The Power Blog

In this business, people make a lot of claims
about technique without actual verification that the methods work.

It’s not always their fault. Most of us don’t have access to the
kinds of funding required to run double-blind studies. And, while
there have been tremendously impressive studies in cognitive
psychology, the research is still lagging a little behind what some
of us are doing in the field.

However, there’s quite a few hypnotists and influencers I know that
pay no attention to research papers and the strides that
traditional scientific studies have made. They feel that they know
everything, without checking to see if they’re on the wrong path.

It’s one thing if they delude themselves into believing their
theories work. But, since the placebo effect can make their
followers also believe the techniques are working (at least,
temporarily), it becomes dangerous to all. They become like the
proverbial Pied Piper, leading the children of Hamelin into
dangerous territory.

There are some incredibly gifted practitioners that chart new
waters and are always on the cutting-edge of persuasion. But, the
ones who fall into this category (and I count myself among them)
are few and far in between. Most of us keep up with the real
science behind change. Those that don’t are still gifted enough to
do the job right.

Why do I bring this up?

A week ago, I was going through my archives of research papers and
articles, and I came across one of my favorites.

This is the one that I send to people I meet that don’t believe in
hypnosis. This is the one I refer to people for them to understand
that NO ONE is immune from unconscious influence.

It’s called “Bypassing the Will,” and it is a scientific paper,
backed by actual research. It was written by John Bargh, a fiercely
intelligent researcher of how habits are formed. He’s written some
incredible stuff on how goals and behaviors are formed outside of
conscious control (can you see why I’ve been fascinated with his
work?).

While it may be a research paper, it’s a very quick and easy read.
I recommend that you download it and spend an hour to read it this
weekend.

You can grab it here:

http://lucaswest.com/WillBypass/

If the material sounds at all familiar to you, it’s because part of
it was written about in Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Blink. But this is
the original research paper.

Give it a read. And, if you think anyone else would be interested
in reading this paper, direct them to this post, or the above
webpage.

I think it’s important for all of us to keep up with what’s going
on in this field. That way, you’ll know when you’re following the
advice of someone who actually knows what he’s doing, and can
actually help you achieve your goals.

Otherwise, you’re just blindly following the Piper.

Yours for more Power,
Lucas

So, I lie a lot.

Well, not really lies. It’s just that I have a few obligations to the offline world. And, since this blog is relatively small and new (though 20-plus comments for a post is no small feat), it ends up taking second billing in my life.

I said that I would write about the missing element from 7 Qualities post, and promised to do so a long time ago.

It’s late. Sorry. Deal with it.

In that previous post, I made mention of a quality that everyone in hypnosis/seduction/NLP believes to be the MOST important step in influence and persuasion.

In fact, everyone believes it to be the FIRST step.

Well, I’m going to tell you something that goes against the grain of what nearly everyone else out there says. Some of you guessed reasonably close to it (and ALL of those that did will get a to-be-determined bonus):

Rapport is a complete waste of time.

I know that sounds counter to what you’ve heard. It may even run counter to what you’ve experienced. So, let me explain.

It seems logical that people are more easily attracted and influenced by those that they PERCEIVE to be like-minded. That’s what rapport tries to achieve; the perception of familiarity/like-mindedness. At the very least, it’s supposed to build feelings of trust and comfort.

As I just said, it SEEMS rational that you’re more attracted to and influenced by those that you perceive as similar to you. On a certain scale, that’s very true.

But, we’re not trying to achieve that scale.

You see, it’s one thing to try and influence somebody on a minor level (the “friendship” level; where you help them decide whether they should buy that blouse in blue or red). You may feel a modest amount of success because she decided to hang out with you today instead of her boyfriend (NEWSFLASH: women don’t always want to hang out with their boyfriends. It doesn’t mean she’s into you, though). That’s the level of influence/comfort that rapport builds.

But, it’s an entirely different level of influence when she leaves said boyfriend because she like you better.

Rapport is useful for the micro scale; when you want to influence minor decisions in a person’s life, try and achieve rapport.

When you’re trying to effect serious behavioral change, profoundly alter a person’s way of thinking, rapport is a waste of time. It is NOT a necessary step.

Think about it this way; in the film world, how much rapport does Steven Spielberg require? It’s a grandiose example but, even if he was the biggest asshole on the planet, would he still get movies made?

AND, wouldn’t he get the best talent CLAMORING to work for him?

There’s a world of difference between trying to gain rapport and having others trying to gain rapport with you. In the latter, you’re at the top of the food chain.

When you try to gain rapport, you become a “fellow traveller.” You only have minor influence as a “fellow traveller.” When you strive for equal footing, you both get equal influence.

However, as an authority figure or a REACHABLE ideal (a guy she wants and doesn’t feel he’s just wishful thinking, for example), you get FAR better results. Authority and Power are far more convincing methods of persuasion than rapport could EVER hope to achieve.

