# Word a Day: the whole thing in one file *Created by Kevin Eikenberry.* This gives a leader or professional one word a day: either a precise vocabulary word or a thinking tool, with a definition, why it matters at work, an example, where it came from, and a small action. ## How to use this file with any AI assistant Paste this whole file into a new chat (or attach it, or drop it into a project, a custom GPT, or a Gem), then say: **"Set up my word a day."** The assistant asks four questions, then writes the words. Anywhere the instructions below mention files (`word-a-day/config.md`, `word-a-day/history.md`), most assistants can't keep files between chats. Do this instead: at the end of each session, ask for your **settings block and word list**, and paste it back at the start of the next one. A note on your phone or in a project's saved files works well. That list is what stops words from repeating. Most assistants also can't send email, post to Slack or Teams, or text on your behalf. When that's the case, ask for the words a week at a time and schedule them yourself. Every channel has a schedule-send feature, and the instructions cover them. --- # Word a Day *Created by Kevin Eikenberry.* The goal is to give busy leaders and professionals, one day at a time, a wider and more exact vocabulary for understanding the world, talking about it, and thinking about it. Every word should earn its place: after reading it, the person can **see something they would have missed or say something more exactly** than they could yesterday. A word that only sounds impressive fails that test. ## Pick the mode | They say something like | Mode | |---|---| | First use, or no saved settings | **Setup**, then whatever they asked for | | "today's word", "send today's word", a scheduled run | **Today's word** | | "show me a sample week", "what would this look like" | **Batch** (one week) | | "give me the next month so I can schedule it" | **Batch** (N days) | | "change my channel / days / audience / time" | **Setup** (update only what changed) | ## Settings and history (files that persist) Keep two small files so later runs stay consistent and never repeat a word: - `word-a-day/config.md`: the settings from Setup - `word-a-day/history.md`: one line per word, `YYYY-MM-DD | word | type | theme | status`. The status is `drafted`, `scheduled`, or `sent`. Look for them in the working directory first. If there's no filesystem, or the files can't persist (for example, a plain chat), tell the person once that the history won't carry over. Suggest a fix: keep the history in a project or notes file and paste it in, or use Batch mode so a whole stretch is planned at once. Log a word as soon as you write it, marked `drafted`, and update the status once it's scheduled or sent. People often copy a draft and post it themselves, so a word logged only after you send it could come up again. Before choosing any word, read the history and skip every word listed, whatever its status. The exception: if the person rejects a draft, remove that line so the word can be used another time. ## Setup Always start here when there are no saved settings, including when someone only wants to see a sample. The answers change the words, the examples, and the format, so a sample built on guesses shows them the wrong thing. Ask the four setup questions together in one short message. Skip any question the request already answers (for example, "weekdays only in our #eng-leads Slack" answers channel, days, and part of the audience). Offer choices so answering is quick: 1. **How should it arrive?** - Email from your own inbox (Gmail or Outlook), to yourself or a small group you choose - A Slack channel - A Microsoft Teams channel - A text message They can pick more than one. 2. **How many days a week?** Weekdays (5) or every day (7). 3. **Who is it for?** - **Just you:** ask what you do, so examples fit your work. - **A group or team:** ask what kind (for example, a sales team, nurse managers, a nonprofit board, new supervisors, engineering leads) and roughly how many people. 4. **What time should it arrive, and in what time zone?** **Never assume the audience's field.** If they haven't said what kind of team it is, ask. Don't default to engineering, sales, or any other industry. When the person is only exploring and doesn't want to answer, use general examples any professional would recognize (meetings, feedback, decisions, projects), and say that the examples will get more specific once they tell you who it's for. Everything else has a default, so don't ask about it unless they raise it: - **Mix:** about half vocabulary, half thinking tools. Adjust if they ask for more of one. - **Length:** a 90-second read for email. Slack, Teams, and text are shorter (see formats). - **Sign-off:** none, unless they give one. **Start on a Monday.** Weeks are built around a theme, so a series that opens mid-week opens with a fragment. When someone sets this up on a Wednesday, say plainly when the first word goes out ("Your first word goes out Monday, September 21") and offer to show them one now so they can see what's coming. The exception is a start date they choose themselves: if they say "start tomorrow", start tomorrow and run a short theme to the end of that week. Save the answers to `config.md`, repeat them back in a sentence or two, then continue with what they asked for. When you repeat the settings back, mention the one option worth knowing about in a single line: the last day of each week carries a new word plus a recap of the week, or it can be a recap only, with no new word, for a lighter end to the week. Whatever they pick, record it in `config.md`. Don't turn this into another setup question if they don't respond to it; the default is a new word plus the recap. For delivery setup, read `references/delivery.md`. ## Choosing words Read `references/word-bank.md` before choosing. It has a curated starting pool, grouped by type and theme, plus words to avoid. The pool is a starting point, not a limit. Go beyond it whenever a word fits the criteria better. ### The criteria A good word for this audience is: 1. **Just out of reach.