Persuasion is not
Persuasion.
At least not in the way you think.
Most everyone thinks of persuasion as a single skill: structuring languaging patterns as taught most notably in NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming).
While this may have been the reality when I translated NLP from therapy to business in the '80s, the world has come a long way since then. So far in fact that comparing persuasion in the '80s, when I began working with Richard Bandler, to today is like comparing the earliest analog computers to the smartphones and supercomputers that we rely on to navigate everyday reality.
Back in its inception, persuasion was synonymous with NLP language patterns. These language patterns were so technical and complex that they sound like Shakespearian language when spoken today.
Long gone are the days of NLP supremacy in the universe of persuasion. Over the last four decades, I have discovered that...
There isn't just one universe of Persuasion. There is a multiverse.
Now, in order for the magnitude of that assertion to really make sense, we need to take a step back and remember Copernicus's discovery of the heliocentric model in the mid 1500's.
Up until then, astronomy was relatively new as a hard science. So new that the entire world thought that the Sun revolved around Earth. The entire conception of reality up until Copernicus' heliocentric model of the universe placed Earth as the center of the solar system and, effectively, the universe.
So you can imagine the fits of horror at Copernicus' assertion that the Earth, along with all the other planets in our solar system, actually revolved around the Sun.
This was heresy in its time. Copernicus' reputation and--quite literally--life was held at the stake for making such a sacrilegious claim.
ADD MORE HERE
In the context of Persuasion, NLP is Earth and the sun is Persuasion.
When we introduce this new conception of the multiverse of Persuasion, we are first breaking the existing model of reality for Persuasion experts worldwide. Then, we are going quantum mechanics. But we'll save the quantum mechanics for just a bit later.
As we flip the entire model of persuasion on its head, what we can see clearly for the first time is that Persuasion does not revolve around NLP. Rather, NLP is one of several planets that revolves around the Sun of Persuasion.
And it is up to the daring few to travel the other planets and explore them thoroughly in order to claim mastery of the planets which orbit around persuasion.
But keep in mind here... no one will ever claim mastery of the Sun itself: Persuasion.
See, persuasion is what holds all planets in orbit, facilitates life, and energizes success in material reality.
Are you now beginning to understand why this is all so revolutionary?
Persuasion does not revolve around one single skill. Several skills revolve around Persuasion.
And this cosmic perspective of Persuasion is only more breathtaking when you look again at the ancient wisdom of Norse Mythology.
Beyond tales of dwarves, giants, and magic, Norse Mythology conceptualizes the universe in two prisms.
The first prism is the physical reality we all take as "life." Let's call it external reality.
The second prism is the inner psychological reality. Let's call it internal reality.
Our solar system in the external reality has nine planets revolving around the sun.
Well, Norse Mythology conceptualizes 9 Worlds of inner reality as well.
So you have the 9 planets of external reality. And in Norse Mythology, we have the 9 Worlds of inner reality.
Thus, we have two distinct yet simultaneous universes that coexist and interact with one another all the time.
This is made even more compelling by the fact that all my life's work has been concerned with the interaction between the external and the internal in a way that I could never put into words, much less a unified framework, until now.
Persuasion to me is the Sun, you in your ultimate potential shining out, energizing, and facilitating life on all the other 9 planets.
Each of these planets is a distinct skill.
Condensed down to its core, the formula for Persuasion is simple math.
Persuasion = Strategy + Application.
If all you do is sit around and strategize (arm chair quarterback) and never apply what you learn OR you are only looking to apply what you are told without strategizing (automaton - Non Player Character), then not only will none of our products help you get ahead, but nothing will.
You can either accept that now and take control of your life - as we teach on The Power Ark - or stop reading now and find your local internet guru who will whisper sweet nothings in your ear all night long.
Persuasion is not rocket science and we’re not looking to over-complicate everything, but getting results with us does require that you have two things we cannot teach you: dedication and common sense.
If you have either of these, preferably both, keep reading.
Think of the ship, The Power Ark, it represents persuasion. It has hubs or areas that are for engineering, living, control etc. Altogether it equals persuasion.
Each of the different areas signify a different area within persuasion.
The more of these areas you bring to bear, the more powerful and effective your persuasion is. Remember that persuasion is a NET EFFECT. As in the symbol of The Power Ark, you can remove one of the hubs or areas of the ship, but it reduces the effectiveness of the ship to perform its function. Remove one or two of the hubs and sure, the ship still functions. But it functions less and less effectively. Take away three or more of the hubs and you have a dysfunctional vessel. The same principle is true with persuasion.
Persuasion is something you must constantly maintain and upgrade, like a spacecraft or a civilization.
This is massively important for you to understand because most think their whole life that persuasion is one specific thing. Most commonly, self proclaimed experts excel in language patterning and label that as persuasion when it is not. Language patterning is one of the several main cores of persuasion, but it is not persuasion in its entirety. And if it is, then you will always feel a sense of confusion when you get the same lackluster results and convince yourself that you are just not patterning your language effectively enough.
A client that has been with me for more than 20 years said to me recently, as a result of learning persuasion from you...
