set on proving that Maryland is the South. Many people from the eastern part of the state truly believe that Southern culture is more representative of their culture and will point to the Mason Dixon line until they’re blue in the face to prove it to y’all.

24. What It Means When We Say We’re “America In Miniature”

You can’t visit Maryland without hearing at least 10 times how “It’s America…In Miniature.” That’s because Maryland has all four, distinct seasons and it has terrain that’s representative of the entire United States: mountains, lakes, rivers, forests, valleys, ocean, cities, suburbs, etc. Basically, you get a taste of all of America in a very small amount of space.

25. And Why We’re All About Our County Pride

Source: Facebook user PG County Fair

Because the state is like a miniature America, the people are also very diverse and each county takes a lot of pride in whatever it is that makes that particular area of Maryland unique.

People have county pride bumper stickers, get really into their county fairs, and of course, make excellent nicknames for all of the counties. So, are you from HoCo? MoCo? PG? AA? Wherever you’re from, you have an identity that you share with your county.
Erica Zane

5 Nighttime Routines of Successful Entrepreneurs

America’s fascination with entrepreneurial productivity is endless -- just look at the waves of books published each year to the ongoing obsession with finding ways to wake up earlier each day. But it’s not just optimizing your morning routine or the approach to structuring your work day that’s important. In fact, one of the most overlooked productivity and schedule hacks is the entrepreneur’s nighttime routine.

Here are five tips that will make you the master of your evening schedule and set you up for a high-energy and focused tomorrow.

1. Assess your day: what good did I do today?

Ben Franklin was famous for his rigorous routines and schedules. He ended each carefully mapped day by asking one single question, “What good did I do today?” The sentiment is right, but as an entrepreneur take a slightly more structured approach to examining your day. Take time to review your schedule, projects and insights.

Ask yourself three questions: What progress did I make toward my vision and goals today? What am I grateful for today, specifically? Finally, what improvements can I make with what I learned?

2. Set three priorities for tomorrow.

What you do in the evening can ensure your success the following day. In his Vanity Fair profile of President Obama, Michael Lewis notes “the president’s day actually starts the day before.” He spends the evening reviewing schedules and briefs for the coming day. Similarly, many writers suggest ending the day’s work mid-sentence so they know exactly where to pick up with writing in the morning.

Use this principle of building momentum by thinking about your objectives, tasks, schedule and desired outcomes. Using the Most Important Thing (MIT) approach, define your top priorities for tomorrow before bed. You’ll wake up with a clear agenda and be ready to accomplish more.

3. Set clear boundaries to decompress.

As an entrepreneur, it’s easy to feel like your business is your life. But set clear boundaries when the work day ends and personal time begins.Psychology Today has discussed the importance of rituals to help you transition from work to home. A study of military professionals, in arguably some of the most stressful positions in the world, showed that simple steps such as taking a few minutes of private time or removing their uniforms helped them ease into the home environment.

Take a walk, listen to an audiobook or stretch to end your day on a peaceful note. If you like more structure, attend a yoga class or meditate. After that time, if at all possible, disconnect and enjoy time with family or friends, decompress, engage in hobbies, or catch up on your rest.

4. Master sleep hygiene.

Seventy million Americans experience some form of sleep disorder. Entrepreneurs have more sleepless nights than most. Prioritizing sleep and protecting that time is essential to sleeping when you’re struggling with anxiety, fatigue and other issues that can arise as part of the entrepreneurial life.

The National Sleep Foundation lays out a good plan for sleep hygiene, but the keys are simple. Set a consistent sleep schedule and stick to it. Don’t work or watch TV in bed, just use it for sleep and intimate activities. Make your room as dark as possible with blackout shades and keep your bedroom a screen-free zone. Play with the temperature and keep things cooler. Invest in a comfortable mattress setup. And finally, give yourself enough time to unwind before bed.

5. Do one thing for pleasure. 

It can be easy to lose sight of why you’re working so hard: to achieve financial freedom, build security for your family or to change the world. Every night, do one thing that brings you joy. Spend time with your family over a leisurely dinner with no tablets or phones in sight. Indulge in self-care with a long walk or a professional massage. Take time to watch a movie or read a book you’ve been dying to dig into.

Make the most of your non-work time to refill the well a bit each day, rather than relying only on weekends or vacations.

Conclusion.

Paying attention to your evening schedule adds a layer of control and sanity to a typically packed schedule. It allows -- or forces -- you to make time for important things such as family and your health. Ultimately, you’re able to keep your energy high and focus on your most important business priorities for maximum productivity the following day.