** A smart professional has seen it but couldn't define it precisely or wouldn't use it with confidence (*tacit, salient, fungible, sclerotic, equivocate*). It's not a word everyone already uses (*synergy, bandwidth*), and it's not a dictionary oddity (*sesquipedalian, defenestration*). 2. **Useful this week.** They could reasonably notice it, use it, or apply it in a meeting, a decision, a hard conversation, or while reading the news. 3. **A lens, not a label.** The best words change what you notice. Once you know *survivorship bias*, you start seeing it in every success story. Prefer words with that effect. 4. **Clear, not showy.** Using the word should make the speaker clearer. If it would mostly make them sound pretentious, pick a different word. 5. **Different from recent words.** Vary the category, part of speech, and difficulty across a week. Don't send three cognitive biases in a row. 6. **A fit for the audience.** Pick words and concepts that apply to this group's real work. A hospital nursing team and a software team can share *psychological safety*, but they'll get different examples, and some words suit one group far better than the other. 7. **Thought-provoking, not heavy.** This lands in someone's morning, often before their first meeting, and it's meant to sharpen thinking rather than stir hard feelings. Hard workplace realities are fair game: conflict, bad decisions, politics, failure. Steer away from concepts centered on trauma, grief, illness, or moral distress (*moral injury*, for instance), even when they fit the field. If a word only works with a painful example, choose a different word. ### Two types - **Vocabulary:** a single word, or a common fixed phrase, that names something exactly: *candor, intransigent, obviate, tacit, zero-sum*. - **Thinking tool:** a named concept, bias, law, or model that improves reasoning: *Goodhart's law, second-order effects, the planning fallacy, Chesterton's fence, steelmanning*. ### Weekly themes Build each week (5 or 7 days, matching their setting) around a loose theme that fits the audience, such as "Words for hard conversations", "Thinking about risk", "How organizations get stuck", or "Seeing your own blind spots". A theme connects the words, so each one reinforces the others and the series feels designed rather than random. Mix both types within the week. For a single daily run, continue the current week's theme from history, or start a new one on Monday. ## Getting it right People will repeat these definitions in front of colleagues, so errors are costly and they erode trust fast. - **Check definitions, origins, and attributions.** If you can search the web, check anything you're less than sure of. That especially includes who coined a concept and when, and any word origin that feels too neat. - **Don't make up origins.** If you aren't confident where a word comes from, leave the origin out. Folk etymologies are common and tempting. - **Name the real source, and flag disputes.** For example, Goodhart stated his law in 1975, but the popular wording ("When a measure becomes a target...") is Marilyn Strathern's 1997 paraphrase. Some concepts have weak or disputed evidence (the Hawthorne effect, popular versions of Dunning–Kruger, "10,000 hours"). If you use one, add a sentence of honest nuance. Don't present it as settled science. - **Use the correct meaning, and address common misuse** when the word is often misused (*disinterested*, *begs the question*, *nonplussed*, *enormity*). Explaining the misuse is often the most valuable line in the entry. - **Write original examples.** Don't lift sample sentences from dictionaries. ## Writing each entry Every entry uses the same core pieces. The channel decides how much of each appears. Full templates and complete worked examples are in `references/formats.md`. Read it before writing. - **Word**, with a simple respelled pronunciation (TAS-it, not IPA) and the part of speech (or "concept") - **In plain words:** a one-sentence definition anyone could repeat - **Why it matters:** 2–4 sentences on what this word helps a person in *this audience* see, say, or decide. This is the heart of the entry. - **In use:** one or two realistic example sentences from the audience's own work. Use general workplace situations if the field is unknown. - **Origin:** one or two sentences, only when it's accurate and helps the meaning stick - **Try it today:** one small, specific action: notice it, use it, or ask a question built around it. Email and text include this. Slack and Teams posts end with a question to the group instead, which does the same job in a channel. - **Don't confuse with** (optional): a near-miss word or a common misuse **Voice:** like a sharp, warm colleague passing along something useful. Be direct and concrete. Skip hype, filler openers ("In today's fast-paced world..."), strings of rhetorical questions, and exclamation points. The reader should finish in about 90 seconds and feel smarter, not lectured. **Subject lines** (email) name the word and add a hook about why it matters: `Today's word: tacit (the knowledge that walks out the door)`. Keep the hook specific, never clickbait. On the last day of each week, add a short "This week's words" recap: each word with a one-line reminder. Reviewing helps the words stick. By default the recap sits below that day's new word. If they chose a recap-only last day, send the recap by itself, with no new word, and use the days left in the week accordingly. ## Delivering Read `references/delivery.md` for each channel. In short: - **Preview first.