Think Before You Speak 🤫

Having the urge to say something doesn’t mean you should, right? If so, how do we gauge whether or not it’s the best thing to say?

In this article, I intend to break down the simplicity of one of the most powerful pieces of advice that we’ve been given, yet one which few have mastered. At the end of this read, I believe you will have tremendous insight on how to apply this powerful principle in a practical way.

When we were growing up, we were told by everyone around us to think before we speak, yet they never taught us how to think. We were taught to silently wait until the urge of voicing an opinion, thought, idea, insult, promise, lie, etc., slowly went away. This is not the way.

The question probably shouldn't be whether thinking before you speak is a good idea, as there are many ancient texts from the men of old compelling us to carefully scrutinize that which we think we may want to say.

Proverbs 17:28 — “Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.”

The Buddha spoke about the four kinds of ill speech. The first is lying. The second is slander or defamation. The third is harsh speech. The fourth is wasteful blabbering or stupid talk.

A famous Japanese proverb says that the tongue is but three inches long, yet it can kill a man six feet high.

I propose that maybe the question should be tailored towards what I should think about before I speak as we can all agree, analyzing what we say is a good idea.

However, the key is not analyzing but more so through what filter do we analyze that which we say.

Last night, I formulated a speech filtration system designed to increase the odds of a positive outcome for yourself and those around you. So here's the story…

Last night I was going to make a comment regarding something that I thought was a great achievement. As I meditated on the thought, the first thing I asked myself was, “If I say this, how will it negatively impact every individual in this room (personally), both short term and long term. Secondly, how do they benefit from this.”

We may potentially evaluate the instant reaction, yet few have mastered the evaluation of…