Persuasion

If They Believe You Truly “See” Them, They Listen Closely to Your Advice

Margaret Drabble

“The rare pleasure of being seen for what one is, compensates for the misery of being it.” – Margaret Drabble, Born Jun, 5, 1939. The vast majority of the average assholes of planet earth will consign themselves to a lifelong practice of suppressing their true selves. Put upon by the burden of just being fake

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Deadly Sins? Or Signals for Endlessly Profitable Niches?

Christopher Lasch

“The model of ownership, in a society organized round mass consumption, is addiction.” – Christopher Lasch, Born Jun. 1, 1932. Our culture is pre-conditioned to pursue addictive consumption. If you don’t have young ones, watch some kids programming sometime and pay attention to the commercials. I’m not saying that’s bad. Consumerism is fine if you

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How to Use Humbuggery to Create Desire (And Not Sound Like a Sleazy Shill)

Edmond de Goncourt

“People don’t like the true and simple; they like fairy tales and humbug.” – Edmond de Goncourt, Born May 26, 1822. This quote might be easy to mistake for some pessimistic bullshit croaked out by a bitter misanthrope. But it’s really profound if you consider the statement as a commentary ON ITSELF. The thing is,

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People Secretly Loathe Perfect Heroes, And Deeply Love Flawed Ones

Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton

“If you wish to be loved, show more of your faults than your virtues.” – Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton, Born May 25, 1803. Someone who is perceived to be predominantly virtuous is going to be well-liked. Admired, even. But also, such people are secretly resented. Because people always resent their superiors, at least a little bit.

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Help Your Customers Feel Like They Matter When Buying, And Sell So Much More

Dustin Moskovitz

“One of the purposes of life, and selfishly what makes people happy, is building things that are impactful.” – Dustin Moskovitz, Born May 22, 1984. I disagree with Dustin here, but only slightly, and I’ll forgive him because his audience are going to be “achievers”. People don’t typically want to build anything. Not most people.

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Change a Person’s Belief By Using Their Emotions Against Them

Brian Eno

“Emotion creates reality, reality demands action.” – Brian Eno, Born May 15, 1948. This is a really elegant way to explain the connection between emotion and behavior. If you can sufficiently tap into someone’s strong emotions, you can then use those to distort their perceptions and beliefs, and thus alter their subjective reality. Once you

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