Tag Archives: Communication

Epic Journeys

Lead Them on Epic Journeys

I watched an interesting “documentary” the other night on Netflix.

It was made by Frank Capra, and it was a world war II propaganda movie, made specifically against the Japanese.

Studying it from a persuasion standpoint was interesting. Propaganda movies are usually well made.

It made the Japanese look both beatable, and a formidable enemy at the same time.

It was designed to generate hatred and fear for the Japanese during WWII, and at the same time build a massive amount of confidence in the American military.

It’s no secret why they chose Capra. Regardless of which way you want to move emotions, movies are IDEAL tools of persuasion.

But since most movies we have experience with today persuade us to feel certain emotions, we don’t see how powerful of a propaganda tool they once were.

Why are movies such powerful tools of persuasion?

Why do they move us to tears or action?

Because they do what traditional “persuasion” can’t.

Traditional sales and persuasion involves somebody telling us what we SHOULD do.

And even if it’s a good idea, it feels like we’re following orders.

And few people enjoy following orders.

But movies, on the other hand, they invite us to go along willingly.

We see the hero’s and the bad guys, and we imagine ourselves right in there in the mix.

Nobody’s making us do it. Nobody even knows we’re doing it.

But deep in our mind, we are. It’s hard NOT to. To imagine that YOU are the hero, YOU are the one killing the bad guys and saving the people.

(And getting the girls!)

And just like you can drive an ambulance or a getaway car, this tool can be used for wartime propaganda, or for making people feel wonderful.

Think of all the things you WISH you could “tell people” to do.

Things you want them to do, and things you KNOW they’d benefit from.

If you learn how to wrap those ideas up in a story, they will GLADLY take your advice.

Because stories are a way to INVITE them to IMAGINE taking your advice through the story.

Only they won’t think it’s advice.

They’ll imagine it as a fantastic adventure.

If you tell it right, it will be an adventure they imagine taking together, with you.

Learn How:

Hypnotic Storytelling

Happy Emotions

Covert Emotional Implanting

Once I was reading a book on pickup.

How to talk to girls.

One of the “ideas” the guy kept repeating was “dump the emotions and keep the data.”

Meaning to try out a bunch of different techniques, and look at it from an objective viewpoint.

Of course, that tiny part about “ditching the emotions” is kind of difficult.

If it WERE easy to “ditch the emotions” and “keep the data” then nobody (girls and guys) would have any issues in meeting other people.

Those emotions, especially the UNCOMFORTABLE ones (like rejection, social exposure, feeling like an idiot while everybody watches) are the MAIN REASON “pickup” (or meeting people in general) is such a problem.

The advice to “ditch the emotions and keep the data” is kind of like an old joke by Steve Martin, back when he was doing standup.

“How to get a million dollars and NOT pay taxes. First, get a million dollars… Then, say “I forgot’.”

The joke of course, is how the heck are you supposed to “get” a million dollars?

It’s like that meme with the guy from Lord of the Rings:

“One does not simply, GET, a million dollars…”

Luckily if you do the OPPOSITE, it’s not only easy, but it works like crazy.

(not the opposite of getting a million dollars!)

Meaning instead of “ditching the emotions and keeping the data” you do the opposite.

And further (or more opposite-er) you don’t do it with your emotions, you do it with THEIR emotions.

Tell a bunch of stories with carefully chosen “themes.” Put the stories in a specific order.

Use specific techniques WITHIN the stories.

That way, they’ll KEEP the emotions, but they won’t have much of an idea of the DATA (the actual stuff the stories were about).

But here’s the cool thing.

People NEED to have reasons for those emotions.

And since they’ve forgotten what you were just talking about (they’ve ditched the data) they HAVE TO come up with THEIR OWN REASONS for those wonderful emotions.

Since they’ve been talking to you, they’ll just ASSUME that YOU make them FEEL “that way.”

And by choosing the right stories, with the right themes, in the right order, you can get them to FEEL anything.

