The One Sentence Persuasion Course - 27 Words to Make the World Do Your Bidding

by Blair Warren

You will have discovered that the most magical things in life, on and off the stage, are often the result of the correct application of the most basic principles imaginable.

What is necessary is a fundamental understanding of human nature. For persuasion, even the most extreme examples of persuasion, such as suicide cults and mass movements, is often based on the most basic of human desires. Just as magicians can perform miracles using mundane principles, powerful persuaders shape the world in much the same way.

People will do anything for those who encourage their dreams, justify their failures, allay their fears, confirm their suspicions, and help them throw rocks at their enemies.

That, in a single sentence, contains five of the most important insights I have learned in all my years of studying and applying the principles of persuasion: encourage their dreams justify their failures allay their fears confirm their suspicions help them throw rocks at their enemies

It is much the same with powerful persuasion. Its effects can be so sudden, so dramatic, so life altering, that we remain convinced there has to be something deeper, something more complex going on. More often than not, there isn’t. There is simply the correct application of very basic principles by people who appreciate their power. And since the rest of us dismiss these principles as being too basic and too obvious, we flounder in complexity and minutia that sound great on paper but fall flat in practice.

Nothing bonds like having a common enemy. I realize how ugly this sounds and yet, it is true just the same.

Can you imagine how much energy you will free up if you stop focusing on yourself and put your attention on other people? Can you even imagine how much more charismatic you will become when you come to be seen as one who can fulfill some of these most basic emotional needs?

This is exactly what happens in a conversation when your focus is on your own goals. You are looking past the person, looking past everything that is most important to them. And you have little hope of ever being able to establish a deep connection with them.

When we focus on these basic principles of human nature, these things become negligible. When we focus on these basic principles of human nature, we create relationships in which people naturally want to do things for us. This is the real secret to getting what we want. Really. It is that simple. Or, I should say, it can be that simple.

But one thing people rarely resist is someone trying to meet their needs. And when ones needs have been met, a bond is often forged and a natural desire to reciprocate has been created.

the duration of our relationships is nothing compared to the depth of our relationships. And depth is based on the fulfillment of our deepest needs, not on the duration of dialog.

I simply said you should focus on the other person, not forget yourself.

The time to focus on your own hopes, dreams, and desires is when you are alone. This is when you should get clear on what you hope to accomplish, on what you would like to occur, in any given encounter. But once you get to this state of clarity and find yourself face-to-face with another, place your attention where it can have the greatest impact. Place it on the person.

Persuasion may be a science, but persuasion comes wrapped in human communication, which is not a science. Nor, an art. But more like a game, which we make up as we go along. And, the five points of one sentence persuasion can serve as strategic guides to help us decide which way to play our hand at any given time.

This need to be right often overtakes our desire to be well thought of, and even our desire to be treated well.

Every moment of every day, we want to be engaged in something. It often doesn’t matter what it is as long as it can gain and maintain our attention. We seek entertainment, conversation, confrontation. We do crossword puzzles, work in the garden, listen to music. We cook, we clean, we rearrange. Even when we’re exhausted and want to relax, we simply engage in something else. We swim, we go to amusement parks and we meditate. All this in an effort to alleviate the one thing few people can endure: boredom.

The need for mental engagement is so fundamental that few give it much thought. But it’s always there, lurking just behind our awareness, looking for something to “lock onto.” This is why many of us are so easily distracted. Unless our current thoughts or activities are sufficiently engaging, the next best thing that comes along will pull us away. And since it’s through engagement that we experience and through experience that we are changed, those who engage us hold the keys to our hearts and minds, and from there, our actions. We do not see these people as manipulators. We see them as saviors. “What holds attention determines action.” ~ William James

Because when our attention is captured, our conscious judgment and self-awareness recedes and suggestibility takes their place.