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The 2012 LMA Leaders Conference featured coaching from Elizabeth Ruske, who explained the 10 Linguistic Viruses and how to work on eliminating them from your professional and personal life. Below is an excerpt. Chapter leaders can download the complete PDF from the LMA website; go to For Members > LMA Connect Files > Chapter Resources.

The 10 Linguistic Viruses
Adapted from You Are What You Say by Matthew Budd, M.D., and Larry Rothstein, Ed.D.
Copyright 2000 by Matthew Budd, M.D., and Larry Rothstein, Ed.D

The 10 Linguistic Viruses not only create ineffectiveness and friction between people, but also produce negative mood states, which, in turn, threaten your well-being and health. For instance, people who never make requests usually don't get what they want in life and are often disappointed and stuck. Such people may have secret expectations of others, which they never express. This also leads to disappointment and anger and resentment. Inertia and anger are both negative mood states that produce bodily changes in the muscles, circulation, heart and brain. People who can't decline requests also place their health in jeopardy. They are often overburdened and become exhausted, burned out and depressed.

If language is the foundation upon which human life is build, on which we construct our human interactions and even our notion of self, then competence in language will bring you more satisfaction, joy and effectiveness in living.