This blog post inspired in part by The Charisma Myth, to be released February 2012.

When I am acting through my highest intentions and values then I am most clear-minded.

When I am not acting through my highest intentions and instead succumb to social pressure then I become prone to rationalization.

The phenomenon of liking someone because of rationalization is intimately related to succumbing to social pressure.

When we like something it is because we have decided that it has value.  Instead of dictating value from the top-down, we receive our values from the bottom-up.

Thus we are prone to cognitive dissonance, liking rationalization, when we accept someone else’s values.  We decide that we like that person because we took their values.  By definition, that is what liking is: we like things that match our values.

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When I was decorating my apartment someone told me “Make sure to get a night table! You’ll want it for your books, for a lamp…”

So I went to IKEA and I got the stand for my books.  It was a pain in the ass to install and I basically fucked it up, but I installed it by my bed.

Later, when rearranging my apartment, I realized that I could move my bed next to a bench that’s built-in to my space… and do away with the need for a night table.

In a spiritual sense maybe what to say is: I got caught up in how it manifested rather than intention. By focusing on the concrete specifics of the intention (form) rather than the function… I failed to grasp the optimal solution immediately.

The relationship between form and function bears further study. Recommendations?

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Lately I’ve been tuning in to threat signals in basketball.

Like, often times before someone makes a shot, I get a ‘threat signal’ (fight or flight – amygdala activation) vibe from them.

I suspect two possibilities:

• I’m anticipating the shot as a threat
• Their body language and thought loops generate an (honest?) threat signal to me, increasing their relative self esteem in the moment, making a successful shot more likely

Edit, June 29 @ 9:34pm PST:

Pablo Chandler chimes in via Facebook:

Both possibilities at work? Adrenaline, focus, aggression helps clear the mind of insecurity, helps a shot go in. Let’s say you and the guy you guard are totally level and blank, emotionally. Then he bluffs swagger/”threat signals”, then you react in a subtle nervous way, which then actually generates real swagger and aggression in him. Disrupt his swagger by defending him super-aggressively at random intervals, defending in a very relaxed state otherwise. It’ll disturb his senses, and it’ll free you to play defense according to your energy and spirit, not his, not always immediately reacting to him. Offense always has the initiative and the advantage, right? D up equally hard on 100 of 100 plays, he’ll still score in about half of them, with few misses due to you, and you’ll get fatigued, and he’ll figure out your tendencies quick. Relax half the time and with a last-second faceguard he’ll still miss about half of those — the others you can challenge decisively, all while undercutting his overall flow.

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In one of my favorite books, The Ways of Knowing, William Montague discusses the variety of ways by which we can come across information. We can employ rational argument, deploy our intuition, mine our senses, learn from socially transmitted information…

Ultimately we are bound by our senses. Our human perceptions are shaped by them and become swiftly limited by a certain age; I could probably cite Piaget here.

Consider the universe as being a set of information that is in some ways observable to us at all times, disregarding the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. We can see things and we can hear things and we can smell things, and we can learn socially and cognitively about these things and draw conclusions using various logical methods.

And most people when they compete for resources are competing across well known vectors. Even if there is something new discovered people will quickly flock to it, like competition in markets or birds flocking to the new bird at the park who just found the bread.

Thanks to random mutations some people can hunt across new avenues. Like if someone had the ability to see metal as glow in the dark maybe they would get rich in coins.

(Unfortunately machine learning typically acts on sensory data.)

Or, maybe someone could just very carefully apply their intelligence and see things that others aren’t looking at. And that is how lots of wealth could be created.

I feel like the more I read the more opportunities I have for my creative mind to discover new ways of seeing. New senses blossom.

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Honest Signals — Notes

Many types of human behavior can be predicted from biologically based signaling behaviors. These form an unconscious channel of communication between people. Unlike language, honest signals are necessarily two-way: and in my opinion, they are extremely difficult to fake in the moment, except when intensely practiced. Intense practice, however, is an honest signal; it reflects an energy expenditure which cannot have been faked. This is one reason why Y Combinator requires a video in their application – they want to observe your honest signals.

