“As people are walking all the time, in the same spot, a path appears.” – John Locke, Born Aug. 29, 1632. People are not that different. We all think we are unique snowflakes, but humanity is a blizzard. While there are always exceptions, we are built the same way, and we have similar lives. Routine…. Read More →
Failure and Bad Feelings Can Be Burned as Fuel – and They Produce Powerful Work
“I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.” – Edward “Duke” Ellington, Born Apr. 29, 1899. Hey, guess what? Everyone has problems. Big whoop. What do you do about your problems? Take them? Endure them? Or do you put them to work? As motivation. As fuel. If you’re not yet… Read More →
Escapism Motivates: Where Will You Go When You Get Away From Here?
“All the best stories are but one story in reality – the story of escape. It is the only thing which interests us all and at all times, how to escape.” – A. C. Benson, Born Apr. 24, 1862. We tell stories. Stories about the reader. Stories they haven’t heard about themselves yet. The ending… Read More →
Programming Imaginations With Impossible Imagery is the New Black
“If I could find anything blacker than black, I’d use it.” – J. M. W. Turner, Born Apr. 23, 1775. This one isn’t about the content of the quote, but more about the implications of it. Turner couldn’t find paint that was any blacker than the paints he used. He could never actually accurately show… Read More →
Repetition is the Mission… Repetition is the Mission… Repetition is the Mission…
“A lie told often enough becomes the truth.” – Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Lenin), Born Apr. 22, 1870. This is a statement that sounds sinister because of how specific it is. If you make it as general as it is in reality, it’s not so evil-seeming. Anything repeated often enough will eventually be believed. This works… Read More →
The Art of Sinking Your Persuasive Fishhook Right in Your Prospect’s Face
“For to tempt and to be tempted are things very nearly allied – whenever feeling has anything to do in the matter, no sooner is it excited than we have already gone vastly farther than we are aware of.” – Yekaterina Alexeyevna, Born Apr. 21, 1729. If persuasion is a fishing pole, emotion is the… Read More →
The Real Reason People Do What They Do (And How To Use It Against Them)
“A man always has two reasons for doing anything: a good reason and the real reason.” – J. P. Morgan, Born Apr. 17, 1837. Morgan was talking about parsing the reasoning behind the market moves his competition were making. But we are going to approach it backwards. If you want to persuade and influence people… Read More →
How to “Inception” Your Ideas Into Other People’s Brains – With Only a Pencil and Paper…
“A strong emotion, especially if experienced for the first time, leaves a vivid memory of the scene where it occurred.” – Algernon Blackwood, Born Mar. 14, 1869. You ever see that movie “Inception” where that team of mental mercenaries implants an idea into someone’s memory, so that they mistake it for their own? I can… Read More →
Don’t Lie to Yourself – Deception is What Fuels All Persuasion
“THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN CONTROL PEOPLE IS TO LIE TO THEM. You can write that down in your book in great big letters. The only way you can control anybody is to lie to them.” – Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, Born Mar. 13, 1911. Get out the Preparation H because every time his topic comes… Read More →
The Cure for Boredom and Being Boring: How to Be Interesting All the Time
“The greatest sin for a writer is to be boring.” – Carl Hiaasen, Born Mar. 12, 1953. If you can manage to keep yourself free of this sin, the world can be yours. It doesn’t matter if you’re not so convincing, or so poetic, or so informative. Your readers will forgive you for that. Just… Read More →