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Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeart Radio.
Good morning.
This is Laura.
Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is that if you show people that others like them have done something, they will be more confident that they can do that same thing too.
Today's tip, like several other recent ones, comes from Robert Cialdini's book Persuasion about ways that you can prepare people to be open to your requests or suggestions.
One of Cialdini's principles of persuasion is social proof, which he defines as the principle that people think it is appropriate for them to believe, feel or do something to the extent that others, especially comparable others, are believing, feeling or doing it.
In other words, if other people like you are doing it, you should also do it.
You may see this in your kids' desire to conform to trends.
You may also see it when your alma mater tells you that some high percentage of your fellow alums support the annual fund.
So obviously you should too.
Cialdini explains that the power of social proof is feasibility.
If other normal people are doing something, it doesn't seem that much of a reach for you to do it.
For instance, in my family, I found that if one of our friends has taken a trip somewhere, that starts to seem like the kind of place we could vacation.
Nothing has changed and nothing was stopping us from going there first.
But we take our cues from people we see as peers.
If you are in the business of motivating people, you can use this insight to your advantage.
For instance, if you are trying to motivate people to send agendas for meetings 24 hours in advance, you can send around an email noting all the people who did send their agendas 24 hours in advance for the last few meetings.
If Beyonce sends her agendas 24 hours ahead of time, this means nothing for the rest of us.
But if Wanda in accounting can do it, well, you can too.
You can use the principle of feasibility to persuade yourself.
You may be wondering if it's possible to earn an executive MBA while working in your current job and parenting.
But if you learn that one of your colleagues did it a few years ago well, you might start looking into applications.
Or maybe you talk to people on your block and realize that your neighbor three doors down earned a degree while working and raising small kids.
Again, if Beyonce can do it, that means nothing for the rest of us.
But your neighbor is probably much like you.
If she can do it, you can. not everybody is inclined to be a trailblazer.
But when we see similar people who have followed a certain path already, we may be open to joining in.
In the meantime, this is Laura.
Thanks for listening.
And here's to making the most...
Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.
If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at laura at lauravanderkam.com.
Before Breakfast is a production of iHeart Media.
For more podcasts from iHeart Media, please visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
My husband is at a spa resort with his mistress right now and I'm calling the hotel to confront them both.
Wait a minute, Dakota.
She's calling the hotel while they're checked in together?
Yeah, that's right, Sophia.
And it gets worse.
It's Vacate, the Vacation Week on the OK Storytime podcast, where she caught him buying gifts on Amazon and then taped a 10-page letter inside his luggage before he flew out.
So she planted evidence before he even took off?
And spoiler Sophia.
Two years later, karma hits so hard he's calling his ex-wife in tears saying about his mistress.
What a mistake that was.
To find out what happened.
Listen to the OK Storytime podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
I'm Jake Brennan and on the Disgraceland podcast I explore the wild lives of rock stars and unbelievable true crime stories from music history.
These are the stories you haven't heard, the kind you'll end up telling someone else.
Like the time Paul McCartney spent in a notorious prison or the bizarre crime Lady Gaga is accused of.
Or that time Blondie's Debbie Harry escaped Ted Bundy.
Listen to Disgraceland on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
This is an iHeart Podcast.
Guaranteed human.
