Click and Run - Our Default Preloaded Thoughts
On using negative things as fuel, making your own luck, and burning frustrations
đ±THE WEEKLY SPROUTđ± (5W4.23)
Sometimes being able to identify what you DONâT like is better than trying to figure out what you DO like. This train of thought was sparked by a post I saw on Insta.
âI think it just comes down to whether you dislike being poor more than working long hours. If you dislike it more, then you wonât experience it for long.â - Alex Hormozi
Whether you like or hate the speaker, the man does have a point. If something bothers you so much, then like a pebble in your shoe, youâre going to want to remove the cause of the pain.Â
It really is easier to ID what one dislike/ hate faster than figuring out what you like/love. Hereâs a quick little self-quiz. Give yourself 2 seconds per question. And GO!!
đ What do you want for dinner?
âĄWhat do you NOT want for dinner?
đ Where do you want to go for vacation?
âĄWhere do you NOT want to go for vacation?
đ What do you love about a (service/ product)?
âĄWhat do you HATE about a (service/ product)?
đ What do you like about your job/ career?
âĄWhat do you HATE about your job/ career?
Weird right?! You could spit out at a snap of a finger what you hated way faster than you could list what you liked. So if everyoneâs natural default setting is this, why canât we hijack everyoneâs auto âclick, runâ mechanism? We walk around with tons of these âclick, runâ auto tendencies pre-loaded into our psyche but weâre not actually aware of them.
I was oblivious to them ALL until I started reading Robert Caldiniâs book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (No, Iâm not finished reading it yetđŹ). We can only become aware of something if we know what to look for right? Well, this story Caldini tells about a jewellery store owner perfectly illustrates this point and⊠well, youâll see. Read away:
The owner of the store was having trouble selling a large collection of turquoise jewellery. She believes that she had priced the quality pieces very reasonably. Taking into consideration that it is high tourist season and her store has regular foot traffic, there is no reason why those pieces should not sell.Â
But even after placing them in a more prominent position in the store, they just stubbornly sat there. No one bought any of the turquoise jewellery. Day after day, customer after customer. Finally, right before the owner is about to leave for an out-of-town business trip, she scribbles a note to her senior sales staff to price everything in the display case at âx 1/2,â just to get rid of the turquoise pieces.Â
When she returns from her trip, the owner is not surprised to see that ALL the jewellery has been sold. But she is surprised when she learns that the saleswoman had misread her scribbled note. Due to the ownerâs hastily written note, her staff had read the âx 1/2â as âx 2.âÂ
All the pieces of jewellery had sold⊠at double their original price.Â
How could this happen?
In the case of the turquoise jewelry, itâs possible that the upscale vacationers were drawn to the jewellery collection because of its high price. In their mind, high price is associated with high quality because of the success of this association in the past.Â
But high prices could also be associated with something else: high status. So not only does a high priced good = high quality, it also signals to the world that the buyer is someone of high status (and wealth) as well.
And thatâs one of many âclick & runâ default we all have. Iâm sure you were all aware of it. But now youâre really aware of after it has been pointed out. Now that the invisiblity cloak has been ripped off this preset, how will you change your decision making processes? Not just for oneâs own personal shopping basket but for pricing in your business.
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âThere's a wonderful old Italian joke about a poor man who goes to church every day and prays before the statue of a great saint, begging, "Dear saint-please, please, please...give me the grace to win the lottery." This lament goes on for months. Finally the exasperated staue comes to life, looks down at the begging man and says in weary disgust, "My son-please, please, please...buy a ticket.â - E.Gilbert
How can luck find you if you donât move? What if the Emissary of the God of Luck can only ever meet us at the half-way point?? If we stop 25% of the way and turn back, does this mean the Universe has refused us?
The Iceberg Illustration in real life â This week has been trying as Iâve banged my head into the bureaucratic machine of my old alma mater. Why is it so FOOKinâ hard to get a response to a simple request of âI want to PAY YOU to send a copy of my transcript to another instituteâ?!Â
Frustration at my progress being blocked for weeks had me raging! In a fit Iâve tried a few other options. Letâs see which one of my frustration-induced blockade busters actually works. Hopefully Iâll be able to share some good news about this next week. Current score, Bureaucracy 1ïžâŁ : Me 0ïžâŁ