Hypnosis -Mind Control - Persuasion - Influence - All of these loaded words carry with them tremendous implications and, for many, a whole subset of associations that will in effect, cause people to move towards one particular set of words and move away from others.
Let's take for example. Two Words... which depending on your source are arguably the same thing, but in reality carry a tremendously powerful, yet strikingly predictable and different response in those hearing them. The two words are -Persuasion, and manipulation.
It is often bandied about in the worlds of NLP, and even Ericksonian conversational hypnosis that you -"Can't Not Manipulate Someone"
Arguably true. But use the word manipulation in "any context of getting someone to do something (even if its for their own best interests and desires) and you will instantly feel a very visceral "away from" response that is whole-heartedly generated by the conscious associations attributed to the word manipulate. (Which, in my worldview is actually one level of abstraction higher than persuasion, but I digress)
In other words, people will recoil from the label of manipulation, while being much more positively pre-disposed to being persuaded, or to engaging in, persuasion. And of course that leads us to the all-important question of... So What?
Well, if your going to engage in the "way of influence" as I like to call it. Then you have to be aware that in spite of the definition in the dictionary; and what the rules of meaning have to say, - the precise word you use will create an emotional response that colors the perception and frame around the entire conversation or scenario that you are engaging in.
This is sort of a round about, yet relevant way of transitioning into what I really want to talk about today, which is...Influence As A Way Of Life.
You see if your going to walk the path of influence (and we all do to a certain extent, its just the average human being is really bad at it) then you have to look at the world in most efficient and useful way possible in order to easily wield maximum influence. Now you may notice I don't use the word hypnosis a whole lot in this entry. There is a reason, and it goes back to what our working definition of hypnosis really is.
Hypnosis defined - The bypass of the critical factor of the conscious mind and the establishment of acceptable selective thinking.
That is a great and powerful definition of what hypnosis is and it gives us tremendous versatility in the selection of tools and techniques we have available. But now let's talk about Covert Hypnosis and finally conversational hypnosis before we get back to influence.
Covert Hypnosis Is the Art and Science of Bypassing or "Re-orienting" the critical factor of the conscious mind, and the establishment of acceptable selective thinking - without the use of a formal hypnotic contract, or an overt consensual form of hypnotic induction.
In other words, Covert Hypnosis is the Study, Practice and Use Of the Full Spectrum of "Hypnotic Operators" for the specific purpose of (whether they expressly give you permission or not) gaining compliance to your desires. This one little detail is where many would be covert hypnotists fail - its an issue having to do with the mindset surrounding the way a person looks at the "deliberate" use of influence technologies and in many ways it has to do directly with "how" you as an aspiring covert hypnotist are introduced to it.
In future posts I will deal with the major reasons why people fail at covert hypnosis, and its many derivatives; but for right now, I want to focus on something much more fundamental and that is how to structure the way you look at influence and give you a sort of hierarchy to follow, so that you can see why naturally begin to recognize why The Method We Use In CPI and Killer Influence is so devastatingly effective. And no this is not a sales pitch, although I would love you to buy my stuff and use it to get what ever you want, my purpose here is to simply make your life a whole lot easier.
Because the way these skills are taught by the vast majority of trainers is... well... JUST PLAIN INEFFECTIVE!
But for the moment, let us skip back up a few paragraphs and discuss - Conversational hypnosis. Conversational Hypnosis - Is the bypass of the critical factor and establishment of acceptable selective thinking through the use of a specific series of "hypnotic operators" based on the naturally occurring structures inherent in human language.
First of all you have to divide what you do and follow a somewhat logical yet intuitive series of steps. If your going to study the method of Covert Hypnotic Influence that I espouse (which is not NLP nor Ericksonian, although it certainly borrows from those disciplines just like it borrows from many others) then you have to follow several basic rules of thumb and adhere to the logical progression of wielding influence.
Ground Rules - Rule # 1 Keep What You Do Simple - The kiss rule truly applies here when it comes to wielding influence because if the technique is too hard to apply in the seminar room which is decidedly - a controlled environment... It Won't Work In The Real World On Real Live Human Beings.
Second Rule - Always Start With the Outcome In Mind. Seems like common sense but alas, common sense is not so common, savvy?Your outcome is the beacon in the distance that constantly allows you to make course corrections throughout your persuasion process. Wielding influence is almost never a linear process and you have to constantly be paying attention to the subject in order to know exactly how to navigate through the many twists, turns and asides that happen in any hypnotic interaction.