How much fun can you have?

Learn More:

Hypnotic Storytelling

Three Hour Orgasm

Three Hour Orgasm Language Pattern

There are a lot of powerful patterns from covert hypnosis that are unfortunately treated like gimmicks.

One of these is the famous “quotes pattern.”

This is when you quote somebody else, but when you are quoting the “other person” you’re looking at somebody and saying the same thing to them.

For example, let’s say you wanted to insult your boss without getting in trouble.

So you come in to work, and he sees you and asks how you are.

You look at him and say:

“Not good. I was on my way in and this really smelly homeless guy got in my face, looked right at me and said, ‘You’re an idiot and I don’t respect you!’ Do you believe that?”

Of course, when you say the, “you’re an idiot and I don’t respect you” part, you look at your boss and really mean it from you to him.

Guys also use this technique with women.

They’ll look at her, quote their “friend” and tell the women the same pick up line their “friend” uses to pick up girls.

For example, they say something like this:

“See that guy over there in the yellow shirt? He’s really crazy. He’ll walk up to a girl he doesn’t know, look at her and say, ‘You’re really beautiful. I’d love to give you a three hour orgasm!’ Do you believe that?”

Now, this works but not how most people think.

It won’t work to CREATE feelings, but it’s a great way to TEST for feelings.

Meaning if you’ve already been talking to her for an hour or so, and you want to CHECK whether she is READY, that pattern will do the trick. But you have to pay attention to how she responds.

If she giggles or smiles, she’s good to go!

(On the other hand, if she vomits in her mouth, you might want to choose somebody else!)

This is also how salespeople “test close” their customers.

They throw out a quotes patterns, (about another salesperson who looks at the customer and says, Buy Now!) and see how the customer responds.

But what if you want to actually CREATE the buying desire (or going home for three hour orgasm desire)?

You use the same basic principle, but you’ve got to take your time.

Instead of just using one quote, use several.

And put them in a whole bunch of nested stories.

AND add in things like spatial anchors, embedded commands, tactically chosen pauses, and a two or three minute story can be VERY POWERFUL.

Even if you’re not selling or seducing, it’s a GREAT party trick that will make your listeners FEEL FANTASTIC.

Learn How:

Hypnotic Storytelling

Beware The Flying Brains

Disengage Their Brains

A punctuation ambiguity is something that is VERY powerful in its “mind-fading” ability.

On it’s own, it will cause people to think their brains went offline for a second.

Which happens to us all the time anyway.

We’re listening to somebody talking, and our brains take a quick holiday without telling us.

Then they come back and we have to ask the person to repeat themselves.

This is pretty funny when you’re with friends, but kind of embarrassing if you’re in a meeting at work.

So when you use the punctuation ambiguity, your listener will think that’s what happened.

So you can have fun, gently pushing their brain offline over and over, or you can use it to build some REAL confusion, and slip in all kinds of ideas and commands.

The punctuation ambiguity is pretty simple. The trick is to deliver it like you are saying something perfectly normal.

If you smirk or smile, they’ll KNOW you’re the one playing with their brains.

The first couple of times you may be a bit nervous. So it’s a good idea to practice these on bartenders or waiters.

(Just be careful, a friend of mine tried this on a waitress and she messed up his order…)

But once you get comfortable with this, you can use one of these every couple of minutes, and by the end of a regular conversation, whoever you are talking to will wonder if they tripped and fell inside of a wormhole or something.

Anyhow, here’s how you make one.

Just take any regular sentence, and take the LAST WORD in the first sentence, and make it the FIRST WORD in the next sentence. Ideally the conversation should flow into the first sentence, past the ambiguity, and then on after the next sentence.

Example:

The other day I was shopping for shoe stores are starting to disappear since everybody is buying things online. I wonder what they’ll do with all that empty space?

They will feel a “topic change” since you’re talking about something different, but they won’t remember HOW you changed.

So they’ll try and “replay” what you just said, WHILE trying to listen to you talk.