Jayson Demers

7 Powerful Public Speaking Tips From One of the Most-Watched TED Talks Speakers

You’d never know it, but Simon Sinek is naturally shy and doesn’t like speaking to crowds. At parties, he says he hides alone in the corner or doesn’t even show up in the first place. He prefers the latter. Yet, with some 22 million video views under his belt, the optimistic ethnographer also happens to be the third most-watched TED Talks presenter of all time.

Ironic for an introvert, isn’t it? Sinek’s unlikely success as both an inspirational speaker and a bestselling author isn’t just dumb luck. It’s also not being in the right place at the right time or knowing the right people. It’s the result of fears faced and erased, trial and error and tireless practice, on and off stage.

We caught up with Sinek to pick his brain about how he learned to give such confident, captivating and meaningful presentations and how others can, too. 

Here are his top seven secrets for delivering speeches that inspire, inform and entertain. (For more helpful pointers on how to wow an audience, check out his free 30-minute class on Skillshare now. It’s titled How to Present: Share Ideas That Inspire Action.)

1. Don’t talk right away.

Sinek says you should never talk as you walk out on stage. “A lot of people start talking right away, and it’s out of nerves,” Sinek says. “That communicates a little bit of insecurity and fear.”  

Instead, quietly walk out on stage. Then take a deep breath, find your place, wait a few seconds and begin. “I know it sounds long and tedious and it feels excruciatingly awkward when you do it,” Sinek says, “but it shows the audience you’re totally confident and in charge of the situation.”

2. Show up to give, not to take.

Often people give presentations to sell products or ideas, to get people to follow them on social media, buy their books or even just to like them. Sinek calls these kinds of speakers “takers,” and he says audiences can see through these people right away. And, when they do, they disengage.

“We are highly social animals," says Sinek. "Even at a distance on stage, we can tell if you’re a giver or a taker, and people are more likely to trust a giver -- a speaker that gives them value, that teaches them something new, that inspires them -- than a taker.”

3. Make eye contact with audience members one by one.

Scanning and panning is your worst enemy, says Sinek. “While it looks like you’re looking at everyone, it actually disconnects you from your audience.”

It’s much easier and effective, he says, if you directly look at specific audience members throughout your speech. If you can, give each person that you intently look at an entire sentence or thought, without breaking your gaze. When you finish a sentence, move on to another person and keep connecting with individual people until you’re done speaking.

“It’s like you’re having a conversation with your audience," says Sinek. "You’re not speaking at them, you’re speaking with them."

This tactic not only creates a deeper connection with individuals but the entire audience can feel it.

4. Speak unusually slowly.

When you get nervous, it’s not just your heart beat that quickens. Your words also tend to speed up. Luckily Sinek says audiences are more patient and forgiving than we know.

“They want you to succeed up there, but the more you rush, the more you turn them off," he says. "If you just go quiet for a moment and take a long, deep breath, they’ll wait for you. It’s kind of amazing.”

Sinek believes it’s impossible to speak too slowly on stage. “It’s incredible that you can stand on stage and speak so slowly that there are several seconds between each of your words and people… will… hang… on… your… every… word. It really works.”

5. Ignore the naysayers.

Dismiss the people furrowing their brows, crossing their arms or shaking their heads “no.” Instead, focus only on your supporters -- the people who are visibly engaged, enjoying your presentation and nodding “yes.” If you find the audience members who are positively interacting with you, you’ll be much more confident and relaxed than if you try to convince the naysayers.  

6. Turn nervousness into excitement.

Sinek learned this trick from watching the Olympics. A few years ago he noticed that reporters interviewing Olympic athletes before and after competing were all asking the same question. "Were you nervous?” And all of the athletes gave the same answer: "No, I was excited." These competitors were taking the body’s signs of nervousness -- clammy hands, pounding heart and tense nerves -- and reinterpreting them as side effects of excitement and exhilaration.

When you’re up on stage you will likely go through the same thing. That’s when Sinek says you should say to yourself out loud, “I’m not nervous, I’m excited!”

“When you do, it really has a miraculous impact in helping you change your attitude to what you’re about to do," Sinek says.

7. Say thank you when you’re done.

Applause is a gift, and when you receive a gift, it’s only right to express how grateful you are for it. This is why Sinek always closes out his presentations with these two simple yet powerful words: thank you.

"They gave you their time, and they’re giving you their applause." Says Sinek. "That’s a gift, and you have to be grateful."

