Category Archives: Covert Hypnosis

Can't Step In The Same River Twice

How Long Do These Take To Learn?

When you were a little kid, learning was easy.

Since it happened automatically, you didn’t have to think about it.

You just kept trying to do something until you could do it.

This is how all humans learned, until very recently.

When we try this as adults, it’s called “modeling.”

Meaning we see somebody doing something we’d like to do, and then try and copy them.

Unfortunately, it’s not always so easy.

Because not only do you have to DO what they do, you also have to NOT DO what they DON’T do.

This is the missing ingredient if you’ve been trying to “learn” from gurus who promise to “show you step by step to get what I’ve done.”

Now sometimes, this is easy. If you’re copying somebody’s cake-baking technique, for example.

Because when YOU operate on the ingredients, they will respond the same way they do when THEY operate on the ingredients.

It doesn’t matter WHO puts the batter in the oven. So long a the batter is prepared the same way, and the oven is the right temperature, you’ll get the same cake.

But often times we’re copying people who have been INTERACTING with a certain environment. And unless YOU are interacting in the same environment in the same way, you’ll get a different result.

Let’s say you wanted to study acting. And you copied the precise movements speech patterns of the most famous stage actors around.

So much so you were EXACTLY the same.

But unless you could reproduce the same audience, with the same expectations, you’ll get a different result.

It’s sort like that old saying, “You can’t step in the same river twice.”

Only it’s WAY more complicated. No matter how much you model somebody, you’ll ALWAYS be operating within a slightly different environment.

Does this mean modeling is useless? Not at all.

It just means that you need to model a meta-skill, rather than surface skill.

What does this mean?

Let’s say you memorized a boxing match from Mike Tyson. You copied his EXACT punches, at the EXACT time.

Obviously, this would NEVER work. Because all the punches and blocks would be based SOLELY on what the other guy was doing.

Paying attention to feedback is the missing ingredient.

No matter HOW WELL you copy some “step by step” procedure, if you don’t pay attention to feedback, AND adjust accordingly, you’re doomed.

But paying attention to feedback is easy. It’s natural. It’s how you learned to walk. If you leaned forward too much, you’d fall on your face. And your inherent feedback-response mechanism told you to not lean forward so much next time.

So long as you are ALWAYS open to feedback, and you are willing to adjust, you’ll always get better.

And then you’ll learn the secret about things like learning Covert Hypnosis.

You’ll NEVER FINISH learning. Because you can always get better based on the feedback you get.

Compared to others, who sit in a seminar and listen, or read a book and think they are DONE.

YOU will always be improving, learning and getting better.

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The Famous Quotes Pattern

The Verbal Sky Hook

Here’s a fun trick to play at parties with your friends.

Or if you want to insult somebody or tell a girl she’s beautiful.

It’s called the “Quotes Pattern,” and there are many ways to use it.

Let’s say you’re a guy, and you want to tell a girl she’s gorgeous. (Or whatever your situation may be). Now, if you walked right over and said it to her directly, she might get embarrassed, or see it as a lame pick up attempt.

But when you put it in a quotes pattern, it’s pretty fun.

You walk over, and think of a reasonable excuse to start talking to them.

Tell them they remind you of somebody. Ask where they work or shop or whatever.

For the sake of this example, let’s say you’re a guy, she’s a girl, and you’ve told her she reminds you of some girl you sat next to last year at school.

“You remind me of my friend, she was really beautiful. One time we were hanging out at Starbucks, and some guy walked right up to her, looked at her and said, ‘You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, I’d really like to go out with you'”.

And when you say the “you are really beautiful” part, look right at her and really imagine that it’s you saying it to her.

Now, this in and of itself won’t do anything. But it’s fun to practice.

You can also do this if you’re in sales.

If you’ve got a customer sitting in front of you, you can start talking about your colleague who’s a really pushy salesperson.

You can say something like this:

“This guy is crazy, he talks about how awesome this product is, then looks right at the customers and says, ‘You really need to buy this right now,’ I mean he sells a lot of stuff, but I could never do that.”

Then when you say the “you should buy this” part, look directly at them and really mean it.

What this does is get the person to imagine whatever it is you said (you should buy this, you are really beautiful, etc) without feeling like YOU are saying it, so they won’t feel any pressure.

Again, this by itself won’t do much. It’s not a magic bullet, but if you use techniques like this peppered throughout your conversation, they can add up to a big effect.

