12 Words to Remove From Your Vocabulary for a Simpler Life

The words we use each day aren’t neutral. They either speak life or drain it from us (and others).

They also carry assumptions about who we are, what we’re capable of, and what kind of life is available to us.

Some of those assumptions are worth keeping. Others work against us. Sometimes even in our most important endeavors.

Here are twelve words worth removing from your vocabulary if you want to live a simpler life. And also what to replace them with:

1. Someday

Someday is where intentions go to die. It feels like a plan but it isn’t. It’s more of a postponement. Clutter is the result of unmade decisions. And “someday” is the word that gets us there.

Replace it with a date, or with the honesty that you’ve decided not to do it. Either is more useful than someday.

2. Busy

We’ve turned busy into an identity. A signal of importance, productivity, and worth. But busy isn’t a badge of honor.

In fact, when you stop using busy as a default answer, you’re forced to be more honest about where your time is actually going and whether you’re spending it the way you want to.

Try: “I have a full schedule right now” or simply, “I’ve prioritized other things.” Or any of these options.

3. Fine

The job is fine. The relationship is fine. The life is fine.

You deserve more than fine. Dream better for yourself and never settle for less than a thoroughly intentional life.

4. Just

As in: I’ll keep it, “just in case.”

Just in case I need it someday. Just in case it comes back in style. Just in case someone asks for it. Just in case I change my mind. Just in case is how a closet becomes a storage unit.

It sounds responsible. But most of the time, just in case is just a reason to avoid a decision. The thing you’re keeping just in case has been sitting there for two years. You already know the answer.

5. Should

Should is obligation without ownership. I should exercise. I should call them back. I should want more. It places the motivation outside of you—in other people’s expectations or a vague sense of what a better version of you would do.

When you catch yourself using should, ask where it’s coming from. If the answer is genuinely your own values, replace it with want to or going to. If the answer is someone else’s expectations, consider letting it go entirely.

6. Always

Always builds a cage out of habit. I always do it this way. We always spend the holidays like this. I’ve always been bad with money.

Always forecloses the question of whether something is still working. Most always statements are really just “until now.” And until now leaves room for something different. Remember, your predisposition doesn’t have to be your future.

7. More

More is the default setting of a consumer culture. More money, more stuff, more followers, more options, more of everything.

It’s not that more is always wrong. Sometimes more is exactly right. But only when we’re chasing more of the right things.

8. Can’t

Most of the time, can’t means won’t—and there’s an important difference. Can’t removes your agency. Won’t acknowledges that you’re making a choice.

“I can’t declutter my house” is a very different statement than “I haven’t made it a priority yet.” One closes the conversation. The other opens it.

9. Later

Later is someday’s practical cousin. I’ll deal with that later. I’ll start later. I’ll have that conversation later. It allows us to leave things undone and unresolved. And unresolved is anything but simple.

10. Deserve

Deserve is how consumerism gets inside your head. You’ve worked hard. You deserve this. You’ve had a difficult week. You deserve a treat.

But deserve has a way of becoming a blank check—a justification for any purchase, any indulgence, any choice that adds to the pile. The things that genuinely restore you rarely need the word deserve to justify them.

11. Everyone

Everyone wants a big house. Everyone loves shoes. Everyone wants a luxury car. Everyone upgrades their phone when the new one comes out.

Do they? Or is that all you’re seeing? Or using as an excuse to want them yourself.

Everyone is one of the most powerful words in a marketer’s vocabulary because it turns a preference into a norm. And norms are hard to opt out of without feeling like something is wrong with you.

But not everyone wants a big house. Not everyone loves shoes. Not everyone wants a luxury car. And once you see that, a world of opportunity opens.

12. Perfect

Perfect is the enemy of started, finished, and good enough. Perfectionism looks like high standards but often functions as avoidance.

A simpler, more intentional life is not a perfect one. It’s a real one, with edges and imperfections and the particular beauty of something that was actually lived rather than endlessly prepared for.

Besides, perfection isn’t possible without progress.

Words shape thought. Thought shapes choice. And choices, made day after day, shape a life. Choose well.