This title makes even me roll my eyes but it is accurate. Whoa, I already demonstrated it. There are so many books and talks and podcasts about the power of this or that, and we begrudgingly trudge through it and see if there are any takeaways. Spoiler: usually not.

But this time it’s different. Ooh, I did it again.

As I’ve said before humor is a fantastic thing—but can get in the way of communication. e.g. – You ask a question and someone makes a joke, then expands on the joke but doesn’t ever get around to answering the question. There are other things that can get in the way of communication, and that’s where “but” comes in.

If you’re overly-perceptive you may focus on the things that seem out of place before you answer a question. If you do this it can be problem. Learning to to use the power of but, and however, and other ‘informational separators’ can save you (and those you communicate with) a great deal of time and energy. This works if you are a speaker and have an audience (we all have an audience—see a future podcast on that), or have work peers, or clients, or a spouse or loved ones. So it is something everyone will find useful.

Behold the power of but and listen for more. And stop giggling.