It talks about how we should avoid using words like “simply” and “it’s simple” when talking to users. This reminded me of how I had no idea how impactful this word could be for users. I’ll add the word “don’t worry” here as well when referring to their issues.

I came to understand that they can come across as dismissive or condescending. Or, even worse, can make the person feel as though their problem is insignificant or that they are not intelligent enough to understand the solution.

To change this behaviour, I had a userscript that highlighted these words whenever I typed them, making me more aware of them and looking for ways to rewrite the sentence.

Can you think of a work habit you had that you wanted to change, and what steps you took to change it?