In fact, did you know that in pitching a business plan to business experts, honest signaling through vocal tone — specifically, leadership signals — is the most important factor as to whether a plan will be judged as sound? This is confirmed when you have experts cross-reference the plans by reading through them instead. Different ratings are assigned.

Honest Signals is a mind-blowing book that fans of psychology will love; it’s certainly in my top ten for books I’ve read this year.
You can get it from Amazon for only $8.84. Another amazing thing is that it’s only 98 pages long, or 150 if you include the appendices.

My notes follow. I apologize for their poor formatting; however, they’re good enough for me, and I encourage you to buy the book and read it for yourself if you really want to learn.

*****

influence: measured by the extent to which one person causes the other person’s pattern of speaking to match their own pattern
mimicry- the reflexive copying of one person by another during a conversation
activity- increased activity levels normally indicate interest and excitement
consistency – the consistency of emphasis and timing is a signal of mental focus, while greater variability may signal an openness to influence from others

the influence on speaking pitch (fundamental tone of one’s voice) predicts who will win a presidential debate
candidate who sets the tone is seen as the most dominant and that voters react to this signal of dominance

everyone has had the experience of accidentally bumping into obstacles when deeply engaged in a conversation. this sort of “tunnel attention” is expensive in biological terms, because the perfect time for a predator to sneak up on a human is when they are engrossed in a conversation. as a result of its cost, the strength of influence in a conversation serves as an honest signal of attention. you can’t maintain the intricate dance of conversational turn taking if you aren’t paying attention
—> reading a room to see whose attention is focused on you when an error occurs

more empathic people are more likely to mimic their conversational partners

just adding mimicry made the sales pitch 20% more effective

unconscious automatic mimicry improved financial results by 20-30%

energy expenditure is an honest signal of the value that one attaches to a social interaction

our activity level, even when suppressed and visible only as fidgets and nervousness, is an honest signal of interest

in a speed dating event, the woman’s level of activity was the most important indicator of whether she was going to share her phone number

imagine ur in a salary negotiation. the other person has just thrown you off balance by proposing something completely unexpected. somehow you have to quickly figure out what to do without letting on that this has left you flailing about for the right response. here’s what is likely to happen next with your behavior: your speaking pace, emphasis, and even hand and body movements become uneven as your mental resources strive to work on the new problem and at the same time carry on the conversation as if nothing happened. it is this variability in emphasis and rhythm that people are really unable to control. consequently, the consistency of one’s emphasis and timing is an honest signal of a focused and smoothly functioning mind.

^— -how to throw people for loops by pacing them and then throwing a spike in their path
FRAME VENN DIAGRAMS!!! <-- lay down one frame that could possibly be inclusive of the other frame then all of a sudden./... wooooohooo

variability seems to signal an openness to input from other people

variability indicates competing mental processes and is a signal that others may be able to influence your thinking

social role of exploring, such as when you want to explore the possibility of having a deeper relationship with someone, can be communicated by displaying honest signals of interest and an openness to influence. that is, you would adopt a high activity level along with variable emphasis and rhythm.

for the social role of active listening, you would display a combination of active interest and an openness to new ideas. you would therefore have variable emphasis along with an activity level that is suppressed. e.g. gchat "THE USER HAS ENTERED TEXT"
^-- -compassionpit religion = no no, no openness to new ideas since religion is a signal of fixed mindedness.

the teaming role requires the display of combo of attention, empathic understanding, and focused thought and purpose. in signals this means high influence, ample mimicry and consistent emphasis and rhythm

when the woman had a high activity level and strongly variable emphasis -- again, the signaling a component of the exploring display -- this accurately predicted both parties' decision about whether to trade phone #s
--> how do you prompt interest and variability?

active listening: achieved by signaling that includes suppressed level of activity and variable emphasis.