I asked him what persuasion is. He said it is a way of using language patterns to put people into an altered state and thus gain compliance.
I could tell that he stopped studying with me many years ago. His understanding was antiquated like mine was when he learned it from me, back when it was revolutionary. Today, it is not the full picture.
And that's the problem with thinking about persuasion like it’s just sequencing of language or triggering emotion. That is so reductionist that I’ve long thought it not even worth mentioning. But, I have found that this is the number one problem in persuasion today.
People think persuasion is just one secret thing that you learn once and hold onto for the rest of your life. That is absolutely incorrect.
Persuasion is a constellation of several key areas.
- Framing
- Mental Operating System
- Mindset - myOS
- Manifestation - synthesize seemingly unrelated information
- Enlivens the myth to bring it into reality
- Productivity
- How to find purpose -
- is in the application not the strategy.
- Wrongly defined.
- Like happiness not a thing.
- It's not an emotion or a value.
- Leveraging
- Emotions
- Values
- Languaging strategies
- Triggers
- Analogy
- Logic
- Strategy - Models
- Model of Precision
- Sherpa Model
- Model of Suggestion
- Charismatic Delivery
- Voice
- Body
Social Influence
- Persuading groups
- Leadership
- Emotional Triangles
- Deep analytical skills of how people you are influencing build, maintain and change the models they are using to create their reality. And how to intercept these to your advantage.
- Myth
Our expansion packs.
Brings myth alive.
Having an ecosystem that helps you makes sense of everything. Framework for meaning making. Building and shaping your identity. Synthesize all the categories from above to navigating them personally and making meaning from them. (Symbolic unification)
- Rune Universe
- Magick
- Developing a far more powerful relationship between your conscious and unconscious minds. Developing deep personal trust.
- You can do everything right in the categories above but if you don't have a deep relationship with your unconscious, then you will be eternally fragmented.
- Metaphor
- Origin Story
Manifestation:
Midgard. Enacting purposeful change in physical reality.
Runes - Strategic tools for immediate application.
Application
Specific events in your life.
Micro-perspective
Deep-cleaning your mind to open up more productive capacity.
Then, aiming that open space for new mental focus at a specific target.
Newton’s Second Law of Physics: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
Clean up your physical space and your mind is cleaner.
Clean up your mind and your physical reality cleans up as well.
Myth:
Frifgarth. Imaginative and Self-Constructed Reality
Universes with Millionaire Mind-Set
Perspective.
Organizational Filing System.
Strategy
The aggregate chronology of events in your life.
Macro-perspective
Defragmenting the events in your life into a unified narrative.
Synthesizing new and seemingly unrelated information about reality into a unified framework that allows you to sort and sift what is important and meaningful. Fitting everything that happens to you into a framework
Imbuing
Manifestation (Application): Targeting a specific result in your life.
Myth (Consciously Constructed Model of Reality / The Map / Strategy): How does that result fit into the chronology of your consciously constructed past, present, and future?
Magick (Imbuing Symbol with Meaning): Imbuing a symbol with a fragment of that myth.
Framing
"The source of human power is neither muscle nor mind, but models." Kenneth Cukier
We think using mental models. But it is usually very much outside of awareness.
The role you play as a persuader, what you believe is true of your market, how you think people will receive you… all are based on models in your head.
A model gives you a particular window on something. You can think of that as a frame.
They go much deeper than just general windows on things. They control what you think is possible and what you will find acceptable and what you believe will be probable.
If you frame a situation wrong, you end up losing. Or at least not getting what you could. But if you frame it correctly, everything can evolve smoothly for you to move forward.
And frames are not just overall ways of looking at something general, they are ways of interacting and guiding others through small adjustments.
Frames are windows into extreme leverage that you can learn to harness to your advantage.
Strategy
There is a very famous trail called the Pacific crest national trail. I know because I hiked most of it when I was young with my father. It goes all the way from Mexico to Canada.
So when a person contacted me and told me that they wanted to hike this trail and could they go over some of the maps of the trail with them, I found myself getting a little bit excited. Yes it has been a long time, but I thought the conversation would be really enjoyable.
When they showed up, they laid out a big map.
Something was strange though. it was a map of all of the lakes and rivers along the way.
I was trying to figure out why they were showing me that.
I asked them if they were worried about being able to find water along the way. They told me no not at all.
I asked them if there were some condition regarding water that concerned them. They said no not at all.
So I asked them why they were showing me a map of the rivers and lakes and Lakes. They told me that they weren’t, that they were just showing me a map of the trail.
How do you tell somebody that a map is not what they think it is?
This seeming mystery will strike you as pretty funny when you understand its application to persuasion.
All maps are not equal.
A good example of this would be the old-fashioned map of selling that Dale Carnegie taught at the turn of the 1900’s and that can still be found being taught today. It is attention, interest, conviction, desire, close.
This Map may have had some value 150 years ago. Today, it will only get you laughed at.
There are numerous models that will help you considerably if you understand. You will find them helpful at certain times. What you should not do with them is to use them like my friend was using the map of rivers and lakes.
Knowing when to use one over another adds to your persuasion skills enormously.
