“Agitate! Agitate! Ought to be the motto of every reformer. Agitation is the opposite of stagnation – the one is life, the other death.” – Ernestine Rose, Born Jan. 13, 1810. One of the best tricks I know for starting a “push” conversation in the mind of a stranger is to acknowledge their frustrations, and […]
Stagnation is the Mind Killer, the Little Death Read More »
“Life is very interesting if you make mistakes.” – Georges Carpentier, Born Jan. 12, 1894. The secret to success is building an audience. The secret to building an audience is to be interesting. The secret to being interesting is having something valuable to talk about. This last one intimidates many, who mistakenly think that only
Content Hack: Go Screw Something Up Really Bad. (Then Fix It.) Read More »
“We have been endowed with the capacity and the power to create desirable pictures within and to find them automatically in the outer world of our environment.” – John A. MacDonald, Born Jan. 11, 1815. Many diatribes on the “power of positive thinking” center on this kind of idea. That vision can instantly lead to
Universe Hacking and Other Fun Persuasion Tricks Read More »
“When you can do the common things of life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.” – George Washington Carver, Born Jan. 10, 1864. One of the simplest secrets of success at I know is to do just do the simple things well. Unfortunately, that is uncommon. Show up every
Consistency is Uncommon, But It’s a Shortcut to Success Read More »
“Movies are full of leading men, most of whom aren’t working. It’s much harder to find a good villain.” – Lee Van Cleef, Born Jan. 9, 1925. The secret of creating a powerful persona in your marketplace is to help your prospects find good villains to add a little adversarial psychological opposition to their lives.
Sometimes a Villain is What the People Need Read More »
“It is good to vary in order that you may frustrate the curious, especially those who envy you.” – Baltasar Gracian, Born Jan. 8, 1601 As Harvey Danger once put it, “if you’re bored, then you’re boring.” And you DO want to frustrate the plans of people who stumble across you, so they stop what
Inscrutability is Fascinating Even to People Who Don’t Know What It Means Read More »
“The man who interprets Nature is always held in great honor.” – Zora Neale Hurston, Born Jan. 7, 1891. If you want to be the guru/expert/wizard in your chosen fields of expertise, you must become an interpreter of nature, as it occurs in that field. You are the wise man. The oracle. A wizard of
The Wise Man of the Wasteland Reveals His One Weird Trick Read More »
“It is the emergence of mass media which makes possible the use of propaganda techniques on a societal scale.” – Jacques Ellul, Born Jan. 6, 1912. I say often that being able to persuade other people is about as close as you can get to having a real life superpower. It makes life easier. It
Propaganda for Fun and Profit. But Mostly Profit. Read More »
“Don’t forget that the only two things people read in a story are the first and last sentences. Give them blood in the eye on the first one.” – Herbert Bayard Swope, Born Jan. 5, 1882. That’s why your opener should fuck the reader in the brain, right through their eye socket, planting the seed
Bloody Eyeballs Are Happy Eyeballs Read More »
“I’m 48 years old, not a kid anymore by any definition, but here is a universal truth that every adult at some point will realize: We are all always 17 years old, waiting for our lives to begin.” – Harlan Coben, Born Jan. 4, 1962. You can write pretty persuasively for people of any age
People Are Seventeen Forever on the Inside Read More »