business plan pitching = hard sell signals
sales dynamics = soft sell = active listening.

active listening at poker denotes being engaged in bluffing or high risk play.

the teaming role is characterized by the display of a combination of attention, empathic understanding, and focused thought and purpose.

leading display includes high activity levels, high levels of influence, and consistency of emphasis and rhythm

ape troops coordinate their activities through signaling instead of language

certain sorts of teasing or ironic humor, for instance, seem to arise from the conscious opposition of signalign and language; consider a young woman saying to a young man “no, i’m not attracted to you” when she’s preening, flicking her hair, batting her eyes, etc.

charisma is a shared cross-cultural judgment, and charismatic people are unsuually expressive, sensitive, and ahve strong internal control
^— this is why all the charisma gurus tell you to MEDITATE because it achieves strong internal control

signalling inherently changes both people, whereas conscious language can strictly be one-way

mimicking – salary negotiations – affects feelings of trust BUT the feeling of trust is two-way

the social role assumed by any given individual is determined in part by that person, but also by the other people in the group who are interacting with that individual.

If there are two or more people taking the attacker role, say, more extreme, polarized decisions tend to result. if there is only one protagonist and everyone else is a supporter, a typical outcome is groupthink.

you can often predict which choice the group will select by simply paying attention tot he initial reactions. the group’s behavior is frequently almost like voting

average activity level in brainstorming is predictive of the productivity of the group. that is, quiet groups are no more productive than having their members brainstorm separately, but highly active, engaged groups are more productive than the sum of their parts

is the team energetic and engaged? is there a high level of trust and openness? is there a strong feeling of team and membership?
^— these determine key aspects of an organization’s intelligence: its capacity to reason, plan, solve problems, and learn
hackman 2002. reicher haslam & platow 2007.

instead of rationality based on the syllogism, logic, and argument, we will see rationality based on minimizing risk and maximizing reward. our ability to make group decisions may have evolved from an ancient signaling mechanism that is based on a market of ideas rather than on deduction.

mountain gorillas decide when to end an afternoon siesta by using “close call” signals. when everyone in the group has been heard from, and the “conversation” reaches a certain intensity level, then the rest period is over.

“social voting” process could be the most common type of decision making in social animals, in part because it is good at accounting for the cost-benefit trade-offs of everyone in the group.

everyone bets on each suggested action by adjusting their activity level (signaling interest), and then we just add up the total amount of activity in the group and pick the alternative with the most bets

each person must be able to signal to the group how interested they are in each alternative and then be able to read the combined signaling of the group
^– “network intelligence”

“idiots” and “gossip”
you just have to account for people who aren’t good at predicting the outcome of actions. to do this, you have to weight people’s opinion by their track record at estimating payoffs in previous decisions. this weighting when done properly takes care of idiots

honest signals communicate abotu the relationship between people rather than about the content of the dialogue

if you watch people walking across a plaza, the amount of influence between two people allows us to accurately tell who is following whom, who is avoiding whom, and who is trying to catch up with whom

people who have greater influence on the pattern of network connections also have greater power in guiding the information flow. the power a person has over the information flow is often described by their centrality within the social network. the mathematical definition of centrality comes from calculating how many paths of information run through the person. these differences in influence make some people more central to the network, and others less central. influence brings centrality, and centrality brings greater control over the flow of information within the network.

influence is an extremely sensitive measure of centrality

when people work together, they begin to pass email notes to supplant face to face communication, like kids passing notes

our minds are also substantially governed by the unconscious signaling within the social fabric that surrounds us

this mixture of unconscious signaling and conscious interaction may explain why psychology studies repeatedly find that our opinions are surprisingly predictable from our associates’ opinions, even when they fly in the face of strong counterfactual evidence or strongly held beliefs. as a consequence, important parts of our intelligence exist as network properties, not individual properties.

