What Stops You Using Clean Language?
What stops you using Clean Language? “It feels inauthentic,” people say. Awkward. Unnatural. Like you’re not being yourself.
Some expert communicators who try #CleanLanguage for the first time experience this feeling… and give up immediately.
But what if that feeling of awkwardness was exactly the point?
Here’s what’s really happening when it feels awkward:
Your “natural” response isn’t you being authentic. It’s you being automatic.
When someone says “I need support,” your brain instantly:
Translates it (”So you need help”)
Interprets it (”You’re overwhelmed”)
Solves it (”Have you tried...”)
All in microseconds. That’s your expertise at work, with its pattern recognition, rapid response, confident interpretation.
Clean Language interrupts that. When you force yourself to pause and ask “What kind of support?” it stops your automatic response.
And that stop creates space for the other person. Space to breathe, think and respond.
It feels awkward to you, but not to them.
The awkwardness isn’t a bug. It’s the feeling of the interruption working.