Do you know the absolute best way to get somebody to buy something from you? Do you honestly think it matters if you like the guy you’re buying from? Think about it. The major “gurus” in the field of hypnosis and NLP are some of the most unlikeable guys you will ever meet. There’s so much in-fighting in the persuasion community that it seems everyone has a beef with someone else.

And yet, they teach about rapport.

Either they’re a bunch of charlatans, or they really don’t know the real reason why people believe them.

The real reason you’ll ever buy anything from me is simple: I have what you want.

All you ever have to do is convince a buyer/a woman/ANYBODY that you have what they want.

It NEVER matters if they like you or not. “Jerks” get laid far more often than nice guys, don’t they? It’s because if you have what they really want, they will rearrange their thinking so that they’ll gloss over what you don’t have (like looks or money or kindness).

Get this straight. Nobody “buying” something truly wants fast, friendly, reliable service. Fuck that. I don’t go into a Best Buy because they have friendly staffers (they don’t, anyway). I go in there because they’ve got the 72-inch plasma screen I wanted.

Besides, do you want influence, or do you want people to like you?

As an aside, I’ve now gotten to the point where I absolutely HATE when I see/feel/hear anybody trying to use the standard rapport-building skills (mirror/match/pacing) to influence me. It instantaneously builds the OPPOSITE of rapport (Further still, when I hear an embedded command used, I feel like punching the person).

Granted, I know these rapport techniques and they’re glaringly obvious to me. But, to other people, they reek of a sucking-up mentality, or something similarly off-putting.

Everybody has a different way of thinking and walking through the world; if you mimic TOO closely, it’ll be jarringly obvious. They’ll wonder: are you kissing-ass, or mocking?

It’s far better for you to be of the mindset that others have to seek approval from you, because you’ve reached a certain position of authority/power/capability. Or, simply because you’ve got enough congruence to walk through the world like you own the place (you do; NOBODY else was given any more REAL authority to walk around like they owned the place, either).

At the point where you have congruence (which is really rapport turned inward. All your parts are in rapport with each other), the need for EXTERNAL rapport is absolutely useless.

Congruence is essential. Internal rapport should be the first thing you learn in NLP training. Everything else (from embedded commands, VAK, all that crap) has to be secondary to congruence.

How do you gain congruence?

If you’re asking that question, it means you haven’t joined my mailing list yet. Stop being such a panty-waste and join the fucking list already!

Yours for more Power,
Lucas West

PS Everyone who even remotely mentioned Rapport as the missing ingredient will be getting the Bonus.

Up till now, I have hardly delivered ANY sales pitches on the mailing list and this blog. I wanted to make absolutely certain that the content to sales ratio is incredibly high. So, I’ve kept the pitches to a relatively non-existent minimum.

That being said, I’ve just put up an eBay auction that offers a VERY limited revised version of a brainwashing manual I’ve written. It’s VERY reasonably priced: currently, it’s about 90% cheaper than what I used to sell it for AND I’ve added a bonus to it.

So, check it out. It will ONLY remain at that price for 20 days (two full auction runs), after which it will increase by $5.00. After another 20 days, the price will go up by $5.00 again, and continue to increase in price until I’ve either completely sold out of manuals (after which they will NEVER be made available ever again), or it becomes too expensive and people stop buying them.

It may sound like a strange strategy, but it’s one I will explain in COMPLETE detail in the BONUS audio mini-course that is available only to those who invest in the manual.

Take a few minutes and read through the auction. It explains things in a little more detail. If the auction has expired by the time you get to it, you can find another auction by doing a seller search for lucasjwest.

And, if you’ve purchased this or any other item from me in the past, please post a testimonial in the comment box below.

Yours for More Power,
Lucas West

People live inside their heads. And the picture of the “real” world that they have created in their head is VERY incomplete. It only SEEMS complete because there are a lot of biological and psychological processes filling in the gaps for us.

An example I use on my mailing list (if you haven’t joined yet, take a minute and click here) cites a recent discovery that blinking actually shuts off part of your brain for nine days out of every year. That is just ONE example of the leaps our mind takes to create a seemingly consistent external world (I give a lot more examples on the mailing list).

It can’t be helped. We need our construction of reality to be like that of an exquisite corpse. Not all of the pieces necessarily belong together but, somehow, they end up fitting anyway.

In that sense, we are all artists. And “Reality” is our medium with which we forge great expansive works of complete fiction.

So, what does this have to do with power, influence and persuasion?

EVERYTHING.

If you free yourself from the notion that your perception of reality is “reality,” it gives you a LOT more breathing space. You can get away with a lot more shit when you understand reality is simply a construct and its pieces are meant to be put together in ways that we’re not normally taught. In fact, to become an effective person in the world, you can’t really follow what even the self-help/motivational gurus teach.

You see, people live inside of elaborate fictions and they always give themselves a starring role. The individual fictions we’ve all created have inherent common ground that’s shared because we’re taught collectively; motivational instructors deliberately say/teach very little that would upset that dominant paradigm.