Which brings us to a third basic rule in two parts - Part 1 - learn to pay attention to your subject on a level that most human beings will never know about. Why? Well, so you know what kind of effect your having on your subject, if you don't have any idea what the effect of the tool, tactic or strategy Your using is actually having on the subject - How the heck will you know if your moving toward getting what you want?
Part 2 of Rule Number three is equally important - Your subject will tell you everything you need to know ii order to influence them, but they will almost always communicate it primarily through methods, characteristics and traits that are OUTSIDE OF CONSCIOUS AWARENESS and CONTROL. Let's talk about that for a minute -
Bottom line - Anything outside of your awareness is outside of your control...Period. Wanna Test It?
Very simple, one of most fundamental methods we have for altering our own state mind is through controlling our breath. Aside from our limbs it's probably the most easily influenced of all our voluntary responses - Here's the game... Try and control your breathing WITHOUT paying attention to it...See what I mean? Notice that the moment you focus your mind on your breath it's very easy to change the rhythm, depth, speed etc. But the moment your mind goes somewhere else - your control evaporates.
NOW, if you have studied NLP then you most likely know that one of the fastest ways to get rapport with another human being is through something called pacing and leading and one of the techniques that we use to get rapport is to pace the breathing rate of somebody else, and, if you have any skill at all when you do this...
That person starts to breath in time with you outside of "their own" conscious awareness. What's up with that? You mean the only way we can control something is to be aware of it? For the most part. Yes, thats exactly what I'm telling you. That's both good and bad news because as you deepen your training, your awareness naturally expands. The once arbitrary barriers between conscious awareness and unconscious awareness begin to thin and dissolve more and more until finally there is only - awareness.
You'll automatically begin to intuitively notice that things seem to literally jump out at you while completely blowing by everyone else in the room... even if you point them out! Its a bit freaky, but empowering because as you literally start to "see the matrix" Life just gets more and more interesting, and it gets easier and easier to wield influence. Oh, wait there is that word again...
Influence, not mind control, not hypnosis, not covert hypnosis, not conversational hypnosis, not seduction, not salesmanship, communication etc etc etc. Why Influence ? Because...all of these disciplines and more are simply subsets of Influence. All forms of influence (this is true often enough to be workably true for our purposes here) are inherently hypnotic. Huh?
Then why not just call it all hypnosis. Well, honestly that's already been done. (Not going to steal Bandler or Grinder's thunder) But there is more to it. It comes down to the whole bugaboo of persuasion vs. manipulation vs. influence. You see persuasion, by its very nature, and even manipulation (which is often viewed as synonymous with coercion) implies a conscious choice. Influence, on the other hand is often wielded "outside of conscious awareness", and is not necessarily dependent on a conscious choice. A small but important distinction, especially for the would-be student of hypnotic influence.
Do this drill right now. Find something on your desk or nearby that is completely inanimate. Set it on the table, or surface in front of you. Now summon up all your powers of persuasion, come up with your most well thought-out, logically or emotionally based reason/argument, hypnotic language pattern or process and... convince that object to move. (No I'm not joking)
I'm betting the object was marvelously unresponsive. Trust me there is a point to this exercise. Now, all I want you to do now is come up with as many ways as you can to influence that object to move. You may notice that suddenly progress comes a lot easier, you have a lot more tools to work with and before long- You find a way to move the object.
That's the difference between persuasion and influence. There are far more ways to get people to comply with your desires than just getting them to make a conscious willful choice. And yet, when the non-conscious hypnotic operators are applied properly that person's volitional-conscious mind will come up with all reasons necessary for wanting to do what you are influencing them to do. Persuasion is often accomplished as a by-product of influence.
Persuasion is a form of influence, but it is not the entire spectrum of influence. And since the vast majority of influence phenomena are directly equivalent to a "hypnotic operator" meaning they have the ability to bypass or re-orient the critical factor, they; by default, do fall into the category of "covert hypnosis" So this post is getting way too long but...Understand this...
To Those Who Choose To Walk The Way of The Mind Warrior - The Master of Covert Hypnotic Influence-- Compliance is the Goal. Influence is the Means. Influence and Persuasion is not the same thing. All forms of persuasion are a form of influence, but not all forms of influence are a form of persuasion. Some of your most powerful tools of influence lie outside your subject's conscious awareness.
Your subject will tell you everything you need to know if you learn to pay attention. If something is outside of your awareness its also outside of your control. We will pick this up in my next post and. With that I will leave you with one of the most powerful quotes I have ever heard and it's literally true.
"If I know you better than you know me, I can influence you, if I know you better than you know yourself. I CAN CONTROL YOU!"
David X.
http://www.killerinfluence.com
No comments:
Post a Comment