Not so personal pronouns

East Asian languages have much less use for personal pronouns compared to English. They still use pronouns of course, but only when necessary. In general, English speaking countries tend to focus much more on the individual, compared to countries like Japan and Korea which tend to gravitate more towards group orientated societies. 

It can be argued that language influences thought along with thought influencing language. Therefore, perhaps English speakers think of themselves more than Korean or Japanese speakers because they are forced to use personal pronouns more than required?

I've read hundreds of CVs and cover letters and one of the biggest challenges can be 'selling' oneself but not dominating the document with the use of the personal pronoun 'I'. If you were to study Japanese grammar, you might be surprised how often these pronouns are omitted; it almost seems irrelevant who's doing the action after a while. 

The rising rate of anxiety in modern societies could be partly due to focusing on oneself along with the widely accepted contributing factors such as computers and mobile phones, to name but a few. Maybe we should be focusing less on 'me' and more on 'we'.

Do words really have influence or power over us?

Advertisers and marketers clearly think so. And so do Nobel Prize Winning neuroscientists too - Eric Kandel notes that words may even alter how the genes express themselves. It's one of those nuggets of information that's cool to know about, but you probably felt that you already knew that. Consider how different if feels for someone to tell you they: love you; like you; or are fond of you. Very different emotions.

Count how many times you use personal pronouns and ask yourself if they're having any effect? Then, try omitting as many as possible and see how far you get. It’s a thought-provoking exercise for anyone intrigued by the power of words.