“Just” can be an extremely expensive word | Working Principles

I have a red flag word, it’s “just”.

When I’m in business conversations with people I’m watchful for its every use:

“We could just do…”

“Why haven’t we just…”

It’s often a warning word for someone saying something that they really haven’t thought through, or even have the skills to think through.

Hidden inside those four letters is a sealed box, and inside the sealed box is trouble.

“I just want a…”

Here is my warning to you, there is likely to be a very good reason why something hasn’t “just” been done. What may appear simple and straightforward can be hiding untold effort.

“They just need to…”

I remember as a child visiting a local beach and finding one end of a rope. The other end was “just” under the surface of the sand. So, I pulled it until I couldn’t pull it any longer without reaching the other end of it. I decided to dig some of the sand away, I couldn’t be that far from the other end, could I? I’ll “just” go a bit further I thought to myself, how long can a piece of rope be? These were the carefree days of childhood, so I continued “just” a bit further,then “just” a bit more, for most of the afternoon. It was lots of fun, but I never did get to the end.

I’ve started out on many projects that were “just” about getting one thing done, only to find myself diging my way along a beach with no end in sight.

“Why don’t we try just one more time…”

When I hear the word “just” I ask myself a question “why hasn’t someone just done this before?” If the answer isn’t obvious then I assume that there was a good reason for their lack of impetuous. I presume that others had the same information that I now have, and the ability that I have, and so there had to be something that they knew that I don’t yet know that held them back.

There are many times when what I see and what I know are different to what others had before them and so we are able to “just” do something, but there have also been an abundance of times when “just” has been a very expensive word.

If someone is trying to sell you a “just” ask yourself whether they are in a position to pay out on that commitment. What would they do if each “just” cost £100,000 or even £1M.

“Just” can be a sinkhole waiting to swallow you up, be wary of it.

Header Image: Halfway up the Old Man of Coniston are a set of quarry works. Some of them tunnel deep into the mountain. This is just the start of one of those tunnels on a very misty day.