the activity measure was the strongest predictor of interest. variable emphasis (low consistency), an honest signal of openness to information, was also significantly related to interest rating

persuasive speakers talked faster than others
leading display: signals of interest and certainty through high activity and consistent emphasis – produce the highest-rated business pitches.
(of course, how do you get to confidence? 1, confident consistent belief systems; 2, deliberate practice)
it’s an “honest signal”
sian beilock’s book “Choke” see my notes on the how to avoid choking under pressure here for some practical tips

succcessful calls tended to involve agents who display active listening, signaling tha they are receptive to and interested in the caller
VARIABLE EMPHASIS (empathic listening). LOW ACTIVITY (let the customer speak).

high-status negotiators need to display leading signals (activity, influence and consistency) whereas low-status negotiators need to display teaming signals (influence, mimicry, and consistency).
^— do you want to be the high status negotiator in the room, or do you want to be the low one?

when a person is bluffing, they consciously try to reduce all signaling, often ceasing to speak and becoming very still, to avoid giving opponents a reason to call them on their bluff.

alternating caps only ==> signals variability,?? but also perhaps, lower status and active listening. hEy wAhTs up wiTh YoU? how are U doin?
animated conversations more likely to be “bookmarked”
a display of exploring by both people predicts trading contact information
paying close attention to a demonstration, they would be more quiet and still.

to get a job, display HIGH INFLUENCE, AMPLE MIMICRY, CONSISTENT EMPHASIS AND RHYHTM

influence is a much more subtle and accurate indicator of connection than simple similarity

a property of the entire network can be seen in the behavior of each individual demonstrates that we are deeply connected to the global structure fo our social network

activation from recognition of similar situations, weighted by the otucomes associated with those memories, serves to place a bet on each altenrative action. these weighted activities are then summed together, and the course of action with the most activation is selected

the major sorts of problems we encounter aren’t errors in logic – those are detectable and thus fixable – but the difficulty of accurately capturing the full complexity of the world in linguistic statements and mathematical models

an informed unconscious, especially one supported by the experiences of a network of interested individuals, is the most powerful decision-making tool you have

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by mj demarco, founder of limos.com

i highly endorse the book, give it 9/10 and a must-read for any aspiring entrepreneur

i even learned 3 new words, bloviate palliative and a secondary definition of primordial

you can check the book out here

notes follow

fast wealth is created exponentially, not linearly
process makes millionaires. events are by-products of process
to seek a wealth chauffeur is to seek a surrogate for process. process cannot be outsourced, because process awns wisdom, personal growth, strengths, and events.
process/event dichotomy

how your life unfolds is determined by your choices, and these choices originate from your belief systems, and those belief systems evolve from your predisposed roadmap

“when you’re the first person whose beliefs are different from what everyone else believes, you’re basically saying, “I’m right, and everyone else is wrong.” That’s a very unpleasant position to be in. It’s at once exhilarating and at the same time, an invitation to be attacked.” Larry Ellison

“i have a cashier’s check for $44,000 and i want to buy that car. i need a yes or no.”

the more you try to look rich, the tighter the grip of poorness becomes

affordability is when you don’t have to think about it

anything destructive to freedom is destructive to the wealth trinity, which is health, freedom & strong interpersonal relationships

sidewalkers are ripe for swindling because they seek events and want to avoid process
belief 1: luck is needed for wealth
belief 2: wealth is an event
belief 3: others can give wealth to me

when the markets crashed, mj didn’t lose a lot of money because the markets weren’t his wealth acceleration vehicle

when you’re accountable to your choices, you alter your behavior in the future and take the driver’s seat of your life
responsibility = acknowledge that you had causality
accountable = own the causality

what is dollar cost averaging?