Kind of like Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s famous skyhook. That ONE shot didn’t make him a superstar, nor did it score all the points. But it was one very powerful set of tools within an otherwise AWESOME tool kit.

And in the Covert Hypnosis course, you’ll learn TONS of awesome tools.

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Take Your Time

How To Build Your Legacy

I’ve always been a fast eater.

Only when I have a specific reason to eat slowly do I do so.

Once when I was in college, me and couple buddies ordered some pizzas.

We made sure we each paid an equal amount, and we divided the slices before anybody took a bite.

For some reason, it became a battle of wills.

Who could eat the slowest.

We all wanted to be the “last man standing.”

The guy who had once slice left while everybody else was finished and still hungry.

(Our appetites had been, ahem, “enhanced”)

Once when I was in high school, I was lifting weights in the garage with my older brother.

He was doing the sets really, really fast.

I asked him why, and he said he wanted to hurry up and get them over with.

Most of us live our lives like that. We power through good things as fast as we can.

But we also power through bad things as fast as we can as well.

There’s no shortage of “quick” books and systems.

Get rich quickly. Lose weight quickly. Find your dream partner in ten minutes or less.

In fact, so many people spend their entire lives trying to do things quickly, but never get squat.

There’s a reason that story about that slow turtle has been around so long.

Now, I’m not saying to do everything as slow as possible. That would suck. Lines at the supermarket would take forever.

But some things are much better with a LONG view.

Like if you were practicing an instrument as a hobby. Not because you wanted to be world famous by next Tuesday, but because you enjoyed doing it.

You would realize that if you slowly improved your skills, in a few years you’d be REALLY good.

(But even then you’d likely buy a few courses called “Learn The Guitar in One Weekend”)

One of the most important skills you can develop is communication.

How you can take those ideas in your brain, put words to them, so they’ll end up in other people’s brains.

Not just passively, but they’ll be put inside other people’s brains where all their GOOD IDEAS go.

Instead of just spitting out a bunch of words so they say, “Hmm, that’s interesting,” and then forget everything you said, they’ll think about it for a long time. It will become part of THEIR ideas. That idea that started in YOUR head, will end up in a LOT OF OTHER people’s heads.

This is how you make an impact on Earth. This is how you build your career, your business, your relationship.

Instead of being just another guy or gal yammering away, people will take YOUR ideas as the real deal.

Because HOW you present your ideas is JUST AS important as the idea itself.

And when you take the time to practice consistently, five, ten minutes a day, you’ll be creating a POWERFUL life.

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Read People Like A Book

Become Cause Instead of Effect

When I was in college many moons ago, my roommate had one of those 3D pictures.

The kind that looks like noise, but when you stare at it the right way, a 3D image emerges.

For a while, I couldn’t “get it.” While all my friends did so easily.

But once you “get it” a couple of time, it’s pretty easy.

Once I was playing a game of flag football with some friends.

I was on defense, and my job was to rush in and pressure the QB.

Only on one play, I kind of froze. Not really froze, something just seemed “off” right after the snap.

Instead of running in, like I normally did, I stepped back a bit.

It turned out the other team was running a double reverse, and were counting on me rushing in, which would leave open a big hole.

As I was standing there wondering what the heck was going on, they ran the play and the guy with the ball ran right into me.

One of my teammates looked at me and asked, “you read that pretty well!”

To which I responded, “Huh?”

I suppose as often is the case, my subconscious knew what was up, but my conscious was clueless.

Being able to accurately “read” events to predict the outcomes is a pretty good skill.

There’s a saying that a small minority of people make things happen.

A slightly larger group watches things happen.

Then there’s the vast majority who stand around saying, “What happened?”

Of course, if you spend all your free time with your brain turned off staring at the pretend people in pretend situations on TV, it’s hard to be able to “read” events as they unfold.

I’ve read a few books on history, and things in real life are WAY more complicated than on TV.

Over the last couple decades, the world has changed A LOT, and will continue to do so.

If you’re planning on just coasting and hoping things work out, you may be surprised.

On the other hand, it really doesn’t take a lot of time, or effort, to increase your “people reading” skills.

This can help you move from the “what happened?” group to the “watch what happens” group.

And when you start to see things playing out, you can position yourself to either benefit, or not get pounded, like a lot of people.

Fortunately, the same exercise that will increase your “people reading” skills can ALSO significantly improve your communication skills, as well as your overall self-development.

Even if you ONLY do these exercises during commercial breaks!