** The first time through any channel, show the finished message (or create a draft) and send only after the person approves. - **Get approval for anything automatic.** Before setting up a recurring send, state what will go out, where, to whom, and when. Then get a clear yes. - **Daily delivery, two ways.** Offer whichever fits their setup: 1. **Scheduled daily run.** If their Claude environment can run scheduled tasks and has the channel connected, set one up that runs this skill at their chosen time. 2. **Batch to schedule themselves.** Write one week at a time, and they paste each entry into their channel's own schedule-send feature (Outlook, Gmail, Slack, and Teams all have one). A week is enough to stay ahead without becoming a chore, and it keeps the words close to what's actually happening. Offer more only if they ask. Scheduling a week by hand takes a few minutes every week. Say so plainly the first time, and ask whether they'd rather have it run automatically. If their current channel can't, name one that can in their setup, and let them switch. - **Nothing connected:** give ready-to-paste text in chat, or a file for batches. This skill is built for a person or a team they know. If someone wants to send to a large mailing list or subscriber base, say briefly that a list needs an email marketing platform to handle consent and unsubscribes. Then offer to write the entries for them to use there. ## Batch mode 1. **One week at a time is the default.** Write more only when they ask for it. Plan every theme and word before writing any entries, and check the full list against history and the criteria. This is the only way to catch repeats and lopsided weeks. 2. Show the plan (dates, themes, words) in a compact table. For large batches (more than 2 weeks), get a quick OK before writing everything. 3. Write all the entries in the format for their channel. If they use more than one channel, include each version. 4. Save the batch as a Markdown document (see `references/formats.md`), with each day's send date and time at the top of its entry so it's easy to schedule. 5. Add every word in the batch to `history.md` as `drafted`. 6. Tell them where the file is and how to schedule the entries in their channel. List any entries flagged as uncertain so they can check those first. --- # Reference: Word bank A curated starting pool for leaders and professionals. Each item has a short note to point you at the useful angle. These notes are not finished definitions, so write and check the real definition for each entry. Go beyond this list whenever a better word fits the criteria in SKILL.md. Items marked ⚠ need care: the evidence is disputed, the popular version is wrong, or the word is often misused. Explain that nuance in the entry. Don't skip it. ## Contents 1. Vocabulary: judgment and reasoning 2. Vocabulary: communication and influence 3. Vocabulary: character and behavior 4. Vocabulary: organizations, change, and momentum 5. Vocabulary: understanding the wider world 6. Vocabulary: often misused (entries that correct a misuse) 7. Thinking tools: decisions and judgment 8. Thinking tools: biases and blind spots 9. Thinking tools: systems and organizations 10. Thinking tools: people and teams 11. Thinking tools: argument and evidence 12. Theme ideas 13. Avoid --- ## 1. Vocabulary: judgment and reasoning - **salient**: the feature that actually stands out and matters - **cogent**: an argument that is clear and convincing - **specious**: looks right on the surface but is wrong underneath - **spurious**: false or fake, passing as genuine (a spurious correlation) - **tenuous**: a thin, weak connection or claim - **germane**: relevant to the matter at hand - **dispositive**: settles the question (a legal term that's useful everywhere) - **contingent**: depends on something else happening - **provisional**: good for now, open to revision - **conflate**: to merge two different things as if they were one - **extrapolate**: to extend a trend beyond the data you have - **corroborate**: to confirm with independent evidence - **parsimonious**: using the fewest assumptions (or, of a person, stingy) - **heuristic**: a rule of thumb that is fast, useful, and fallible - **axiomatic**: taken as self-evident - **tautology**: a statement that is true by definition, so it tells you nothing - **equivocal**: open to more than one reading, often on purpose - **reify**: to treat an abstraction ("the market", "culture") as a concrete thing - **inchoate**: just begun and still taking shape - **discernment**: the ability to judge well between close options - **prudent**: careful in a practical, forward-looking way - **sanguine**: optimistic, sometimes more than the facts allow ## 2. Vocabulary: communication and influence - **candor**: open, honest directness - **equivocate**: to use vague language to avoid committing - **obfuscate**: to make something deliberately unclear - **laconic**: saying a lot in very few words - **pithy**: short and full of meaning - **prolix**: tediously long-winded - **glib**: fluent but shallow, too easy - **perfunctory**: done only to check the box - **broach**: to raise a sensitive topic - **demur**: to raise a polite objection or hesitation - **temporize**: to stall for time by being evasive - **disabuse**: to free someone from a mistaken belief - **mollify**: to soothe someone's anger - **conciliatory**: meant to reduce conflict - **cajole**: to persuade with flattery or gentle pressure - **exhort**: to urge strongly - **didactic**: meant to teach, sometimes preachy - **forthright**: direct and outspoken - **tactful**: honest without causing needless hurt - **euphemism**: a softened word that can hide the truth ("rightsizing") - **rhetoric**: persuasive language, sometimes empty ## 3. Vocabulary: character and behavior - **magnanimous**: generous, especially toward rivals or after winning - **equanimity**: staying calm under pressure - **probity**: strict honesty and integrity - **rectitude**: moral uprightness - **hubris**: dangerous overconfidence - **diffident**: shy, lacking self-confidence - **obsequious**: too eager to please those above you - **sycophant**: a flatterer who seeks favor - **officious**: pushy about small authority - **intransigent**: refusing to compromise - **recalcitrant**: stubbornly resisting authority or control - **obdurate**: stubbornly unmoved - **feckless**: ineffective and irresponsible - **mercurial**: moods that change quickly and unpredictably - **imperious**: arrogantly commanding - **punctilious**: exacting about details and correct form - **scrupulous**: careful and principled - **credulous**: too ready to believe (compare *credible*) - **complacent**: comfortable to the point of missing danger - **gravitas**: dignified seriousness that earns respect - **self-effacing**: modest and keeps out of the spotlight - **venal**: open to bribery, can be bought - **stoic**: enduring hardship without complaint (compare the philosophy, Stoicism) ## 4. Vocabulary: organizations, change, and momentum - **sclerotic**: rigid and unable to adapt - **ossified**: hardened into fixed habits - **inertia**: the tendency to keep doing what's already being done - **fungible**: interchangeable (money is; people are never quite) - **bespoke**: custom-made - **nascent**: just coming into existence - **moribund**: dying, losing vitality - **burgeoning**: growing quickly - **exacerbate**: to make a problem worse - **ameliorate**: to make something bad better - **mitigate**: to lessen severity (it doesn't remove the problem) - **obviate**: to make unnecessary by acting in advance - **preclude**: to rule out in advance - **precipitate**: to cause something to happen suddenly (also: rash) - **exigency**: an urgent demand - **desultory**: lacking plan or purpose - **incremental**: in small steps - **attrition**: gradual loss (people, strength) - **bellwether**: an indicator of where things are heading - **harbinger**: an early sign of something coming - **fiefdom**: a territory someone controls as their own - **sinecure**: a role with pay but little real work - **inexorable**: impossible to stop - **anachronism**: something out of its time - **vestigial**: left over, no longer functional - **liminal**: at a threshold, in between states - **interregnum**: a gap between leaders or orders - **zero-sum**: one side's gain is the other's loss ## 5. Vocabulary: understanding the wider world - **hegemony**: dominance by one group or power - **realpolitik**: politics based on power and practicality rather than ideals - **sovereignty**: supreme authority over a territory - **subsidiarity**: decisions belong at the lowest level that can handle them - **technocracy**: rule by technical experts - **populism**: politics framed as "the people" against "the elite" - **zeitgeist**: the spirit of the time - **fiduciary**: legally bound to act in another's best interest - **arbitrage**: profiting from a price gap between markets - **externality**: a cost or benefit that falls on people outside a deal - **stagflation**: stagnant growth plus high inflation - **austerity**: cutting spending to reduce debt - **commodity**: a product where brand doesn't matter to buyers - **diaspora**: a people spread far from their homeland - **secular** (trend): long-term, as opposed to cyclical - **asymmetry**: an imbalance in information, power, or risk - **provenance**: where something came from, and its history - **pluralism**: many groups coexisting with different views ## 6. Vocabulary: often misused (entries that correct a misuse) - **disinterested** ⚠: impartial (people often use it to mean "uninterested") - **nonplussed** ⚠: bewildered (often misused to mean "unbothered") - **enormity** ⚠: great wickedness; its use for "hugeness" is contested - **begs the question** ⚠: assumes its own conclusion (often misused for "raises the question") - **decimate** ⚠: originally "to kill one in ten"; now "to destroy a large part". Explain the history without scolding. - **fortuitous** ⚠: by chance, lucky or otherwise - **ambivalent** ⚠: having mixed feelings (often misused for "indifferent") - **peruse** ⚠: traditionally "to read carefully", now often "to skim" - **irony** ⚠: a gap between what's expected and what happens (often confused with coincidence) - **effect / affect**: a quick, useful clarification - **comprise** ⚠: the whole comprises the parts - **penultimate** ⚠: second to last (sometimes misused for "the very best") ## 7. Thinking tools: decisions and judgment - **second-order effects**: