“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 Make Your Writing Delicious, and Thus Make Prospects Crave More and More
“The truth is that life is delicious, horrible, charming, frightful, sweet, bitter, and that is everything.” – Anatole France, Born Apr. 16, 1844. Who are you writing to? Robots? No, people. So why write to live, breathing, ambulatory meat bags full of emotion – about boring old “stuff”? People don’t care about stuff. They care… Read More →
The Ugly Difference Between a Buying Brain and a Selling One…
“We imagine that we want to escape our selfish and commonplace existence, but we cling desperately to our chains.” – Anne Sullivan, Born Apr. 14, 1866. This one is going to be really uncomfortable. Ready? See in that quote where she says “imagine”? That imagination is why we can sell people stuff all day long… Read More →
How to Get Away With Embellishment: Admit To It Proudly!
“There is no persuasiveness more effectual than the transparency of a single heart, of a sincere life.” – Joseph Barber Lightfoot, Born Apr. 13, 1828. Let’s define a term temporarily for the purpose of this piece. I’m talking about your average bullshitter. And by “bullshitter” I mean the kind of person that is just always… Read More →
To Gain Persuasive Power, Practice Practical Lying in Person…
“Lying increases the creative faculties, expands the ego, and lessens the frictions of social contacts.” – Clare Boothe Luce, Born Apr. 10, 1903. Lying is powerful. Whether you call it telling tales, self delusion, pretending, make believe, whatever – if you want to get good at what we do, you need practice. If you want… Read More →
Honey May Catch More Flies Than Vinegar, But Vinegar Makes More Sales…
“The first thing we become convinced of is that man is organized so as to be far more sensible of pain than of pleasure.” – Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, Born Apr. 1, 1755. The persuader would do well to learn that when it comes to making someone take a desired action, there are two general forces… Read More →
Counterintuitively, The Ultimate Positioning is Being Unobtainable
“I have now established myself in a most enviable manner. Those who require something of me must seek me out – I remain apart. I work for no one unless he is a high-ranking personality or a friend.” – Francisco Goya, Born Mar. 30, 1746. Once you are already well known for what you do,… Read More →
Positioning for Preeminence the Proper Way…
“Live as if you were living a second time, and as though you had acted wrongly the first time.” – Viktor E. Frankl, Born Mar. 26, 1905. Vic was giving advice on how to live a fulfilling and satisfying life. It’s a neat avenue of thought. But this isn’t the Cult of Philosophical Warm Snugglies…. Read More →
Productivity is Dictated by Where You Work, and How You Practice
“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” – William Morris, Born Mar. 24, 1834. I want to talk about this in three ways. First…. While you can eventually apply that to your house, let’s at least start with your work space, wherever that may… Read More →
The Fear of Failure Feeds Your Forge – FEEL it, then USE it…
“Movie directors, or should I say people who create things, are very greedy and they can never be satisfied… That’s why they can keep on working. I’ve been able to work for so long because I think next time, I’ll make something good.” – Akira Kurosawa, Born Mar. 23, 1910. Today, let’s talk about defeat…. Read More →
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