“the ultimate insanity is to sell your soul monday through friday for the paycheck of saturday and sunday. yes, give me $5 today and in return i’ll give you $2 back tomorrow. 5-for-2. No? how about five loaves of bread today and in return, I’ll give you two back tomorrow. no again? why? this is a smoking deal!”"

would you make a 5-for-2 trade knowing that it could transform into a 1-for-10? would that be something to invest in?

the slowlane is a natural course correction from the sidewalk evolving from taking responsibility and accountability

your time should be an expendable resource for wealth because your wealth itself consists of time

the paradox of practice asks, “do you practice what you preach? are you a model, an exemplification of what you teach?”

the best quarterbacking advice comes from Peyton Manning, not MJ Demarco (zb: or peyton manning’s coaches)

most gurus teach slowlane practices (invest; do what you love; etc.) while getting rich from fastlane practices (selling systems en masse)

You can’t overcome the limitations of mathematics. a car that has a top speed of 10 mph will always have a top speed of 10 mph, no matter HOW HARD YOU PUSH THE ACCELERATOR. if you travel across the country at 10mph, you’re going to need 40 years!
the slowlane is predisposed to mediocrity because the numbers are always mediocre
the slowlane is risky because its variables are uncontrolled and leverage is absent. Uncontrollable Limited Leverage really means “ULL” never get rich. yet, lifestyle is the one variable Slowlaners can effectively manipulate.

MJ didn’t accumulate wealth because of expense dickery.

income explosion and expense control created wealth.

intrinsic value (skill, talent, etc.) has leverage when there is strong demand

become a producer first and a consumer second

5 fastlane business seedlings.
rental systems
computer/software systems
content systems
distribution systems:
savvy fastlane entrepreneurs recognize that a successful local business with weak leverage can be made highly leveragable by franchises or chains
human resource systems
hr systems are the most expensive and complicated to run. humans are unpredictable, expensive, and difficult to control.
mj thought about investing in parking lot but didn’t: while the business model was truly a “rental system”, the operation itself was a “human resource system”

one dollar has the power to give you a nickel of passive income for life. yes, for life. while one nickel buys squat, it unlocks the DNA implicit in money–it’s fully passive.
since inflation rises in unison with interest rates, MJ’s income has inflation protection.
for fastlaners, compound interest works because they’ve reached critical threshold where the interest gives sufficient income
fastlaners eventually become net lenders

the more lives you affect in an entity you control, in scale and/or magnitude, the richer you will become

get in a position to impact millions

make a giant impact a few times or make a small impact millions of times

certain choices have lots of horsepower

an extravagant car would always be “out of his league” and therefore his choices would reflect that mindset

“business ownership is a big risk. i’ll never do that again” or “next time, i’m going to be selling franchises, not buying them” the former is treasonous, while the latter is accelerative. you have a choice in framing failure and framing the past. it serves or hinders.

_huge_: you can change your choice of perception by aligning yourself with those who experience the perception as reality

when you spout excitement over actions or ideas, bloviators react with doubt and disbelief and use conditioned talking points such as, “Oh that won’t work,” “someone is already doing it,” and “why bother?” in motivational circles they call them “dream stealers”

defend yourself or suffer the consequence of slow assimilation to mediocrity

people who wait in line for hours for black friday etc. these people value their time at zero

indentured time is actual work and the work you must do for the work. morning rituals, traffic, compiling reports at home, solitary “recharges” — whatever time spent earning a buck is indentured time

in the slowlane, education is used to elevate intrinsic value, while in the Fastlane it is used to facilitate and grow the business system

a $50k seminar is exploitation of what we producers know: people are lazy. people want it handed to them. people don’t want to read and connect the dots; they want it done for them. people want to be steered. they want someone to drive their vehicle. people want events, not process, and what better event than a $50k seminar!