Eventually they’ll say, “Wait, what?” with an embarrassed look on their face.

What happens next is up to you.

You can pretend you didn’t know, and keep talking about the SECOND TOPIC (empty malls in the example above).

If you keep dropping these in every couple of minutes, it will have a powerful effect on their brain.

And if you can work in some of the other patterns, so much the better.

Street Hypnosis

This Is Not My Beautiful House

They’ll Want You More

When I was a kid we had this dirty trick we’d play on each other.

You told your buddy that if you rubbed your palms really hard together, in a certain direction, it would make them smell like roses.

Then when the “sucker” put his palm up to smell it, somebody would push it into his face.

Then everybody would run, and the “sucker” would chase us.

Then we would all go and do it to somebody else.

As you can guess, it didn’t take long before all the kids knew the “con.”

But the structure has been around for a long time.

Using people’s natural tendencies against them.

This is how goofs like Jim Jones build massive cults that willingly follow him to their deaths.

But driving skills, as they say, can be used to drive a getaway car or an ambulance.

Or a hammer can be used to build a beautiful home or to destroy something.

For example, a very common tendency for us humans, when we hear somebody tell us about their big plans, is to question them.

And not neutrally, usually from a slightly “critical” viewpoint.

Trouble is most of us tell ourselves that we’re “just trying to help.”

Like somebody says they are going on a trip alone to a foreign country.

We say something like, “Wow, isn’t that kind dangerous?”

We pretend that we’re concerned, but in reality we’re jealous.

We’d LOVE to be able to do the same thing, but for one reason or another, we don’t.

And most people don’t really like the idea of other people doing all the fun stuff.

So we throw out the “Wow, isn’t that dangerous?” statement, pretending to be concerned, but really trying to throw a tiny wet blanket on their plans.

OF course, since everybody does this to everybody I’m sure you’ve been on the receiving end quite a few times.

What’s the antidote?

To simply do the opposite.

Instead of saying something silly like, “Wow, isn’t that dangerous?” We can ask them a question that PRESUPPOSES they will be able to handle ANYTHING that comes up.

And this actually WILL help them.

Not only that, but it will make them feel much better about what they’re doing.

The cool thing is you can use this “trick” ANY TIME somebody is talking to you about something they want.

Even if they only “halfway” want it.

By the time the finish talking to YOU, they’ll want it a lot more.

And they’ll associate that WANT with YOU.

Learn More:
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Weaponized Language

De-Weaponized Language Patterns

One of the powerful patterns of covert hypnosis is something called “linguistic presuppositions.”

It’s kind of sentence that requires we accept part of it before we answer the sentence.

People use them all the time without knowing it, but often the wrong way.

For example, if you walk in a retail shop, the clerk might say, “Can I help you?”

Which is easy to say, “No, thank you.” Since it’s a simple question.

But what if he or she says, “How can I help you today?”

It’s ALMOST the same, but not quite. He or she is PRESUPPOSING that they ARE going to help you, it’s just a question of HOW.

If you can imagine both, you’ll find the second takes a bit longer to shake your head and say, “No, thank you.”

Simple questions, especially if they are said politely, are hard to ignore, from a structural standpoint.

Meaning part of us wants to answer the “how” part but then we decide not to before shaking our head.

While the first question, (can I help you) takes a lot less time and mental processing power.

Most people use these linguistic presuppositions to HIDE THINGS they don’t want questioned.

A FANTASTIC way to see how these are used negatively is by listening to how reporters phrase their questions to politicians they don’t like.

Weaponized language patterns.

I’m sure you know people who are EXPERTS at using weaponized language patterns.

They ask a question, and there’s some nasty stuff embedded in there, and you aren’t sure if you should answer them or punch them in the face.

But you can, as they say, flip the script.

Presuppose POSITIVE THINGS about the person you are talking to, they’ll feel really good, and they won’t know why.

What kinds of things?

Everybody wants a better future.

