I’m not concerned about breaking a mirror or having a black cat cross my path because I don’t truly believe in luck. However, I noticed recently how deeply the term “luck” is ingrained in my language. When someone is about to embark on a new venture, it’s not uncommon for me to wish them good luck. Likewise, I sometimes say the following:
- “He’s really pushing his luck.”
- “As luck would have it, I found what I needed.”
- “She’s on a lucky streak.”
I think most of us who use phrases like these aren’t communicating anything about our belief systems; we’re simply using idioms that are common in our vernacular. Nevertheless, I was curious if there were simple ways to communicate our wishes for success to people using phrases other than “good luck.”
I took some time to think about it and was able to brainstorm these 16 alternatives.
I love some of these! I think those that communicate personal confidence (such as “I believe in you!” and “I know you can do this!”) could be very meaningful.
Do you wish good luck to people, or do you have alternative phrases you use to communicate your desire for their success? If you have alternatives, please share them with us!
What does the person need to hear and what provides them with comfort and inspiration?
Good luck has lots of positive memories for me so when I hear it I think about it as a positive affirmation. It pushes strength from those memories.
That’s what works for me. Some of these would be positive for me others indicate someone doesn’t know me well and has no idea what to say. Best wishes is one of those terms for me. It is always comes from people who don’t tend to know me well and don’t want to put much time into thinking about something non offensive to say. I know it is my go to non-offensive phrase when I have nothing better to offer. Others might find it comforting.
That’s why I think it is important to think less about banned phrases and more about the audience we are speaking to and what provides them with comfort, inspiration, guidance, etc.
If I heard I hope it all goes well I’d think you were worried I was going to fail. That would bother me. Again it all comes from what the other person needs to hear what we should choose to say.
This is really insightful!
To me, “good luck” feels very generic and perhaps as though someone doesn’t know me well (not to mention that luck, by definition, means our success or failure is brought on by chance and not our own efforts).
Perhaps what someone prefers has a lot to do with past experiences and what feelings are brought up by certain terms?
What is best, clearly, is to use the term that provides the most comfort and inspiration for the listener. This is easy to do when I know a person well, but not so easy when I don’t know someone well. I’ll have to give some additional thought to what is best in this latter situation.
Thanks for the thought-provoking comment!