Your Influence Inventory

Audit your last 10 emails or meeting transcripts. Count your power words versus the weak or neutral ones. Most people find the balance tilts heavily toward weak words. Over the next 30 days, work toward roughly one power word for every two weak or neutral words — which, in practice, lands you near the 2-3 power words per sentence from earlier. Keep a card with your top 20 power words visible during calls and while writing — fluency comes from repetition, not memorization.

Power words are tools; their morality depends on intent. Using "exclusive" for a genuinely limited offer is honest. Using it to manufacture false scarcity is manipulation, and audiences eventually detect which side you are on.