And everybody has anxiety about their future.

Which means they’re worried about their future.

All you’ve got to do is talk to them and presuppose their future will be BRIGHT, and any potential problems will be TINY.

And just by answering your carefully worded questions, they’ll feel FANTASTIC and they might not even know why.

But they’ll know it has something to do with YOU.

Click Here To Learn More

Peanut Butter Burger

Why Giving Advice Sucks

One time I was supposed to meet a couple of friends in Scotland.

I had arrived a couple day earlier. It was for a three week backpacking trip.

However, I had arrived late at night, and I wasn’t sure where I was going to stay.

This was before smartphones, so I couldn’t look anything up easily.

As I was standing there, jet lagged (after flying for twelve hours and taking a train for another three), dazed and confused, an old guy came up.

“Son, you look lost,” he said. He sounded a lot like Sean Connery, but with a mouthful of marbles.

He showed me where a bunch of cheap hotels, for which I was grateful.

Most of the time, though, when some stranger comes out of nowhere to offer advice, it’s rarely taken with a hundred percent gratitude.

Especially if the advice has some kind of ulterior motive behind it.

Most people have heard that giving unasked for advice rarely works.

Why is this?

Consider the presuppositions.

Imagine you’re at the grocery store, looking at the different flavors of peanut butter. You’re going to go home and make a sandwich.

Then some goof comes out of nowhere and acts like he’s the holder of supreme peanut butter knowledge.

What does this presuppose?

It presupposes that before he even introduces himself, he looks at you and KNOWS that HE knows MORE about peanut butter than you do.

Which is kind of insulting.

AND it robs us of the pleasure of peanut butter discovery.

This is why it rarely feels good if somebody we don’t know gives us unasked for advice.

It presupposes they know more about the situation than we do.

Even when people we know give us advice, it still doesn’t feel right.

Because it has the same presupposition of “superiority.”

Unfortunately, for most of us, this ALL WE KNOW when it comes to influencing others.

Sure, we find out a little bit about what they want, but that’s usually just the tip of the iceberg.

Then we proceed to tell them (or suggest to them) why they should do what WE want based on the little information they’ve given us.

It still is kind of insulting.

We’re basically telling them that with only that LITTLE BIT of information, we know MORE about the situation than they do.

This is why any kind of sales always has both low conversation rates and high stress.

You’re GIVING ADIVCE to people hoping they’ll buy something.

Luckily, there is another way.

Not just in sales, but any time you want to influence others.

And it doesn’t rely on YOU at all.

All them. All their ideas. All you’ve got to do is turn off your brain and ask a few questions.

Click Here To Learn How

How To Become Attractive

Why Opposite Usually Works

There are a lot of metaphors about doing the opposite of what you think you should do.

A poem by Rumi, the ancient Sufi poet, wrote about how when we “think” we’re walking into the water, we’re really walking into the fire, and vice versa.

If you’ve ever had a crush on somebody and your instincts told you to tell them EVERYTHING, certain that would get them to reciprocate your feelings, you probably found it had the opposite effect.

There’s that old saying that “what we resist persists.” The more we try to avoid something, the more we seem to make it come true.

What feels good in the short term (like eating cheeseburgers and playing video games) usually plays havoc on out long term success.

Even in Star Wars, Obi Won told Luke to “let go and surrender to the force” because he was trying to hard.

This idea shows up in movies, philosophy and everywhere in between.

There was even one episode of Seinfeld where George Costanza did everything the “opposite way” and it worked like a charm.

(Of course, since it was a comedy, he’d do things like walk up to gorgeous women several inches taller than him, tell them he was unemployed and lived with is parents, and they’d fall madly in love with him.)

How can we apply this to real life?

One way is how we get our ideas across to others.

We think if we say the magic words or become super persuasive with our ideas (backed by our pictures in our mind) we’ll somehow override the pictures and ideas in the minds of others.

But if they are doing the same thing (which most everybody is) then it turns into an “idea contest.” Or a “who can describe their ideas the best” contest.

