Shinn’s third chapter opens with a father and daughter. He says he always misses the car (in 1925, probably a streetcar). It pulls out just as he arrives. She says she always catches it. Shinn says both were right, for years.

Through his spoken word, man is continually making laws for himself.

Florence Scovel Shinn, The Game of Life and How to Play It (1925), “The Power of the Word”

What she actually said

In Shinn’s account words carry a vibratory power, and whatever a person voices she starts to attract. So watch your conversation. She has two students throw their lucky monkeys down a coalhole, and dares a friend who fears ladders to walk under the next one she sees.

The best scene is a friend who keeps inviting her over for an old-fashioned chat, which Shinn defines as an hour on loss, lack, failure and sickness. Her reply:

No, I thank you, I’ve had enough old-fashioned chats in my life, they are too expensive, but I will be glad to have a new-fashioned chat, and talk about what we want, not what we don’t want.

Florence Scovel Shinn, The Game of Life and How to Play It (1925), “The Power of the Word”

The part that needs a warning label

The second half of the chapter is about the body. Shinn claims continual criticism produces rheumatism, unforgiveness hardens the arteries, and a woman who had quarrelled with nineteen people attracted a bad oyster. That is a 1925 theory of illness. Repeated today, it becomes a polite way to blame sick people for being sick. If something hurts, see a doctor. Forgiveness can make your life lighter. It will not treat your liver.

What survives

Drop the vibrations and something useful is left: the sentences you repeat become the scripts you perform. Open every price conversation with “I usually charge this, but I can be flexible” and you’ve written a rule your clients will happily follow. A mumbled rate invites a haggle. A plain one at least gets heard as a rate.

The old-fashioned chat holds up too. Most friendships run on a little complaining, and some of it is healthy. Some of it is an hour rehearsing why nothing will change. Notice that Shinn didn’t drop the friend. She offered a better conversation.

Say it like you mean it this week

  • Write your rate as one sentence. “My rate for this project is $2,400,” with your real number. No “usually,” no “around,” no apology. Say it out loud until it bores you.
  • Cut one qualifier. Search your sent folder for “just,” “sorry” and “I think.” Pick the worst offender and keep it out of every email you send this week.
  • Retire one money phrase. “I can’t afford it” becomes “That isn’t in this month’s plan.” Same facts, different rule.
  • Host a new-fashioned chat. Next time you see your favorite complaining partner, ask what she wants this year, in numbers. Then tell her yours.

Read the original: Florence Scovel Shinn, The Game of Life and How to Play It (1925), chapter “The Power of the Word.” Published in the United States in 1925, so it has been in the US public domain since January 1, 2021. Free full text at Project Gutenberg (eBook #74878): https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/74878