The speech audit: THINK before you speak

Before speaking in a charged moment, check whether the words are True, Helpful, Inspiring, Necessary, Kind.

Why it works

Harmful speech often occurs automatically — the mouth catches up to the reactive mind before deliberate consideration can engage. A brief acronym-based gate (THINK) inserts a working-memory task between impulse and utterance, engaging prefrontal processing. The delay is enough to switch from reactive to considered communication, which is the same mechanism behind cognitive reappraisal.

How to do it

1. Before delivering critical, dismissive, or retaliatory words, pause and run through: Is it True? Helpful? Inspiring? Necessary? Kind?
2. Failing two or more criteria is a signal to rephrase or remain silent.
3. If the content is necessary but not yet kind, consider the phrasing rather than abandoning the message.
4. After a conversation, review one instance where you spoke without this check and replay how it could have gone differently.

Evidence

Reappraisal-based interventions — creating a pause to re-evaluate before responding — show consistent evidence for reducing aggression and regulating negative affect. The THINK acronym is a practitioner heuristic; the underlying pause-and-evaluate mechanism is studied. (mechanistic)

THINK as a specific format has not been independently tested in trials; the pause-and-reappraise mechanism it embodies has. Effects require genuine engagement, not mechanical checking.

Common mistake

Running through the check at speed as a performance rather than actually pausing to reconsider — the value is the pause, not the acronym.