| Being a child of the Seventies I'm a real fan of the | | | | There are various ways to embed suggestions and |
| original Star Wars movies. | | | | whole books have been written on the subject but |
| Do you remember that fantastic scene in A New | | | | here are just a few Mind Tricks to try for yourself... |
| Hope where Obi-Wan Kenobi (known as Ben at this | | | | 1. Yoda-isms |
| point) gets out of a scrape with some Storm | | | | "It's easy to ______________, is it not?" |
| Troopers? Here's how it goes... | | | | "You can _____________ can you not?" |
| EXTERIOR: TATOOINE -- MOS EISLEY -- STREET. | | | | Try disagreeing with "is it not?" or "can you not?" |
| The speeder is stopped on a crowdedstreet by | | | | statements and you'll find it difficult. The way a direct |
| several combat-hardendstormtroopers who look over | | | | statement is converted craftily into a question softens |
| the tworobots. A Trooper questions Luke. | | | | the effect and makes detection of the suggestion |
| TROOPER: How long have you had these droids? | | | | more difficult. This in turn makes your embedded |
| LUKE: About three or four seasons. | | | | command easier to install. |
| BEN: They're for sale if you want them. | | | | If somebody tells you something's easy you'll feel |
| TROOPER: Let me see your identification. | | | | compelled to try it out to see if they're right. And if |
| Luke becomes very nervous as he fumblesto find his | | | | somebody gives you permission by saying "you can..." |
| ID while Ben speaks to the | | | | then you'll be tempted to try that thing out too. |
| Trooper in a very controlled voice. | | | | Some things you may wish to add to the blanks... |
| BEN: You don't need to see his identification. | | | | "enjoy yourself" |
| TROOPER: We don't need to see his identification. | | | | "pay with your credit card" |
| BEN: These are not the droids you're looking for. | | | | "agree with what I'm saying" |
| TROOPER: These are not the droids we're looking for. | | | | "buy my product" |
| BEN: He can go about his business. | | | | I'm wondering if... You Know Other People who should |
| TROOPER: You can go about your business. | | | | be reading this too? So do us all a favour (they get 2 |
| BEN: (to Luke) Move along. | | | | free books - we get a new subscriber - you get to |
| TROOPER: Move along. Move along. | | | | look good) when you Pass On This link... |
| Wouldn't it be cool to be that persuasive? Imagine how | | | | 2. Judo-isms |
| useful that kind of skill could be in a selling situation for | | | | "You don't have to, ___________________." |
| instance? | | | | "You may not know if you |
| Now, how would you feel if I told you that there are | | | | _____________________." |
| Jedi Mind Tricks that DO work in real life? | | | | "You may or may not |
| You might not believe me yet, but you can prove it to | | | | _____________________." |
| yourself when you try what I've got in today's article. | | | | "Don't ________________________ yet." |
| In a moment I'm going to show you some techniques | | | | "Don't _________________________ too |
| for embedding suggestions in your written and spoken | | | | quickly." |
| communication to increase the likelihood of you getting | | | | Basically these embedded suggestions seem to take |
| the outcome you're looking for but first let's take a look | | | | people in one direction when really you're encouraging |
| at... | | | | them to do the opposite. |
| How These Mind Tricks Were Discovered | | | | Presupposing that they will do the thing you want |
| Back in the Seventies, Milton Erickson, a renowned and | | | | eventually using "yet" and "too quickly" works great. |
| successful hypnotherapist, was modelled by a couple | | | | Adding someone's name after telling them "they don't |
| of guys (well actually the creators of NLP - Richard | | | | have to" nullifies your opener. So they'll essentially only |
| Bandler and John Grinder) who were keen to | | | | hear their name and the suggestion and disregard the |
| understand what he was doing so well to help his | | | | "don't have to" portion of your statement. |
| clients. | | | | Some things you may wish to add in the blanks... |
| They spent hours and hours simply watching, mimicking | | | | "think I'm just right for you" |
| and soaking up his skills. Simply taking in as much | | | | "agree with my point of view" |
| information consciously and unconsciously as they | | | | "sign that contract" |
| could until they could get similar results themselves. | | | | "buy my product" |
| Then they kindly "codified" that information and shared | | | | 3. Dumb-isms |
| it so that others, who were so inclined, could also | | | | "I'm wondering if you'll _____________________ |
| achieve the same success. | | | | or not." |
| In Neurolinguistic Programming terms, the patterns they | | | | "I don't know if you'll |
| elicited became known as the Milton Model. These | | | | _________________________." |
| patterns, when applied correctly, can have a powerful | | | | "Or not" avoids resistance and softens your statement |
| effect on people's thinking. | | | | to a harmless enquiry rather than a direct suggestion. |
| Beware The Dark Side... | | | | How can anyone disagree with you wondering if they'll |
| Right, it's time to see what I've been talking about. But I | | | | do what you'd like or not? |
| must share a warning... It is possible to use this stuff to | | | | "I don't know if..." suggests a harmless lack of |
| get your own way EVEN IF you're not acting in the | | | | knowledge about what someone will do but it doesn't |
| interests of the people you're dealing with. This, for me, | | | | prevent you from inserting a good suggestion that they |
| is unethical, sneaky and manipulative. So, please only | | | | just might decide to act on. |
| use these approaches where a mutual gain is to be | | | | Some things you may wish to add to the blanks... |
| had ie a win-win. If you use this approach to create a | | | | "buy my product" |
| win-lose situation then don't blame me when your bad | | | | "enjoy it" |
| deeds catch up with you. | | | | "like what I'm doing" |
| Now It's Time... | | | | "be excited about my proposal" |
| The basic premise of an embedded suggestion is to | | | | There are obviously many alternatives and you can |
| give somebody a direct instruction by stealthily hiding it | | | | include whatever suggestions you want. Just be sure |
| amongst a seemingly innocent comment or question. | | | | to set it up so that it's an active doing statement for |
| The seemingly innocent bit is a kind of wrapper or | | | | now or the immediate future. Past tense doesn't quite |
| disguise for keeping your conscious mind from blocking | | | | work as well. |
| the real information. | | | | You can use your new-found Jedi powers to improve |
| Typically you'll emphasise the suggestion/command by | | | | the life of people around you. And avoid the lure of the |
| changing your tonality slightly, saying it slightly louder or | | | | dark side by remembering your intention is to create |
| quieter or changing the look (using italics, bold, colour) of | | | | win-wins. |
| written text to jump out. | | | | |