If you make the commitment today, to spend only ten minutes a day, soon you’ll have skills most people don’t even know exist.

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X Ray Vision

Get X-Ray Vision Into Their Minds

In Japan they have an expression called “reading the air.”

It means to understand the subtext of a conversation.

Here’s a pretty common one. Guy and his girl are at a party.

Some other girl comes up and starts talking to him. He thinks it’s just a normal conversation.

His girlfriend, on the other hand, sees it as direct threat against their relationship.

Since females are much better at “reading” body language than guys are, she can see all the subtle cues of flirtation.

To her, this “other woman” is completely throwing herself at him.

Later on, they get into a fight. She says, “How could you do that?!”

He says, “Wha??”

And she later complains with her friends about men being so dense.

Maybe you’ve been in this situation before (on one side or the other).

The truth is that in ALL human communication, there are MANY levels. Most we ourselves don’t even know about.

One of my favorite lines is from a Tom Clancy book, “The Sum of All Fears.”

About a third of the way through the book, he explained what it meant. When you get a group of experts around a table, you don’t get the sum of their experience. You get the sum of their fears.

Think about that next time you’re in a meeting. Everybody tends to be most concerned with keeping bad things from happening AS MUCH as trying to make something good happen. (Bigger profits, more market share, etc.)

One of the big breakthroughs of NLP was that it leveraged Noam Chomsky’s theory of “transformational grammar.”

Meaning you could look beyond the “surface structure” of what people were saying, and see what they REALLY mean.

Their fears, their desires, what they are going to do next, etc.

If all you do is pay attention to the surface structure, you can easily run into trouble.

But when you can not only see what the other person really means, as well as communicate on that level, it’s like getting conversational super powers.

Even if you never want to do any persuading or influencing, it makes social situations a LOT more enjoyable.

Like putting on X-Ray glasses and seeing into people’s brains.

This is exactly what happens when you start writing out the Covert Hypnosis language patterns.

After a while you’ll see a whole new world that few people know exist.

And since you’ll be able to read people a lot better, you’ll be much more likely to create fantastic relationships, for WHATEVER reason you want.

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Become A Verbal Ninja

How To Become A Verbal Ninja

One time I had this leaky faucet.

I looked online on how to fix it, and figured it easy enough.

So I went to my local hardware store, and bought what I thought I needed to fix it.

I ended up having to go back there three times, until I finally figured everything out.

Even though it took a lot longer than I thought, and I was pretty embarrassed every time I walked back into the hardware store, it felt pretty good when I finished.

A lot of people are afraid to try something because they might mess up. Or they won’t get it right the first time.

Good thing you didn’t feel that way when you were learning to walk!

Any hardware store you find yourself in, you’ll find a lot of tools.

Some are very general, and can be used for a lot of different things.

Some are very specific, and can only be used for one specific job.

Like a cement mixer, for example. There’s not a lot of stuff you can do with it except mix cement.

Other things, like hammers, or screwdrivers, can be used for pretty much anything.

These are tools that every person would benefit from having.

On the other hand, it wouldn’t be a good marketing strategy for a cement mixer company to try and convince everybody that they needed to have one.

There are things that people do that can be thought of as on the same spectrum.

Things that are very specific, and things that are very general.

Like doing pull-ups is a very specific form of exercise, and strengthens specific muscles.

Stretching, or Yoga, on the other hand, is pretty beneficial.

Many more people would benefit from doing a bit of yoga in the morning than would doing ten pull-ups.

One all purpose practice that would benefit most people is journaling.

You can journal to keep track of your progress on goals.

You can journal to write out and visualize different ways to behave in different situations.

You can journal your own history to uncover things that happened long ago that you may be able to understand now.

You can journal to write down any genius ideas you have during the day, that may turn into profitable income streams.

Or you can journal to practice language patterns.

This, by far, is the best way to drill them into your brain.

Kind of like boxers or martial artists train at the gym. Doing the same moves over and over and over and over.

So if they ever get into a fight, they’ll AUTOMATICALLY respond with the perfect punch.

When you practice language patterns by writing them out over and over and over, you’ll get the same result.

And since EVERY SINGLE TIME you talk to somebody is an opportunity to use them, you’ll naturally start becoming more persuasive, magnetic and influential. Without really knowing it.

All it takes is a few minutes of writing every day, and you’re on your way to becoming a verbal ninja.

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Utilize Utilization

How To Make Lemonade

One time I got a blender for Christmas.

At the time, I didn’t really have any use for a blender, so I never took it out of the box.

