If you understand how people tick – how they respond to certain ideas, how they act in certain environments – if you understand the basics, you can, theoretically speaking, affect the way people think around you in a deliberate, pre-determined fashion.
And if you do this in a specific way, you can get people to buy from you.
The system for influencing people is a tool, just like you’d call a knife a tool or a screwdriver a tool. Just like you can use a screwdriver to help you build something or hit someone on the head (might need a big screwdriver if you want that one to be effective), you can influence people to do a variety of things, some that your internal moral compass will consider good and others that it will consider bad.
If you observe the world you can easily see patterns of people being influenced and people using certain ideas and methods to influence others. Politics is a clear example of this – but you can see this process in everything around you, from newspapers to how people discuss their views on a particular topic to the book you’re reading these days to your teachers in college to this article you’re reading right now.
It’s a system – it’s part of every interaction we have with the world, whether it’s picking up today’s paper, watching the latest movie or talking to your friend in the supermarket. Some people are naturally good at it, others naturally poor. What’s clear is that anyone, everyone, can learn how to use the system to their advantage.
You’ve got a choice here – you can rage against the machine – fight the system, denounce it, tell everyone around you how they’re being manipulated, or you can feed the machine, use the system to your advantage.
Try telling people that what they believe to be true is in fact wrong, and that they were duped into thinking so. Have fun telling people that they’re stupid. It’s not going to work, but you’ll be denounced as arrogant, selfish, nonsocial, evil, radical, crazy, etc etc.
Seeing the patterns is useless if all you’re going to do is to point them out and try to get other people see them too. People don’t want to be uncomfortable, and if you want people to change you need to show them how to increase their comfort, not work on decreasing it.
If your goal is making money, feed the machine, learn how the system works and milk it as much as you can, for as long as you can.
If your goal is saving the world, feed the machine, learn how the system works and show people why and how it’s in their interest to do what you want them to do.
Are you worried about hypocrisy? Of using the system to influence others? Hypocrisy is wanting to make a difference but fighting agaisnt the means to get it done. Hypocrisy is wanting to make money but refusing to do what needs to be done to make it. Hypocrisy is saying that you want something in life and at the same time, refusing to do anything to get it.
The machine, the system – whatever you want to call it – is there for you to use. You can sooth your conscience by using it for what you consider good (as self-rationalisations go that’s the easiest one to do). For example, several people I’ve worked with genuinely believe that what they’re ‘selling’ is unique in how it helps others. It isn’t, but believing in it helps them get the job done. What’s more important to you – getting the job done or telling the whole world how you alone have seen the truth while nothing gets done?
It’s not personal. It’s not about you and me. It’s how things work. You can take it and use it for what you want to do in life, or you could stay where you are and rage against the machine. Personally, when I’m working the machine is my friend. I can rage against the maching in my personal time.
What about you?