Kim Lachance Shandrow

There Are 8 Indispensable Elements of Real Wealth and 7 Aren't Money

What’s the purpose of life?

That's a powerful question that deserves your attention. My answer has drastically changed the past five to 10 years, and will continue to evolve. Success is part of life's purpose but I know that on the other side of success is the quest for more success, more milestones, more achievements, more people to help and learn from, more money to be made. That's great. Life becomes mundane and boring without goals and dreams to reach for but I believe there is more to life and real wealth.

Don’t get me wrong. Becoming a millionaire is a valid desire for everyone, but there is no higher success than building and maintaining a world class life with meaning and significance. Awareness precedes choice, and your choices determine the quality of your life. I’ve put some serious thought into what makes a world class life. Here are the eight forms you must adapt and start improving if you want to live an exceptional life with no regret.

1. A world-class inner life.

Your outer world, who you are and the quality of your life, is 100 percent determined by your inner world. Your inner world consists of your peace of mind, the quality of your thinking and living authentically. Are you living your true values or doing things based out of fear and worry? Your inner world determines your self worth and how connected you are to your core.

2. World-class health.

Your health is a very important part of wealth. If you don’t have your health, you have nothing. At the end of your life, the things you now perceive as the big things might be the little things. When we are young, we will compromise our health for wealth, but when we are old we will gladly sacrifice all of our wealth for just a little bit of health.

It’s extremely important to put health first, if you really want a world class life. We take our health for granted until we lose it, then we spend all our waking time trying to get it back. Those who don’t make time for exercise must eventually make time for illness.

3. World-class family life.

Having loved ones around you, and being able to see your family whenever you choose, is a crucial part of success. Gary Vaynerchuktold me his business is extremely important, but a distant second to his family. The greatest support system in the world is good family and friends. You can’t be careless here, you need great relationships and those who make you better. Remember, you can’t change your family, and trying to do so will cause you endless stress and frustration. Love them and appreciate them for who they are. 

4. World-class profession/career.

The attitude you bring to your days determine your destiny and it's extremely hard to carry a great attitude when you don't enjoy what you do. According to the new Gallup survey "71 percent of employees are activity disengaged at work."

Be patient and figure out your strengths. Purposefully choosing (or creating) your ideal professional is crucial to a world-class life. When you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life. It's important to get to the end of your career knowing you gave your best. Yes, unexpected circumstances do happen but you are in control of your own future through the choices you make. Life is not easy nor promised, but it's how you adapt and adjust that determines what happens next. Never settle.

5. World-class financial freedom.

Less than 5 percent of our society will be financially stable by age 65. WTF? Money is extremely important and makes the world go round. It also gives you one of the most important aspects of a world-class life --freedom.

Money allows you the choices to do what you want, when you want, wherever you want, so you can live on your own terms. What’s your game plan to assure a financially free future?

6. World-class circle of genius.

You become who you spend the most time with. Are the people you’re associating with holding you to higher standards and challenging you? If you spend time with people who are playing at a world class level, you drastically increase your chances of doing the same. Their ways of being will rub off on you. You’ll adapt their philosophies and perspectives.

Start surrounding yourself with people whose lives you want to emulate. Keep company with those who are thinking and acting at an extraordinary level.

7. World-class experiences.

Ultimately, life is an adventure. Experiences and memories are what separate the elite lives from the mediocre. I’ve recently started focusing more on producing instead of consuming, and valuing experiences over material things. I like both, and appreciate the finer things in life, but after studying countless world-class people, it’s clear they are constantly creating memorable experiences. What's the point of doing something if you’re not having fun? 

8. World-class impact and legacy.

The worthiest aim of life is service to the world around us. How much difference are you making in the world around you? Are you adding consistent value that improves the lives of others?

Generosity the key that unlocks happiness. There is no greater feeling than when you help or give to others, asking for nothing back. Whether it is a compliment or a small gift, do something nice for somebody every day. Realize every tweet, every blog post and every conversation you have is part of your legacy.

I challenge you not to postpone your life. Most say “when I have more time I will take time for myself” but the reality is life waits for no one. Don't postpone travel or chasing your dreams. Nobody knows when their time is up, so make the most of it by focusing on these eight forms of real wealth.

Peter Voogd

5 Things You Won't Believe Hurt Your Credit Score

Deciphering your credit score can be difficult, especially if you don't know all the ways you can be hurting it. Your credit is not only attached to your credit card use, but with many everyday financial activities. Here are five things that can hurt your credit, and ways to prevent them from happening to you.