interest vs commitment: interest works on your business an hour a day monday through friday; commitment works on your business seven days a week whenever time permits

interest is quitting after the third failure; commitment is continuing after the hundredth

intelligent risks have a limited downside, while their upside is unlimited. moronic risks have a bottomless downside and their upside is limited or short term. (c.f. nassim taleb and fragility)

make someday today
when it comes to opportunity and risk minimization, people wait for perfect timing– they wait for all lights to go green, which summons the “somedays”

if your road doesn’t lead through effection’s neighborhood or have an off-ramp onto it, sorry, you’re on the wrong road

five fastlane commandments, NECST
1) need – vitamins vs pain pills
to succeed as a producer, surrender your own selfishness and address the selfishness of others.
money-chasers hop from one business to the next, scalping and arbitraging market imbalances, rarely solving needs or creating momentum
make 1 million people achieve any of the following:
make them feel better
help them solve a problem
educate them
make them look better (health, nutrition, clothing, makeup)
give them security (housing, safety, health)
raise a positive emotion (love, happiness, laughter, self-confidence)
satisfy appetites, from basic (food) to the risque (sexual)
make things easier
enhance their dreams and give hope

“doing what you love” for money often isn’t good enough because we aren’t good enough. additionally, so many people are “doing what they love” that the marketplace for that activity is so crowded and margins become depressed and heavy competition reigns

2) entry – barriers to entry
if everybody were rich, “everyone is doing it” would work
exceptionalism is required to overcome weak barriers to entry
“everyone is doing it” is a signal to overbought conditions and the entrance of “dumb money”

3) control – own the platform
fred wilson in his FOWA “10 golden principles” says build an API. that means you own the platform
MLM distributors are commissioned employees disguised as entrepreneurs. makes me think of silicon valley internet engineering craigslist ads looking to hire “entrepreneurs”

4) scale – be able to serve many or a few extremely significantly
without scale or magnitude the business has weak asset value
effection is always biased towards the architect of the system

5) time – does not require your time; i.e. not a job
need to be able to afford general manager so you can work ON the business rather than in it

fastlane interstates: internet, innovation, intentional iteration
leadgen is popular with fragmented industries where the industry players consist of mostly SMBs

opportunity is putting weak companies out of business
open roads: examine your thought process
“I hate..”
“I don’t like..”
“This frustrates me..”
“Why is this like this?”
“Do I have to?”
“I wish there was..”
“I’m tired of..”
“This sucks..”

marketers make money on planned obsolescence. planned obsolescence is a marketer’s expectation that whatever they’re selling you, you won’t use it. and if you don’t use it, you are unlikely to ask for your money back.

the world tells you which direction you should be going at all times. heed the signs.

mj’s limos.com roadmap: black book. not a treasure trove of phone#s from female hotties but a written record of all complaints, grievances and issues my business experienced daily. this book has served as my guide for over a decade
one complaint meant there were 10 others who felt the same way
complaints are the world’s whispers hinting the direction you should be moving
complaints of change are the least informative and therefore are the ones most difficult to decipher
when you change not all complaints are actionable simply because human psychology is in play, not the integrity of your work

complaints of expectation: you either need to do a better job in fulfillment or a better job in managing their expectations
“your service sucks”
advertisers who complained, “your service sucks” didn’t use my service as intended. their expectations were malformed
if i couldn’t manage the complaints, i could manage the expectations
complaints of void are when your customer continually requests something and you simply don’t have it. complaints of void are extremely valuable, as they expose unmet needs.
how do you deal with exploitive complainers? you respond once with grace, explain your position, and move on.

when you violate your client’s customer service expectation profile positively, you turn your customers into loyal, repeat buyers, and ultimately, disciples of your business
make a subjective call on how you customers expect service. then VIOLATE it.
any tiem you violate your customer’s expectations to the positive, you get a dual benefit. first, they buy from you again. second, raving customers become liaisons and disciples for your business and unpaid HR systems. both build speed. speed builds wealth

if more money were spent on pleasing existing clients rather than trying to find new ones, the avg business would survive longer than five years. unfortunately, business owners who seek money first and needs last often spend their advertising wad on the pursuit of new customers who aren’t familiar with their uninspired and sucky customer service. it becomes a constant battle, like emptying a leaky boat with a bucket: replace the old disgruntled customers with newer, oblivious ones.

success in business coems from making your customer the boss and the no. 1 stakeholder to your business

my repeated, and often preached, motto to my employees was, “the customer pays your paycheck, not me — keep them happy.” my loyalty was with my customer. yes, i had a boss, and the boss had the keys to everything i selfishly wanted.

