How To Structure Reality
Author: Kenrick Cleveland

"I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal
lobotomy." -Tom Waits

Reality has to do as much with the structure that is defined as
it does with the assumptions that we make about that structure.
That's a pretty dense sentence. Read it over a few times.

Reality is made up as much with the structure that's defined as
it does with the assumptions we make about that structure.

The idea behind this one sentence, if you can understand it and
put it to use, will skyrocket your ability to persuade as it
begins to come out into your behaviors and language.

This is even more powerful when it comes to words, what they
imply, what they presuppose. The following truism about
persuasion is something that has formed the basis of my work,
even before I was able to articulate it in exactly this way:
people might believe what they are told, but they'll always
believe their own conclusions.

This is important so I'm going to say it again: People might
believe what they are told, but they will always believe their
own conclusions.

You might be able to tell someone something and they believe
you and maybe they'll go along with what you're saying. However,
if you help them to conclude on their own what you want them to
conclude, that is going to be a solid belief. Part two of this
truism is, they will form their conclusions as much from what
you *don't* say, as what you do say.

This is something to memorize and live by. People might believe
what they are told, but they will always believe their own
conclusions and they will form those conclusions as much from
what you don't say, as what you do.

The key then is to learn how to structure what you say such
that what you don't say communicates more powerfully than what
you do say. This will make people come to the conclusion that
you want them to have on their own.

The following example falls into a linguistic category called
Spoonerisms which illustrate the idea that people might believe
what they are told but they will always believe their own
conclusions. A Spoonerism may be thought of as a 'slip of the
tongue' but often they're a play on words. The example of 'Go
and shake a tower' might be a funny and more subtle way of
telling someone they stink. When you hear 'go and shake a tower'
your brain (most likely) will automatically fill in the
statement with, 'Go and take a shower.'

You hear the actual words I'm saying, but your brain reverses
them to make sense of it.

When you heard the statement, you did it on your own. So when I
say people might believe what you tell them, but they'll always
believe their own conclusions, this is what I'm talking about.
They will form those conclusions as much from what you don't
say, as what you do.


About The Author: Kenrick Cleveland teaches techniques to earn
the business of affluent clients using
http://www.maxpersuasion.com persuasion. He runs public and
private seminars and offers home study courses and coaching
programs in http://www.maxpersuasion.com persuasion techniques.