1. Closing a Credit Card Account

The act of closing a credit card account doesn't hurt your score in and of itself. What it can do, however, is lower your credit utilization ratio, which determines about 30 percent of your FICO score, according to FICO. Let's say, for instance, you have two credit cards, both of which have a $5,000 credit limit, giving you $10,000 of overall credit. If you owe $2,500, your credit utilization ratio — which determines how much credit you are currently using — would be 25 percent, a healthy figure. However, if you closed one of your accounts, your credit utilization would shoot up to 50 percent, negatively affecting your credit score.

If you do decide to close an account, make sure your utilization ratio will stay below 30 percent once the account is closed.

2. Applying For New Credit

When you apply for a new line of credit, whether it's for a credit card or an auto loan, the credit issuer will run a hard inquiry on your credit report. Having too many hard inquiries on your credit report at one time can lead to a decline in your score, and can also severely affect it if you apply for multiple lines of credit in a short time frame. It's best to only apply for credit when you need it.

Also, only apply for cards that you know you can qualify for. If you get declined for five cards before getting approved, that's six hard inquiries on your credit report, which will drag down your score. Check out this list of the best credit cards for every credit score to get a better idea of which credit cards are best for you.

3. Renting a Car With a Debit Card

This is all assuming that the car rental service allows you to rent with a debit card. Some don't. At first glance this might seem odd since you're not paying with credit. However, some agencies will check your credit report if you decide to pay by debit card. The rental agency might see it as a red flag that you aren't using a credit card, so they're going to check and see if you can be trusted. It'll count as a hard inquiry and could cost a few points on your score.

4. Financing a Major Purchase

If a furniture or electronics store offers to let you finance a major purchase, like a couch or a flat-screen TV, think twice about it. Some store financing can be considered a "last-resort loan," which can make you look like a credit risk. Any financing will also result in a hard inquiry on your credit report.

If you want to make a large purchase but don't want to pay for it all at once, consider putting it on a new credit card instead of getting store financing. Many credit cards now offer a 0% intro APR for up to 18 months, which means you won't have to pay interest on the purchase for a year and a half. It will also raise your credit utilization ratio, since you are taking on more credit. These cards are now offering the 0% intro APR for 18 months deal.

5. Not Paying a Parking Ticket

You might think you pulled a fast one on the local municipality by not paying a parking ticket, but they might have the last laugh. Some cities, including New York and Chicago, send your unpaid tickets to collections agencies. Your credit score can take a severe beating if you have an account in collections.

So, while you might think you saved $65 on a parking ticket, you could be paying hundreds of dollars more on a new loan. That's because you might not get favorable terms on said loan because of the decrease in your credit score for not paying that parking ticket.

This goes the same for utility bills, back rent and other expenses that you forgot to pay. Make sure that all of your accounts are paid up so that no one can send your accounts to a collection agency.

This blog post originally appeared on The Huffington Post.

Jonathan Roisman

What Do the Words You Use Say About You?

How much does your vocabulary determine your success?

A lot.

Your personality can be determined just by looking at the way you text message. You can make accurate judgments about your favorite author’s personality just by reading their work. You can probably tell a great deal about my personality from the words I use in my blog posts.

…obscenity at the beginning or end of the speech significantly increased the persuasiveness of the speech and the perceived intensity of the speaker. Obscenity had no effect on speaker credibility.Word choice can predict whether you’redepressed, suicidal or lying. Swearing makes you more persuasive. It’s true, asshole:

Word choice changes when you’re lying:

An analysis of 242 transcripts revealed that liars produced more words, more sense-based words (e.g., seeing, touching), and used fewer self-oriented but more other-oriented pronouns when lying than when telling the truth. In addition, motivated liars avoided causal terms when lying, whereas unmotivated liars tended to increase their use of negations.

Things that are easy for our brain to process feel more true than concepts that are difficult to process. This is one of the reasons we tend to like the familiar more than the unfamiliar. It’s also why we may fall for the glib and specious versus more accurate but challenging explanations.

It’s also why small words are more effective than big ones and whytrying to sound smart actually makes you seem stupid.

Words affect our decision making. When crime is described as a “beast” people favor police and jails, when it’s a “virus” the public supports social reform.

But can words really predict behavior?

Boxers who spoke positively and referenced health and work before a match were more likely to win. Those who spoke tentatively and talked about social factors lost.

Speaking positively and using words related to “insight” is associated with outstanding achievement.

The way employees gossip about a company can predict its success or failure.