the consequences of the consequences - **opportunity cost**: what you give up by choosing this - **sunk cost fallacy**: continuing because of what you've already spent - **reversible vs. irreversible decisions**: Jeff Bezos's "one-way vs. two-way doors", from his shareholder letters - **premortem**: imagine the project failed, then ask why (Gary Klein) - **satisficing**: choosing "good enough" (Herbert Simon) - **inversion**: solving a problem backward, by asking what would guarantee failure (Charlie Munger, echoing the mathematician Carl Jacobi) - **margin of safety**: a buffer against being wrong (Benjamin Graham) - **expected value**: probability × payoff, summed across outcomes - **base rate**: how often something happens in general, before your specific details - **optionality**: keeping future choices open - **circle of competence**: knowing the edges of what you know (Buffett and Munger) - **the map is not the territory**: models aren't reality (Alfred Korzybski) - **Occam's razor**: prefer the simpler explanation that fits the facts - **Hanlon's razor**: don't assume malice when mistakes or neglect explain it - **Chesterton's fence**: understand why something exists before removing it (G.K. Chesterton, *The Thing*, 1929) - **regret minimization**: choosing what you'll least regret later - **reversibility test**: how much does this cost to undo? - **pre-commitment**: deciding in advance to bind your future self ## 8. Thinking tools: biases and blind spots - **confirmation bias**: noticing what fits what you already believe - **motivated reasoning**: reasoning toward the conclusion you want - **fundamental attribution error**: blaming others' character but your own circumstances - **survivorship bias**: studying only the winners - **hindsight bias**: "I knew it all along" - **outcome bias**: judging a decision only by how it turned out (Annie Duke calls this "resulting") - **availability heuristic**: judging likelihood by how easily examples come to mind (Tversky and Kahneman) - **anchoring**: the first number sticks - **planning fallacy**: underestimating time and cost (Kahneman and Tversky) - **curse of knowledge**: forgetting what it was like before you knew - **status quo bias**: preferring things as they are - **loss aversion**: losses hurt more than equal gains feel good - **halo effect**: one good trait colors everything else (Edward Thorndike) - **recency bias**: overweighting what happened lately - **false consensus effect**: assuming others think like you - **narrative fallacy**: forcing events into a tidy story (Nassim Taleb) - **groupthink**: pressure for harmony overrides judgment (Irving Janis) - **Dunning–Kruger effect** ⚠: the popular "stupid people think they're smart" version overstates it, and the original finding is debated. Keep it to "people with low skill tend to overestimate it", and note the debate. - **overconfidence effect**: being more sure than your accuracy justifies - **optimism bias**: expecting good outcomes for yourself ## 9. Thinking tools: systems and organizations - **Goodhart's law**: when a measure becomes a target, it stops measuring well (Charles Goodhart, 1975; the popular wording is Marilyn Strathern's) - **Campbell's law**: the more a social indicator drives decisions, the more it gets corrupted (Donald Campbell) - **Conway's law**: systems mirror the communication structure of the organization that builds them (Melvin Conway, 1967) - **Parkinson's law**: work expands to fill the time available (C. Northcote Parkinson, 1955) - **law of triviality / bikeshedding**: groups spend the most time on the smallest issues (also Parkinson) - **Peter principle**: people rise to their level of incompetence (Laurence Peter) - **Gall's law**: complex systems that work evolved from simple systems that worked (John Gall) - **unintended consequences**: outcomes nobody planned for - **cobra effect** ⚠: a fix that makes the problem worse. The colonial Delhi cobra story is widely told but poorly documented, so say so. - **tragedy of the commons**: shared resources get overused (William Forster Lloyd, 1833; popularized by Garrett Hardin, 1968). Elinor Ostrom showed communities often manage commons well, which makes a good nuance line. - **principal–agent problem**: when the person acting has different incentives than the person they act for - **moral hazard**: taking more risk when someone else bears the cost - **Pareto principle**: a minority of causes drives most effects (the 80/20 split is a rough pattern and varies widely) - **theory of constraints / bottleneck**: a system can only move as fast as its slowest step (Eliyahu Goldratt) - **feedback loop**: outputs that feed back in, reinforcing or balancing - **emergence**: group behavior no individual part planned - **path dependence**: past choices constrain present options - **Lindy effect**: the longer an idea has lasted, the longer it's likely to last - **Jevons paradox**: more efficiency can increase total use (William Stanley Jevons, 1865, coal) - **Streisand effect**: trying to hide something draws attention to it - **Overton window**: the range of ideas considered acceptable (Joseph Overton) - **Hofstadter's law**: it always takes longer than you expect, even when you account for Hofstadter's law - **Matthew effect**: advantage compounds (Robert Merton) - **Chesterton's fence**: see decisions (also fits here) ## 10. Thinking tools: people and teams - **psychological safety**: a shared belief that it's safe to take interpersonal risks (Amy Edmondson) - **Pygmalion effect**: higher expectations