Tips to Persuade People (who don’t want to listen)

8:34am Wednesday
Saint Paul

Someone asked:

> What are some strategies for persuading someone
> with differing opinions who is not open to listening
> to our perspective?

Before you can persuade someone, which should be to their benefit (otherwise it’s manipulation), he or she must have an open mind. If you can’t get there, nothing will work.

*|FNAME|*, persuading people is not easy. You have to set up a situation where they’re willing to question their own entrenched ideas, which means they may come to the conclusion that they’ve been wrong about this idea for however long.

And—as no one wants to be wrong, possibly shifting their entire world view—they’d rather fight than see the light.

So you can’t persuade them as much as you can give them the opportunity and ideas to persuade themselves.

Now, to open someone’s mind to a new way to see the world, you have a few options…

Continue reading “Tips to Persuade People (who don’t want to listen)”

Program your Brain

7:10am

Saint Paul

 

It’s snowing here in Saint Paul.

I used to hate the snow, hate the winter.

And I made sure everyone knew of my misery.

See, I’m kinda always cold.

And while I’m not exactly Mr. Universe, I get plenty of comments that I should add some fat to my bones.

Poor advise from an old joke.

My kids pulling one another in this Winter Wonderland!
My kids pulling one another in this Winter Wonderland!

What I did instead was change my mindset. Continue reading “Program your Brain”

Why I didn’t vote for my city’s most pressing issue: Trash Collection

11:15pm Sunday

Saint Paul, Minnesota

 

Hey there,

This weekend I took my two kids to the library. I was previously unaware, but there was early voting available for Tuesday’s November election.

Photo "CL Society 218: Crossing arms" by Francisco Osorio, Flickr, CC-By-2.0
Voting, like most decisions, is more about emotions than about facts on an unknown future. Photo “CL Society 218: Crossing arms” by
Francisco Osorio, Flickr, CC-By-2.0

“Are you here to vote today?” asked the voting attendant. Continue reading “Why I didn’t vote for my city’s most pressing issue: Trash Collection”

Ralphy Emerson’s ideas on duality and contrast

Yesterday I wrote a bit about Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay, Compensation.

In the essay, Emerson argues that everyone is compensated, for the good or the bad, in relation to the good or bad they bring to others in the world.

Good, or bad. These are relative terms, of course, defined by their polarizing nature. You can’t have one without the other.

The compiled Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson
The compiled Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson

Emerson’s Compensation opens with a discussion of the polarity of nature, Continue reading “Ralphy Emerson’s ideas on duality and contrast”

What is your label doing for you?

Confirmation bias, straight ahead!

5:23
Saint Paul, MN

Be careful what you wish for…

the saying goes…

you just might get it.

Our brains have an excellent ability to find examples in the world to confirm our theories and prove that we’re right… even about our selves.

This is confirmation bias— the phenomenon that new information confirms what we already ‘know.’ Continue reading “What is your label doing for you?”