Vocabulary - A Treasure Chest for Success

Success is a word that everyone talks about. At the same time there doesn’t seem to be any one clear definition of the word.

In today’s world we’re all looking for our own version of “success,” and it would be a tremendously boring world if everyone defined it the same way.

Nevertheless, there are certain principles that apply to helping us attain greater success regardless of how we might personally define it.

This article is the first of several in a series that will look at a wide array of subjects directly related to achieving any kind of personal or business success.

In this unique series we’ll examine some apparently simple, yet critically powerful, ideas you can use to achieve virtually whatever level of success you want.

The fascinating information I’ll share with you will come directly from my 25 years of study on the subject of personal achievement. I’ll also draw from my experience as a professional speaker and from my books and articles. (Please see my new book, FlashPoint-Ignite Your Potential at amazon.com. It's great reading whether you're 15, 25 or 65. The same principles apply to everyone.

In my work I get to meet a lot of people and hear them express themselves. One of the things that has always struck me is the wide disparity of understanding people have for the meanings of words.

In my years of studying success I’ve learned some fascinating facts about the relationship between the size of one’s vocabulary and how successful they are in life. I think these insights may provide you with some new perspective on just how important it is to develop your personal vocabulary. At least I hope it will.

Readers Digest published an article by Blake Clark some years ago entitled, “Words Can Do Wonders for You.” In the article he wrote, “Tests of more than 350,000 persons from all walks of life show that, more often than any other measurable characteristic, knowledge of the exact meanings of a large number of words accompanies outstanding success.”

The same dynamic can also be seen at the other end of the socioeconomic spectrum.

Several years ago there was a study done on penitentiary prisoners to see what impact their vocabulary had on their actions.

The study found that the more limited the person’s vocabulary, the more limited their behavior was likely to be. In other words they had fewer choices they could understand and therefore fewer ideas about what their potential actions could be.

Vocabulary is a way of seeing things, of making distinctions, of understanding the world we live in.

We use vocabulary to interpret and express ourselves. The prisoners, who had a limited vocabulary, were unable to make the distinctions needed to acquire personal success. They just didn’t understand. In fact, some of these prisoners may have even resorted to violence, because it was their only effective way of expressing their feelings.

Legendary success expert Earl Nightingale wrote of a 20-year study of college graduates. The study concluded, “Without a single exception, those who had scored highest on the vocabulary test given in college were in the top income group, while those who had scored the lowest were in the bottom income group.”

Work done by scientist Johnson O’Connor involved tests that were given to executive and supervisory personnel in 39 large manufacturing companies. Every person who was tested scored high in basic aptitudes that go along with leadership. The differences in their vocabulary ratings, however, were dramatic and distinct. Here’s how it turned out:

Presidents and Vice Presidents averaged 236 out of a possible 272 points.

Managers averaged 168 points.

Superintendents, 140 points.

Foremen, 86 points.

In virtually every case, the size of each person’s vocabulary correlated with the career level they had achieved. Could it be a coincidence? Absolutely not.

When I was in high school I remember taking weekly vocabulary tests. Although I enjoyed learning new words I didn’t think I’d ever use a lot of the words very often.

You know what? I was right. I don’t speak a lot of those words on a daily basis. But when I hear someone else using them I know what they mean. I don’t have to sit there and wonder what in the world the other person is talking about.

So developing a great vocabulary isn’t really all about how important or how intelligent you sound when you speak. The biggest benefit of having an understanding of what different words mean is how intelligently you can listen to and understand what others are saying.

A large vocabulary is a common characteristic among all successful individuals, regardless of their occupation. That’s because it enhances your ability to think and understand things more clearly.

With the ability to make greater distinctions comes the capacity for greater understanding and knowledge.

Many people don’t appreciate the phenomenal importance of understanding the meaning of a lot of different words until they start running into other people using words they don't comprehend. Here’s an extreme example I often use to drive this point across.

Imagine you had to move to a different country with a different language you didn’t know. Would you be at a disadvantage to the people who did speak the language? Of course you would. Would you be able to understand everything that was going on around you? Definitely not.

But what if you knew just some of the language? Would you be better off? Absolutely, and the more of that language you learned the better off you’d be.

So then, I hope we can agree that if you went somewhere and didn’t understand the language, you’d quickly realize the importance of knowing the meaning of different words . . . as many words as you could learn.

For the exact same reason we can agree that it is just as important to understand as many words as possible in your native language. Without that advantage you can become almost as ignorant as if you didn’t understand it at all.

Certainly those who have a better grasp on the language will have an advantage over you. By having a smaller vocabulary, you become handicapped, meaning that you can’t do, or won’t understand, things that others with a larger vocabulary can. You are at a competitive disadvantage, and the Americans with Disabilities Act does nothing to help people who are handicapped with a poor vocabulary.

So grab yourself a dictionary or thesaurus and commit to learning just one new word a week, or more, and watch how your ability to operate in this place we call the “real world” gets easier and more rewarding for you.

Ken Olan is a consultant, professional speaker and author whose practice is dedicated to helping organizations and individuals achieve their full potential. You can contact him at KennethOlan@aol.com