And why would they? They make MILLIONS a year by giving simplistic platitudes that most people would like to believe are true (because they make for a more idealized version of humanity). And, since that shorthand has been created already, it requires hell of a lot less effort than to re-invent the wheel (or swim upstream, or some other such bullshit cliche).

The truth is, nearly 100% of all information out there on how to become more influential and persuasive, how to be a LEADER, is taught with the expectation that you’ll remain in a subservient position. Emphasis is placed on rapport building skills, catering to other people’s needs, thinking in terms of win/win, etc.

Sound familiar? “There is no “I” in “Team”; “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” These are all ideas that sound quite nice in theory, but they are also the kinds of things a leader would tell his minions to keep them in a lower position.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Remember all of these concepts; they definitely come in handy when you’re at the top and you have to dish out advice on how you got to the top. And, most importantly, your actions should be perceived as though you’re playing “nice-nice.”

So, without further ado, here are the Habits/Qualities of a Highly Persuasive Person.

I don’t think I have 7 Habits; if I don’t, I’ll make some shit up (if you don’t already know, seven is a number that we use because it strikes a nice unconscious chord. Don’t know why it does, but it does).

1. A person with true power constructs others’ realities for them.

Fuck. That’s not seven habits. That’s just one. But, it’s the most important one, and it takes years to learn.

I’m not talking about hypnosis or NLP. We’re talking on a level where people just automatically assume that what you say is actually the way “reality” is.

Think of Donald Trump as an example. If he were to say that the most important thing you can do to become a millionaire in sixty days is to take ten dollars and invest in Startup Company X, would you do it? I know I certainly would.

And why not? It’s got two elements to it:

a. It comes from a man who, in my version of “reality,” I have decided understands money AND
b. It’s an action I can take with minor consquence.

Point “b” leads me to the second habit, but let me first finish off the first one.

How do you establish the god-like power of manipulating people’s realities? First off, read my previous blog entry and follow everything that I ever say (you don’t need to do that, but it’s generally a smart idea). Assume and assert as though you already had the authority to do so.

YES, some people will hate you and think you’re arrogant. BUT, if you pull it off right, if you do it with just the right amount of social finesse, they’ll hate you and still follow you.

2. Always expect people to do SOMETHING. Always make people jump through hoops, however small they are.

You need to start training people to respond to you as though you were in charge. Start by getting them to do relatively small things (eg tell them to “think about this for a second”). If you’re familiar with embedded commands and NLP, they don’t work NORMALLY. You have to sequence them; starting with commands that are EASY to do, commands they’ll follow unconsciously. You THEN work for way up to see if you have ideo-motor response (eg “any way that you LOOK AT THIS” while pointing to something. If they look, you have them). Then, more blatant stuff like “take a deep breath.”

We’re getting beyond the scope of what this is about, but I think you get my point.

3. The third point is a topic I could write an entire book about, because I think it’s the single biggest mistake that’s been taught in the hypnosis/influence/persuasion/seduction/any community. I think this one idea has perpetuated so many false hopes in people that it sickens me. Unfortunately, it’s also taught as the MOST important step in influence.

Fuck it. I’ll write about it later.

4. A highly persuasive person puts his needs above all others, yet makes it seem like the opposite. He reframes the shit out of his goals/desires and makes it seem to be

a. in your best interest
b. in the community’s best interest

You NEED to be good with words to do this. You need to understand what motivates another person, and then distort it so that whatever you want FULFILLS his/her motivations.

Of course, this is really just part of Habit/Quality number 1. Reframing is a very large part of constructing reality. It also allows you to get away looking like a “nice” guy without actually having to be one.

The truth of the matter is that your actions have nothing to do with a person’s opinion of you. It’s only their perception of your actions that counts. You just have be in control of that.

5. As I mentioned in the previous post, you need to have a full arsenal of shortcut/indicators in your favor. Or know how to manipulate it so it looks like you have them. Or, that the lack is part of the plan.

6. Not only do you need to construct people’s “realities” for them, your “Reality” has to be bigger, stronger, more powerful, and it needs to draw them into it. If your Reality is very strong, then THEY will do a lot of the work and construct their reality to fit yours. Demonstrate knowledge and authority, demonstrate strength and power, EVEN IF YOU DON’T THINK YOU HAVE ANY OF THEM.

Chances are likely, the “reality” they’ve built is weak enough for them to believe in yours. Make them work for it.

7. Look for weaknesses in their models of “reality.” Exploit those weaknesses. While seemingly complete works of fiction, their realities still have unfulfilled needs/wants and emotional sensitivity. Reconstruct their realities around those gaps. Demonstrate how your reality has ALL of those gaps fulfilled (even if it isn’t).

Well, there you have it. This post ended up being a LOT longer than I expected it to be. And, believe it or not, I really do have a habit number 3 that I will share soon, most likely on the mailing list (which you should join right here) or in a special report.

And please leave a comment and tell your friends/enemies about this blog. I don’t post on it regularly but, when I do, it’s definitely worth it.

Yours for More Power,
Lucas West