I put it in a closet, and forgot about it.

Then a year later, to save time, I wrapped it up and gave it to somebody else.

This is pretty common.

Some companies have these goofy parties where you give each other presents and then trade them with each other.

Sometimes they call them “white elephant” parties. The “white elephant” being the gift that nobody really wants, so they keep giving it to other people.

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” right?

How exactly do you do that?

It revolves around how flexible you are with “meaning.”

If you say “hi” to somebody, and they don’t say “hi” back, what does it “mean”?

To some, it’s PROOF that they suck and nobody likes them.

To others, it’s an opportunity to try something different.

Meaning that while they didn’t say “hi” back to you, they didn’t call the cops.

Maybe they didn’t hear you. Maybe they are too shy. Maybe they really like you and are frozen.

It’s hard to “switch” these meanings around on the spot, simply because our brains are hard wired to AUTOMATICALLY go to the “worst” meaning for ancient survival reasons.

But since overcoming your survival instincts is what it means to be a rational human, this is just another skill you can practice.

Playing around with different meanings “in the moment.”

Like any skill, it takes time. The more you practice, the better you’ll get.

But once you get yourself up to speed, you’ll be able to use a POWERFUL tool from your Covert Hypnosis tool kit.

Utilization.

It’s a technique where you take ANYTHING that you get, from the world or other people, and simply figure out a way to USE it.

Instead of judging it right away, get into the habit of thinking, “hmm, how can I use this?”

The inventor of Covert Hypnosis, Milton Erickson, used this to hypnotize people.

He didn’t care if they closed their eyes or not. Sat down or know. Kept talking or not.

He simply UTILIZED whatever they were doing to DEEPEN their trance.

Since trance was his intention, he took WHATEVER happened, and UTILIZED it to fulfill his intention.

What is YOUR intention?

Whatever it is, you can take WHATEVER the world gives you, and use it to fulfill your intention.

This will turn every experience, every conversation, every person you meet into a once in a lifetime opportunity to get what you want out of life.

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Peel Back The Onion Layers

Interpersonal Glue

A long time ago I used to sell cars.

It was an eye opening experience, from a lot of perspectives.

One is I was amazed how happy people were once they’d decided to buy a car.

When they came in, they were fearful, anxious and weren’t sure.

But after an hour or so of going back and forth, when they finally made the decision, they transformed.

I mean literally, before my very eyes.

Before they signed a contract, they were defensive. Closed off. Crossed arms. Unhappy faces.

But after they signed the contract, they looked like little kids on their birthdays.

Before the contract, they acted like I was their arch-nemesis.

After the contract, I was their best friend, and they couldn’t thank me enough.

Most people see sales, seduction, or any kind of persuasion through the lens of trickery.

Like you’ve got to come in “under the radar.” Many people believe the only way they can convince somebody to do what they want is to use some kind of Jedi ninja patterns.

But in reality, but BEST salespeople, and the most NATURAL seducers don’t see it that way.

They see persuasion as HELPING people get what they want.

Nobody is unhappy when they go home with a new purchase. Quite the opposite.

Nobody is unhappy at the beginnings of a new relationship. In fact, that is one of the best feelings we humans can feel.

So why do so many people approach sales and dating as if they were a confrontation?

One reason is people fear rejection. We’re so nervous we’ll get rejected we start to treat the other person as the enemy.

But one thing that will most certainly AVOID rejection is simply taking the time to find out what they want.

That’s why it’s best to start with small talk. Create rapport. Give each other time to get comfortable.

Then slowly peel back the onion layers.

Find out what they want.

THEN you’ll realize how easy it is.

Why is it so easy?

Because on a deep level, all of our wants and needs are very similar.

Sure, if you’re buying a car, you’ve got certain criteria. Make, model, color.

But you also want good value, safety, comfort, security, and validation.

When you’re talking to people socially, or even in a business situation, those vague desires are incredibly easy to leverage.

What does this mean?

It means that you simply talk to them about the things they want, then talk to them about what you’ve got.

If you do this in the right way, meaning relaxed and conversationally, you’ll almost never get rejected.

And when you use these language patterns, it’s pretty simple.

These are the “interpersonal glue” that connects what THEY want, with what YOU’VE got.

Which makes doing what you suggest the most natural thing in the world.

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Time Shifting Magic

When I was a kid, I was in boy scouts.

And every summer we went on a long backpacking trip.

About a week, carrying all of our stuff on our backs.

