# Typical decisions can be reversed using the word "because" Decision statements are not always performative; by themselves, they do not necessarily set something in stone. For instance, New Year's resolutions are often made and rarely held. This means that you can almost always change the mind of people who have decided to do something. The same applies to statements which contain adverbs such as "normally" or "typically". People use these statements when they do not want you to press for a direction but do not want to outright lie either. Would you say that you "typically" have brown eyes, or that you "usually" have two children? Decision-making comes in three steps: research, reason and result. The research phase is done beforehand, and after the result phase it is usually too late to do anything. When you have most power to influence a decision is during the reason phase. For instance, if, at a job interview, the recruiter says that the company "typically" does not give a $50k salary, he actually says that it is possible for you to get it, *if you fight for it*. Otherwise he would have said that he *cannot* give it to you. You can see it as a slightly open door that you will have to force open through your own insistence. The word that can help achieve that is "because". Using the word "because" triggers the reason phase in the other party even if they did not intend to negotiate. Even empty, placebic reasons can be used with "because".[^1] Thus, if you enter into a conversation with a clear objective, be on the lookout for the "decidedly" keywords: they are your cues to change your interlocutor's opinion. --- ## 📚 References - TEDx Talks. [How Five Simple Words Can Get You What You Want | Janine Driver | TEDxHardingU.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9UIF852Boo) 2019. YouTube. [^1]: [The Power of the Word ‘Because’ to Get People to Do Stuff | Psychology Today.](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brain-wise/201310/the-power-the-word-because-get-people-do-stuff)