The interesting thing is our ideas are pretty vague. Ours and everybody else’s.

Which means if you ditch your ideas (just for a little bit) and expand THEIR ideas, something pretty cool will happen.

One is they’ve likely never had anybody do this before.

Two is that the bigger their ideas (wants needs and desires) get, the “stickier” they’ll get.

Meaning they’ll start to see EVERYTHING (including you) through their newly expanded wants, needs and desires.

If you look at everything through a blue filter, everything will look blue.

If they look at everything through their wants, needs, and desires, they’ll see that as well.

It’s not intuitive, it’s certainly opposite, but it works like crazy.

Click Here To Learn More

Happy Boy

How To Impress Nearly Everybody

One thing I’m a big sucker for is kitchen gadgets.

I like to cook, and I like buying stuff.

Once I was walking from one section of town to another, where all the taxis were. I decided to cut through a big building which contained a department store in the basement.

I was intending to just use the restroom on my way to the taxi stand. But when I came out I’d purchased an espresso machine.

As long as it doesn’t create problems (like racking up huge credit card debt) buying stuff is pretty fun.

Especially when you’ve had your eye on something for a while.

It’s cool to do research, find out all you can about something.

One thing that can ruin this experience is a high-pressure sales person.

One of the reasons we don’t like them is they try to put THEIR ideas into our heads.

Like if you’re looking at an espresso machine, for example, and some salesperson comes up and starts rattling off all the features and benefits of all the different machines.

“This one is ultra high capacity! It can produce seventeen gallons of espresso per minute, making you the star of all those coffee parties you plan on having!”

The “feature-benefit” strategy is great if the customer doesn’t really know what they want, AND they are willing to let the salesperson fill their brain with a bunch of strange ideas. (like a rapid fire espresso machine).

Unfortunately, this rarely works.

And equally unfortunately, this is the communication style most of us use.

When we meet somebody for the first time, it’s natural to want to “impress” them for one reason or another. Get them to like us.

But if you start spitting out stories (like the time you went skydiving and your chute didn’t open and you had to build a backup parachute out of your socks), they MAY be impressed, but then again, they may not.

If you mix in any kind of anxiety, trying to tell impressive stories can be pretty difficult.

Luckily, there’s a much EASIER way. A much more simple way.

One you can use no matter what you’ve done, or what you haven’t done.

And it will work on pretty much anybody.

Click Here To Learn More

Always Be Chasing Something Important

Get Women To Follow You

Most guys would do anything to get “a girl” to like them.

Unfortunately, when it’s gotten to that point, where you like her and she’s already decided she doesn’t like you, it’s too late.

The thing about us people is our brains are really pretty simple.

And by understanding how our brains operate, it’s pretty easy to get us to do stuff, (or get others to do stuff) if you know what you’re doing.

EXCEPT if they’ve made a clear decision BEFORE they interact with you that they DON’T want to do what you’re going to try and persuade them to do.

For example, if you walk onto a car lot and your main goal is to NOT buy a car, it’s going to be VERY HARD to sell you a car.

On the other hand, if you kind of, sort of want a new car, you’ll be a lot easier to persuade.

Which means, if that girl you like has ALREADY DECIDED she’s not interested in dating you, there’s not much you can do.

So it’s much better to focus on other girls.

But when you do that, it’s really pretty simple.

The easiest way to become VERY attractive to many girls is to have a huge plan for your life that will ALWAYS be MORE IMPORTANT than any girl.

This has to be real, it can’t be faked.

Women are hard wired to FOLLOW MEN. Many women are angry today because most men have NOTHING they are going after, which makes it VERY HARD to follow them.

Which means a lot of women are stuck doing the leading, which they HATE.

At least from a sexual-attraction standpoint.

All you need to do is take some time, figure out what you are going to chase (dreams, goals, visions) for your life.

And then start chasing it.

The effect on the women in your life will be profound.

Click Here To Learn How