look big, act small
look small and act big and you dig your own potholes

complaints of change are difficult to decipher and often require additional data to invalidate or validate
complaints of expectation expose operational problems in either your business or in your marketing strategy
complaints of void expose unmet needs, raise the value of your product or service, and expose new revenue opportunities
great customer service is as simple as violating your customer’s low expectation in the positive
your customer and their satisfaction hold the key to everything you selfishly want

what happens when you trust everyone? you get burned. you get lazy. you hire criminals.

spectacular product features can’t overcome poor service but the opposite is true
a business partnership is as important as a marriage

airline customers are loyal to airline w/ best price; airlines commoditized

most business owners paid more attn to their competition than to their own business. when this happens you neglect your own product and become reactive instead of proactive
=> good for mktg to biz owners “keyword spy” but bad for you
if you’re following you aren’t leading and if you aren’t leading you aren’t innovating
limos.com crushed websites/yellow pages bc of risk: to advertise you had to pay a big upfront fee regardless of benefit.
differentiation is a defense to commoditization. what are they doing wrong? what inefficiency is there?

everyone has an invisible sign hanging from their neck saying, ‘make me feel important.’ never forget that message when working with people. – mary kay ash
marketing is a game of perceptions and whatever the perception is, that’s the reality

get into business for the right reason: to solve a problem or a need
USPs should use powerful action verbs that create desire and urgency. lose weight => shred pounds
uniqueness of your USP creates a consumer divergence when it comes to their buying decision
be specific and give evidence

rise above the noise: polarize; arouse emotions; be risque; encourage interaction; be unconventional
social media: you just don’t want to read an article; you want to comment on it! your two cents must be heard!
if you get someone’s attention, half the battle is won. the other half is leetting selfishness take over your audience and tailor your message to self-interest
people rent convenience and events, not limousines
you don’t buy a dress; you buy an image. you don’t buy a toyota; you buy reliability. you don’t buy a vacation; you buy an experience

translating features into benefits: four step process
1. switch places
2. identify features
3. identify advantages
3. translate advantages into benefits

what does your buyer want? what do they fear? what problem do they need solved? or do they just want to “Feel” something?

after you isolate the features, translate those features into benefits, or a specific result
e.g. schedule vehicles translated to: “maximize your fleet’s road time and receive leads based on your vehicle availability!”
he didn’t let them fill in the blanks; he filled in the blanks for them

book is available on amazon here

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“Know thyself”, (γνῶθι σεαυτόν), was the famous phrase inscribed at Delphi. What a beautiful idea… unfortunately beneath its seductive simplicity I have found the realities to be that much more complex.

First of all, we are really bad at knowing ourself. See my review of Gilbert’s Stumbling on Happiness for more details on this.

Second of all, I’m beginning to suspect that the human mind operates at a more advanced level than is leaked to us through our consciousness. On his blog James Altucher alludes to this phenomenon, in kind of a sideways way, when he speaks of “honest mistakes”.  But really I believe that we are plotting and calculating and we trick ourselves – in order to make our plans plausible to other people, though ulterior motives operate at a subconscious level.

If anyone has any details on this, like reading (besides Freud please), please let me know.

Anyway,  I have noticed a few things about myself when it comes to dieting: I am beginning to understand my values.

My #1 value in food is convenience. I am not a foodie who will go make a 3 hour trek in order to eat some marginally better pizza.

My next value is not being hungry. My next value is taste.  After that, price.

This is just how I act.

(I also love to snack. And I hate cleaning up.)

Even if I want to subscribe to the slow-carb diet I know myself too well and I know that I will act according with my values

(This is a really ambiguous concept that I feel is poorly communicated by the personal development gurus: Steve Pavlina, Tony Robbins, etc. They say if you want to change your live, change your values. But that’s BS. Our values are how we act and feel – not how we wish we acted and felt. So it takes repeated observation of yourself, and the feedback of  more objective outsiders,  to help discover your values. )

(Sometimes I have enough willpower to act according to my ideal values but it’s sooo variable.  If I’m having a bad day, stressed, didn’t get enough sleep — any one of like 50 things could go wrong and then my willpower is gonna be shot).