raise performance (Rosenthal and Jacobson). ⚠ The effects are real but smaller than often claimed. - **Hawthorne effect** ⚠: people change behavior when observed. The original studies are heavily disputed, so say so. - **social loafing**: individuals put in less effort in groups (Max Ringelmann's rope-pulling studies) - **diffusion of responsibility**: everyone assumes someone else will act - **pluralistic ignorance**: privately disagreeing while assuming everyone else agrees - **Abilene paradox**: a group agrees to something no one actually wants (Jerry Harvey) - **learned helplessness**: giving up after repeated lack of control (Martin Seligman). ⚠ Seligman later revised the mechanism. - **locus of control**: whether you believe outcomes come from you or from outside forces (Julian Rotter) - **growth mindset** ⚠: believing ability can develop (Carol Dweck). School intervention effects are smaller than the hype. - **cognitive load**: how much working memory a task demands (John Sweller) - **Dunbar's number** ⚠: roughly 150 stable relationships (Robin Dunbar). The number is debated. - **emotional contagion**: moods spread through groups - **Yerkes–Dodson law**: performance rises with arousal up to a point, then falls - **affective forecasting**: how badly we predict our own future feelings (Gilbert and Wilson) - **intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation**: doing something for itself vs. for a reward - **the spotlight effect**: people notice you less than you think - **tacit knowledge**: know-how that's hard to put into words (Michael Polanyi) ## 11. Thinking tools: argument and evidence - **steelmanning**: stating the strongest version of the other side - **straw man**: attacking a weaker version of the other side - **motte-and-bailey**: retreating to a safe claim when a bold one is challenged (named by philosopher Nicholas Shackel) - **false dichotomy**: pretending there are only two options - **equivocation** (fallacy): shifting a word's meaning mid-argument - **ad hominem**: attacking the person instead of the point - **whataboutism**: deflecting criticism by pointing elsewhere - **Brandolini's law**: refuting nonsense takes far more effort than producing it - **falsifiability**: a claim is testable if some evidence could prove it wrong (Karl Popper) - **burden of proof**: who has to prove the claim - **updating your priors**: changing beliefs in proportion to new evidence (Bayesian thinking) - **signal vs. noise**: meaningful information vs. random fluctuation - **correlation vs. causation**: moving together doesn't mean one causes the other - **confounding variable**: a hidden third factor behind an apparent link - **regression to the mean**: extreme results tend to be followed by more ordinary ones - **precision vs. accuracy**: consistent isn't the same as correct - **epistemic humility**: holding knowledge with appropriate uncertainty - **Gish gallop**: overwhelming a debate with many weak claims --- ## 12. Theme ideas Use these as-is or adapt them for the audience: - Words for hard conversations - Thinking clearly about risk - How organizations get stuck - Seeing your own blind spots - Measuring what matters - Reading the news with a sharper eye - Leading through change - Decisions under uncertainty - Influence without authority - Character under pressure - Words people get wrong (and why it matters) - How good teams think together ## 13. Avoid Don't use these. They fail the "clear over showy" or "just out of reach" test, or they're already worn out: - **Novelty oddities:** sesquipedalian, defenestration, floccinaucinihilipilification, petrichor, callipygian - **Invented or unofficial "words":** sonder and other coinages from *The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows*, unless you clearly label them as coinages - **Words everyone already uses:** synergy, bandwidth, ubiquitous, serendipity, holistic, paradigm - **Corporate filler:** anything that would make a sentence vaguer rather than more exact - **Emotionally heavy concepts:** moral injury, burnout as trauma, grief stages, compassion fatigue. They can matter enormously at work, and a one-word morning message is the wrong container for them. - **Pop-psychology myths presented as fact:** the "7-38-55" communication rule, learning styles, left-brain vs. right-brain people, "10,000 hours" as a rule --- # Reference: Formats Every channel uses the same core entry, trimmed to fit the space. Write the full entry first, then cut the shorter versions from it. Fit the examples to the audience from setup. The worked examples below use general workplace situations on purpose, so treat them as a model for structure and voice, not for subject matter. ## Contents 1. Email (the full entry), with worked examples 2. Slack 3. Microsoft Teams 4. Text / SMS 5. Weekly recap block 6. Batch document 7. HTML email (optional) --- ## 1. Email (the full entry) **Target:** roughly 150–280 words in the body, about a 90-second read. Treat the range as a guide. If an entry says what it needs to in fewer words, stop there and don't add a section to fill space. ``` Subject: Today's word: {word} ({specific hook}) {WORD} {pronunciation} · {part of speech or "concept"} In plain words {one-sentence definition} Why it matters {2–4 sentences: what this helps someone in this audience see, say, or decide} In use "{realistic sentence from the audience's work}" Origin {1–2 sentences, only if accurate and helpful} Try it today {one small, specific action} Don't confuse with {optional near-miss or misuse} {sign-off, if