Secret Knowledge
(How Things Work)
Mind Power Secrets - Lesson Five
Rather than debate whether there is really "secret knowledge"
out there, I'll simply define it as the tricks and techniques
and information that most people do not know about. Certainly
there are little secrets about how things work that most
people are ignorant of. Politicians, salesmen and others do
use subtle ways to influence you, for example. I'll give you
examples to get you thinking. Then I'll show you how to look
for "insider secrets."
(Did you use several brainpower tools over the last
week? That was the assignment from the last lesson.)
Secret knowledge, such as subliminal techniques, can be used
for good or bad, so is it dangerous? Yes, but especially if you
don't have it. Knowing techniques and insider secrets means you
can use them (if you are comfortable doing so) and protect
yourself from their misuse. With that in mind, and with the intention
of making our minds more effective in real life and not just
on an IQ test, here are some examples of things you may not have
known.
Hypnotic Selling Techniques
Read the following paragraph:
Does public speaking make you nervous? What if it was easy?
Imagine standing at the podium, knowing exactly what to say to
make them love you. Wouldn't that feel great? Just apply our
simple methods, and you'll have that power. Use the form below
to order right now.
Now let's dissect the sales pitch above.
Sentence 1: It gets you to say yes, which is habit forming.
Sentence 2: It suggests the possibility of a solution.
Sentence 3: The word "imagine" gets you to do just
that.
Sentence 4: Line four suggests a positive emotion and
gets another yes.
Sentence 5: It uses "and" to infer cause and effect
(you'll have the power because you used our product).
Sentence 6: This last line directs you with "Use the
form below..." The part that says "order right now"
is called an "embedded command." It subtly commands
you to take a specific action without you noticing consciously,
by making the "command" words stand out subtly - by
putting them in italics in this case. Sometimes marketers will
use a slightly different font style for embedded commends, or
in other ways make them distinct.
That paragraph uses six or more "hypnotic sales techniques."
Do they really work? They have for me. I have forty such techniques
in my notes in front of me. When I used them to rewrite the sign-up
page for the Brainpower Newsletter years ago, I started
to get four times as many subscribers from the same amount of
traffic. Powerful stuff. Start watching for it - or using it
(with good intentions I hope).
Now, you can decide for yourself where such manipulation crosses
ethical lines. All advertising (even a fruit vendor yelling about
his delicious fruit) is an attempt to influence other people,
but not all ways of doing that are fair. In any case, as mentioned,
learning these things is as much about protecting yourself from
their misuse as about using them on others.
Control through Words
How do you answer when someone asks you, "Have you stopped
beating your kids?" This classic joke uses an implicit premise
(that you have beat your kids) to have some fun at your expense.
Political leaders use implicit premises for more serious purposes.
If they can get everyone to argue about the best way to
do something, for example, nobody questions if it should even
be done. Make the public debate about the best way to win a war
and serious debate about whether the war should be fought at
all disappears. Implicit premises are a powerful method of control.
This isn't always done on purpose. A simple argument about
what the government should do to stop drug use, for example,
has all sides agreeing on the implicit premise that something
should be done, but it isn't necessarily the conscious intent
of anyone involved to subtly and secretly convince the public
that drug use is a big problem - everyone may have already felt
that way. But it is a premise that goes unchallenged because
it forms the very basis of the arguments, and there are often
good reasons to challenge premises, even if that just results
in reaffirming them.
Sometimes, however, there is intent. For example, suppose
a political candidate points out the critical things his opponent
has said about his government's actions around the world, implying
this makes him unsuited to lead. The candidate won't make a rational
argument that we shouldn't criticize policies or past government
actions we disagrees with - that would be laughable. Instead
he'll take a few of his opponent's quotes out of context, and
hint that he doesn't love his country. The moment that his opponent
starts backpedaling - pretending he didn't say those things,
the implicit premise becomes "criticism of ones government
equals a lack of love for the country." This is not only
a way to defeat a political opponent, but also a way to quiet
the populace, who don't want to appear "unpatriotic"
by voicing dissent.
Whether you agree or not with the premises hidden in political
debate, get in the habit of recognizing them. You'll start to
think about things in a whole new way. A more powerful mind will
be the result.
Winning the battles of word-choices is another way to influence
people without their awareness. For example, why do we refer
to social security as a "retirement fund." The supreme
court says there is no more legal obligation to continue it than
there is with any other government program, and payments don't
come from any actual investments (unless you call the government
lending itself money "investing"), so it more precisely
fits the description of a "welfare" program.
We can say that the promise to continue this welfare program
is more meaningful to people because the portion of taxes allocated
to it is segregated from other taxes, but that's just the social
psychology of the matter. Taxes collected now are still not invested,
but spent to pay those who collect now - just like any welfare
program. We can argue that this is an important program because
the elderly need help to survive. I'm not expressing an opinion
on the matter of whether it should exist, but it seems clear
that it's called a "retirement fund" for political
purposes. Nothing would have to change if it was referred to
as a welfare program, but things would change, wouldn't they?
Words matter. It would be hard for a defense contractor to
sell "human shredder" bombs, so they use the name "daisy
cutter." Start noticing how words are used to influence
you. Also see how changing them in your own mind changes your
view. If you are "in the business of selling your labor,"
you might see things differently than as an "employee."
Again, the ethical implications of these techniques is left
for you to decide. Keep in mind though, that for every marketplace
and political application of these methods, there is a potential
use in personal relationships as well. You also can use words
in ways that influence your own behavior, and so the results
you get in life.
Note: Most of the above was taken from my e-book, You aren't
Supposed to Know - A Book of Secrets, which is part of the
Secrets Package. You can click on the banner below to
go to TheSecretInformationSite.com in order to buy the package
or to get free weekly mailings on insider information and related
topics.
Why Are Some People Lucky?
Things can just happen randomly, but when people are consistently
lucky, usually they're creating the conditions for "luck."
They often don't know they're doing this, but there has been
some serious research done on what we call luck, and we can choose
to consciously do the things that bring more of it. I've written
a book on this, but here is the short version:
Work smart.
Know the right people.
Be in the right place.
Prepare.
Take numerous small and smart risks.
Have the right attitude.
Be persistent.
If you want to know more, like how a man I know won $80,000
in a year of playing roulette, or how looking around you in a
certain way can bring luck, check out my e-book, How
To Have Good Luck.
I could go on with examples, but this isn't a course on insider
knowledge. The point is to get you to train yourself to seek
out and use these "secrets" as an exercise in effective
mind power, which is worth more than a higher IQ score. To
start discovering "secrets" all the time, do some of
the following exercises:
- See if you can figure out why one business is more successful
than others.
- Learn some math short cuts, so you can easily do problems
in your head.
- Observe salesmen "mirroring," or "leading,"
you (for more on this see the page Persuasion
Techniques).
- See how some parents use little tricks to control their
kids, while others are helpless.
- Notice the words used by speakers, and ask yourself why
they might have chosen those words.
- Whenever you get excited by a sales pitch, identify what
caused your excitement, and start using those techniques on yourself
for motivation and greater mind power.
- Consider how I make money giving this course away free.
- Question everything, until questioning is a habit.
Assignment: Every day this week, write down an example
you notice of a sales technique, a business secret, a political
manipulation, a creative short cut, or anything new you learn
about how things work.
Next Lesson: Jedi Mind Tricks
P.S. If you haven't subscribed to this
e-course, and you want to learn the other secrets of mind power,
you can go here to subscribe: Mind
Power Secrets
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