Usually we would park at trailhead. Then walk up a long set of switchbacks.

These are trails that criss-cross up a really steep set of mountains.

Then when you’re on the other side, it’s like a completely different world.

Because the only people that you see (which aren’t very many) are people that walked there.

It’s fun on the way up, looking down at the parking lot. Seeing our cars getting smaller and smaller.

Then when we come out on the other side, a week or so later, it’s a welcome site.

After sleeping in tents, eating freeze dried food and no showers, seeing a bunch of parked cars, even from a long ways off, is pretty refreshing.

See things from different perspectives is useful.

One way easy way to do this is see how we use language.

I’m sure you’ve heard the famous Einstein quote about insanity.

Doing the same thing and expecting a different result.

One way we “do” the same thing is talk about things the same way.

Like if you’ve got a “problem,” you use it as if it were a real “thing.”

I’ve “got” this “problem.”

I don’t know how to get rid of this “problem.”

I need to put “this” behind me.

What happens when you describe your “problem” in a different way?

This is slightly different than the useless “I don’t see problems, I see opportunities!” bumper sticker mindset that some people spout .

For an example, think of a problem you HAD a year or so ago, that is now resolved.

Now think of something useful you learned from that.

Something really useful, not, “I learned that people are idiots.”

Now, when you look at a “problem” in the future, instead of saying “how can I get rid of this,” or something similar, ask yourself, “When I DO solve this, I wonder what I’ll learn?”

That simple replacement, when you take out the “if” and put in the “when” is very powerful.

Just say these two sentences, out loud if you can, to see how they affect your emotions.

If I get rich I’ll be able to buy a nice house.

When I get rich I’ll be able to buy nice house.

The difference may be subtle, and you may need to really WORK to believe the second one, but when you do, a whole new future of opportunities will open up.

You’ll think of new ideas, dream new dreams, and start taking new action.

Instead of waiting, you’ll be doing.

That one simple shift, (when instead of if) is only ONE of the many language patterns in the Covert Hypnosis book.

You can use them on yourself, to “fix” your own problems.

You can use them with others, to help them with theirs.

You can use them pretty much anytime, anywhere with anybody.

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Generate Overlapping Interests Between Conversational Partners

Overlap Their Desires With Yours

Pretty much everything can be thought of as a mix of two extremes.

Like sweet or salty. I like salty food more often than not.

But once in while I like to eat something sweet. Too much and it’s not good any more.

In NLP there are all kinds of “Meta Programs” that are these filters through which we see the world.

And like everything else, they can be thought of in “extremes” but most of us have a mix.

Like you can be motivated to move away from fear, or toward pleasure.

If you are too much of one, it will cause trouble.

Most of us are maybe 1/3 of the way from either end.

Another thing is how people make decisions.

One the hand, there are people that simply cannot decide unless somebody tells them exactly what to do.

On the other hand, there are people that absolutely NEED to be the decision maker in every single situation.

Clearly, both are kind of lame.

But most of us are a mix of both, usually more one than the other.

If you are interested in self development, taking an active role in improving your life, or have even thought about doing things differently, then chances are you are more “internally motivated” than “externally motivated.”

Meaning you’re likely more of a self starter than somebody who needs to have somebody tell you what to do 24-7.

It’s good to know what these filters are if you ever need to persuade anybody.

Andy whenever you talk to anybody about anything, there’s usually some persuasion going on.

Sometimes a lot, sometimes a little.

Now, you could spend a lot of time reverse engineering somebody’s “meta models” until you have them wired down completely.

Then you could present your ideas to them to fit into their “model of the world.”

There are consulting companies that make lots of money doing this for clients and employees.

But there is a MUCH easier way.

Just ask.

I know, simple, right?

But if you ask people what they want, (which most people NEVER do), they’ll usually be happy to tell you.

Then just figure out a way to present your idea so that it matches what they want.

This is MUCH easier than most people think.

Why?

Because most people think in very vague terms. Few are walking around with a specific idea of what they want.

Then you take THEIR vague desires, and match them with yours (vague or specific, it really doesn’t matter) by using the SPECFICALLY VAGUE language patterns of covert hypnosis.

This is ESPECIALLY easy when you’re using these patterns on people you already know. Even just casually.

Because you already sort of “know” what makes them tick. What they want. What makes them happy.

So when you talk to them using these patterns, YOUR ideas will seem like THEIR ideas.

Which means no matter WHAT they reference (internal or external) it will make perfect sense.

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