configured} ``` ### Worked example (vocabulary) ``` Subject: Today's word: tacit (the knowledge that walks out the door) TACIT TAS-it · adjective In plain words Understood or implied without being stated out loud. Why it matters Every team runs on tacit rules: who really makes the call, which deadlines are soft, what "let's discuss" means. New people fail by breaking rules nobody told them about. There's also tacit knowledge: the judgment your most experienced people use without being able to fully explain it. The philosopher Michael Polanyi summed it up: "we can know more than we can tell." When that person leaves, the knowledge leaves with them. In use "There was tacit agreement that nobody would push back on the plan. That's the problem." Origin From Latin tacitus, "silent." Taciturn comes from the same root. Try it today Ask one experienced person: "What's something you do here that you've never seen written down?" Write down the answer. Don't confuse with Implicit is close, but it leans toward "logically implied." Tacit leans toward "silently understood by the people involved." ``` ### Worked example (thinking tool) ``` Subject: Today's word: Goodhart's law (why your metrics start lying) GOODHART'S LAW GOOD-hart's law · concept In plain words When a measure becomes a target, it stops being a good measure. Why it matters A number is useful because it reflects something real. Tie rewards to it and people start improving the number instead of the thing it was meant to reflect: calls closed fast but not resolved, training completed but not applied. That's rarely dishonesty. It's people responding to what you told them counts. Before you set a target, ask how someone could hit it without delivering what you actually want. In use "We hit the response-time target and satisfaction dropped. Classic Goodhart's law." Origin British economist Charles Goodhart made the point about monetary policy in 1975. The well-known wording comes from anthropologist Marilyn Strathern's 1997 paraphrase. Try it today Pick one metric your team is measured on. Ask: "What's the laziest way to hit this number?" If the answer is easy, pair it with a second measure. ``` ## 2. Slack **Target:** about 60–110 words. Use Slack's markup (`*bold*`, `_italic_`), short lines, and at most one emoji. End with a question that invites replies in a thread. The question does the work that "Try it today" does in an email, so leave that section out here and let the question carry it. Make it about this team's real work. When a concept has a named source (Goodhart, Chesterton), credit it in a few words inside "why it matters". ``` 📘 *Word of the day: {word}* ({pronunciation}) {definition} {2 sentences: why it matters for this team} _In use:_ "{example from this team's work}" {question inviting a reply, e.g. "Where have we seen this on our team?"} ``` ## 3. Microsoft Teams **Target:** about 60–110 words, the same content as Slack, including a brief credit for concepts with a named source and no "Try it today" section. Teams channel posts support a subject line and Markdown-style formatting (`**bold**`, `*italic*`), so use both. Keep emoji to one at most, and skip it for more formal organizations. End with a question that invites replies. ``` Subject: Word of the day: {word} **{Word}** ({pronunciation}) · {part of speech or "concept"} {definition} {2 sentences: why it matters for this team} *In use:* "{example from this team's work}" {question inviting a reply} ``` Example: ``` Subject: Word of the day: tacit **Tacit** (TAS-it) · adjective Understood without being said out loud. Every team runs on tacit rules, and new people break them because no one told them. Our most experienced people carry tacit knowledge too, and it leaves when they do. *In use:* "There's a tacit rule that nobody questions the schedule." What's one tacit rule a new person here would only learn the hard way? ``` ## 4. Text / SMS **Target:** 320 characters or fewer, so it fits in two SMS segments. Plain text only, with no links unless the person asks for them. ``` Word of the day: {WORD} ({pronunciation}) {definition, shortened} {one-line why it matters or example} Try: {action, shortened} ``` Example (about 250 characters): ``` Word of the day: TACIT (TAS-it) Understood without being said. Every team runs on tacit rules, and new people break them because no one told them. Try: ask a veteran what they do that's never been written down. ``` ## 5. Weekly recap block Add this to the last entry of each week, below the day's word. For Slack, Teams, and text, keep it to the word list plus the question. The recap's question replaces that day's closing question, so the post ends with one question, not two. ``` This week's words • {word 1}: {one-line reminder} • {word 2}: {one-line reminder} ... Quick check: which one would have helped in a conversation you had this week? ``` ## 6. Batch document File name: `word-a-day_{start-date}_to_{end-date}.md` ``` # Word a Day: {start date} to {end date} **For:** {audience} · **Channel:** {channel(s)} · **Days:** {weekdays / every day} · **Send time:** {time and zone} | Date | Theme | Word | Type | |---|---|---|---| | ... | ## Please check {entries with an uncertain origin, attribution, or claim, or "Nothing flagged"} --- ## {Day, Month D}: {word} **Send:** {date, time, zone} · **Theme:** {theme} {entry in the format for their channel. If they use several channels, give each version under its own small heading} --- ``` ## 7. HTML email (optional) Plain text works well for email sent from someone's own inbox. If they want a designed email and their email tool can send HTML, fill in `assets/email-template.html`, replacing each `{{PLACEHOLDER}}`. If an optional section (origin, don't confuse, recap) is empty, remove its whole block, including the marker comments, so no blank headings are left. --- # Reference: Delivery How to get the word to people through each channel. When in doubt, choose the option that sends nothing without the person's say-so. ## Contents 1. Ground rules 2. Email from your own inbox 3. Slack 4. Microsoft Teams 5. Text / SMS 6. Daily delivery: scheduled run or batch 7. No tools connected --- ## 1. Ground rules - **Preview first.