One phrase that REALLY grates on my nerves is this: creating money.
So too do creating clients, creating results, etc.
Hello, cue brain scoffing…
BUT you’re not literally printing/minting cash, are you?
BUT you’re not literally bringing new humans into the world, are you?
You’re not literally making cash out of thin air. You’re recirculating existing currency. Clients were already moving through the world; they just weren’t YOUR clients before.
The resistance, at least for me, is strong. The instinctual, involuntary reaction, visceral.
Maybe it’s semantics. Making money doesn’t elicit such a response. Nor does getting clients or results.
And isn’t make just another synonym for create?
Stripping it back, I think I stumbled across two hurdles.
- Something about the word ‘create’ feels like it bypasses hard work (at least to me)
- Create is closely tried to creative, and I also have a fraught relationship with that word
I don’t super identify with the label of creative so maybe I feel similarly imposter-y about throwing the word create around. (Probably a subject of another whole post; my hang up here is around my personal definition of creativity. It has traditionally been very narrow; only now am I starting to apply it more broadly beyond the visual arts that produce something tangible, and extending it to nonfiction writing, ways of thinking, etc…)
Unlocking that little insight freed me to go beyond and search for a word that did resonate more strongly. Personally, I’ve adopted the word generate. Something about this feels much more aligned. More concrete. More momentous. More active.
Y’all know I’m very anti-hustle, but by the same stroke, sitting back and waiting isn’t the vibe, either. For me, generate fits and straddles the gap. It feels to me like it honours the aspect of taking action and earning a result, but not necessarily by grinding.
It’s grounded yet allows for ease and flow in there, too.
If something isn’t resonating with you, by all means, find something that DOES vibe with you to take its place. Because words matter. They’re powerful. And choosing the right ones, even if it means making up your own mantra, makes a difference.
Do you ever get caught up on a particular word? What’s gotten you stuck lately?