So the solution for me is to create an environment for myself where I naturally act according to my ideal values.

1) Protein shake first thing in the morning, it’s an easy process.

2) Prepare black beans in bulk and store them in fridge so it’s EASY for me to snack when I want to.

3) Do not buy any candy or carby foods because I will eat it.

4) Take beef jerky with me when I am going out because I love to snack and if I am feeling hungry I WILL sacrifice the integrity of the diet to fulfill my immediate hunger.  So I can supplement a meal with some jerky, for example.

I hope this is helpful to some people and I would love tips to help me grow in my quest for fitness excellence!

(ps, not gonna include a rant about how the popular culture in america looks down on dieting and eating consciously, though that’s the only way (for most people) to get a sick bod…. just gotta play them, be like “oh yeah i eat whatever i want” & make fun of people who diet…full on hypocrisy. whatever, we’re all fucking hypocrites anyway)

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I was walking along Navy Pier with my friend Ben, one of my oldest friends. Ben’s verbal skills are superb. He is truly a cunning linguist. He is articulate and expressive and he uses beautifully appropriate words in conversation.

He mentioned to me a game he likes to play with himself.  The synonym game.  We came across a stop sign.

What are the different ways to stay stop sign?

“arresting indicator”

“octagonal pause”  I tried

“ruddy reminder” – okay, he wins

“halting harbinger”, he later added   – to help me serve up examples

I wonder what mental games my favorite people play. Maybe I should start playing them too.

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BETTER THOUGHTS

Why not train our thoughts as we train our muscles? Cognitive Behavioral Therapy has been used successfully to mitigate depression and affirmations are used to encourage success of sorts, but why not apply thought training more generally? We can indeed choose our thought patterns if we make conscious effort. Although it’s possible expert thought processes rely on explicit knowledge, I bet that many categories of thought processes – for a variety of categories of activities (including leadership, task management and completion, sports, stock trading) – could be explicitly excavated into flow charts, and people could train. See http://zacharyburt.com/2011/04/i-know-kung-fu/ for more details.

BITCOIN

I am tremendously excited by this weird new digital currency. My intuition is screaming at me to get in on it. I’ve been right a lot, but it could be survivorship bias. I am thinking of putting at least $1000 USD of my own into Bitcoin, but there are also vast startup business opportunities here.

KHAN ACADEMY FOR X

People do not like to think. People like steps and they like being told what to do. What if a variety of skills could be taught and quizzed in a procedural format?
I’m thinking of going through the KA lectures and studying them anyway.

DIGITAL HAPPINESS

Maybe you could think of this as a subset of KAforX. What are the problems people have – how can you solve them? What are the things that make people happier – how can you provide them with them?

SELF EXPRESSION MEETS DATING

I have a humble intuition that Facebook has failed where MySpace once succeeded: enabling self-expression. How can we map self-expression in all of its forms (social; memetic; energetic… ) and how does it relate to dating?

FRIEND FINDER

It’s a lonely world but it’s possible to meet up with like minded people. It’s just largely a hit or miss process and it’s governed by chance. There are inherent problems with this; like, if someone is looking for a friend, it’s kind of a turn-off. But it needs to be done. I would use principles from Click to govern its creation: principally, quantity of commonalities is more important than quality of commonalities.

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got this email in my inbox today.

 

Hello, I just want to say that Compassion Pit is one of the greatest things on the internet that I’ve ever come across. Compassion and understanding is something a lot of people lack in their daily lives, and to be able to give that to someone in a time of need (even if it’s through a chat room) is heart-warming. I hope that you continue doing what your doing and wish you the best.

 

so when is it gonna get me paid?

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