** On the first delivery through any channel, show the finished message or create a draft. Send only after the person approves it. - **Get explicit approval for recurring sends.** Before setting up anything automatic, state what will be sent, where, to whom, from which account, and how often. Then get a clear yes. - **Send only to people who'd expect it,** such as the person themselves, or a team they lead or belong to that knows it's coming. Suggest a quick heads-up message to the group before day one. ## 2. Email from your own inbox For the person themselves or a small group they choose. - **With a Gmail or Outlook connector:** send to their own address, or create a draft for them to review. For a group, put the recipients in BCC, or use a group address their organization already has. - **Keep the group small.** A personal inbox suits a team or a handful of colleagues. For a large mailing list or subscriber base, say briefly that they'd need an email marketing platform to handle consent and unsubscribes, and offer to write the entries for them to use there. - **Scheduling it themselves:** Outlook and Gmail both have "schedule send". A batch document lets them schedule a week at once. - **Format:** plain-text email by default. Use the HTML template only if they want a designed look and their tool sends HTML. ## 3. Slack Works for any team: sales, operations, clinical, engineering, a board, a volunteer group. - **With a Slack connector:** post to the channel they name, or save a draft first. The thread question at the end is there to start discussion, so suggest the leader reply first on day one to model it. - **Scheduling it themselves:** Slack's "schedule message" option (the arrow beside the send button) takes a date and time, so a batch document loads quickly. - **Channel choice:** a dedicated channel (such as #word-a-day) keeps it findable, and a regular slot in an existing team channel gets more eyes. Ask which they prefer if they haven't said. ## 4. Microsoft Teams Works the same way as Slack. - **With a Teams connector:** post to the team and channel they name, or show the draft first. Use the Teams format, with a subject line so each day's word stands out in the channel. - **Scheduling it themselves:** Teams offers "schedule send" from the send options in chats, and in channels where their organization has it turned on. If it isn't available, they can post each morning from the batch document. Some organizations also use Power Automate for a recurring post, which is worth mentioning if they're comfortable with it. ## 5. Text / SMS - Sending texts automatically needs a texting service such as Twilio, SimpleTexting, or EZTexting, or an automation tool like Zapier or Make connected to one. If one is connected, use it with the SMS format (320 characters or fewer). - **Just for themselves, with no texting tool:** give them the text each day, or a batch they can paste into a phone reminder or note. Some phones can run a daily automation (iPhone Shortcuts, for example) if they want to set that up. - **Texting a group:** in the US and many other countries, recipients have to agree to recurring texts. Mention that, and suggest Slack, Teams, or email for teams where texting would feel intrusive. ## 6. Daily delivery: scheduled run or batch Offer the option that fits their setup, or both. **A. Scheduled daily run (fully automatic)** - This needs a Claude environment that can run scheduled tasks (for example, scheduled tasks in Claude Code, the Claude desktop app, or Cowork) plus a connected channel. - Create a task that runs each day at their chosen time (weekdays only if that's their setting) with an instruction like: "Use the word-a-day skill to write today's word and post it to {channel} for {audience}." - The scheduled run needs access to `config.md`, `history.md`, and the channel connector. Confirm all three before calling the setup done. - Make sure the time zone is right. Scheduled tasks often run on the computer's local time. **B. Batch to schedule themselves (works everywhere)** - Write one week in Batch mode. They schedule each entry using their channel's own schedule-send feature (sections 2–4). Write more than a week only when they ask. - Offer to set a reminder to write the next week a few days before the current one runs out. - Be straight about the tradeoff: this is a few minutes of scheduling every week, forever. Ask whether they'd rather it ran on its own. If their channel can't do that in their setup, name one that can (a connected email account or Slack, say) and let them decide. Some people prefer the weekly pass because it keeps them in the loop, so ask rather than assume. ## 7. No tools connected Give clean, ready-to-paste output in the format for their channel: in chat for a single day, or as a batch document. Briefly name the connector or scheduling option that would automate it, then stop there. Don't push them to connect things.