Via The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say About Us:

And be very concerned if an organization’s employees start calling it “the company” or, worse, “that company” and referring to their co-workers as “they.” They-companies can be nightmares because workers are proclaiming that their work identity has nothing to do with them. No wonder consultants report that they-companies have unhappy workers and high turnover.

Which CEO’s are going to run a company into the ground? Count the number of times they use the word “I” in their annual letter to shareholders.

Via Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else:

Laura Rittenhouse, an unusual type of financial analyst, counts the number of times the word “I” occurs in annual letters to shareholders from corporate CEOs, contending that this and other evidence in the letters helps predict company performance (basic finding: Egomaniacs are bad news).

That word “I” can be very telling. Powerful people don’t say it much. Less powerful people say it the most. People use “I” rarely when lying in order to psychologically distance themselves.

By the same token, “we” can be extremely powerful. Just saying it can make people feel more positive toward you and create a feeling of familiarity.

Couples who say “we” often when describing their relationships are more satisfied. Use of the word “you” is a bad sign. Using “we” can even predict whether you’ll survive a heart attack.

From The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say About Us:

A couple’s use of we-words when talking to a third party predicts a satisfying relationship…

In the laboratory, when talking about marital disagreements, we-words indicated a good relationship whereas the use of you-words suggested problems. The use of you-words, such as you, your, and yourself, were most apparent in toxic conversations—usually where the two participants were accusing each other of various shortcomings.

We-words may even save your life. In one project, patients with heart failure were interviewed with their spouses. They were asked a series of questions, including “As you think back on how the two of you have coped with the heart condition, what do you think you have done best?” The more the spouses used we-words in their answers, the healthier the patients were six months later.

Mimicking another person’s word choice improves negotiations.

In fact, similarity in word choice can predict who will fall in love. Examining the words of speed daters was more effective at predicting who would get together than watching them interact.

Words aren’t everything though

Your body language may be eight times as influential as your words.

Via The Most Human Human: What Artificial Intelligence Teaches Us About Being Alive:

Language is an odd thing. We hear communication experts telling us time and again about things like the “7-38-55 rule,” first posited in 1971 by UCLA psychology professor Albert Mehrabian: 55 percent of what you convey when you speak comes from your body language, 38 percent from your tone of voice, and a paltry 7 percent from the words you choose.

(More on body language here.)

And in case you were curious: just like you get words stuck on the tip of your tongue, deaf signers get words stuck on the tips of their fingers:

The “tip of the fingers” phenomenon (TOF) for sign language parallels the “tip of the tongue” phenomenon (TOT) for spoken language. During a TOF, signers are sure they know a sign but cannot retrieve it.

This piece originally appeared on Barking Up the Wrong Tree.

Eric Barker

Want Your Kid to Be Successful? Shark Tank's Barbara Corcoran Says You Should Do This.

Back off, helicopter parents. If you want your kid to grow up to be a successful entrepreneur -- or to realize her career dreams at all, whatever they are -- the best thing you can do is “take the pressure off,”Shark Tank star Barbara Corcoran says.

“Ignore what they don’t do well,” the millionaire mom of two recently told Entrepreneur.com on the Shark Tank set. “Instead, stay totally focused on finding what your kid does well and let them do a lot of it. They’ll be better and happier for it.”

And, while you’re at it, smothering Moms and Dads, stop nagging your child to get good grades already. Corcoran, who has dyslexia and admits that she was a “lousy,” straight-D student all through high school and college, made a point of never hounding her son Tom about scoring high marks. He’s now in his third year at Columbia University and faring quite well.

“I told him, ‘You don’t have to be a good student. Take your time. What the hell? Try this. Try that. Move around.’” The result? “A well-rounded creative kid that’s always going to be himself.”

To help your child learn, grow and come into their own with confidence, let her “experiment, make mistakes and recover, and don’t narrowly confine them the way that school systems and society does.” In other words, let your little one fall so she can learn how to pick herself up.   

The diner waitress turned wildly successful serial entrepreneur also said her “top four [Shark Tank] entrepreneurs” were all “lousy in school, too.” Being the “dunce and the out-man” prepares kids for the challenges of business, she said, because it teaches them first-hand how to cope with and bounce back from rejection.

“When you’re not good at school, you’re comfortable out there on the skirts,” she said. “You’re used to it. It’s like breathing. You get good at rejection and you don’t feel sorry for yourself when something goes wrong.”

Entrepreneurs who didn’t endure academic challenges, who had high-pressure parents and high grades to please them, are often more likely to “fold and feel bad for themselves,” she said. “While they’re busy feeling sorry for themselves, the world is going by.”

 Kim Lachance Shandrow