Most of us overestimate the power of our conscious minds.

Not only that, but we underestimate the power of our instincts.

This isn’t easy for a lot people to hear, but it can be very useful to understand.

For example, if you’ve ever “cheated” on a diet, you know EXACTLY how powerful your instincts are.

After all they have been part of us for millions of years, and they deal with real world survival on a very real level.

When our instincts are telling us to eat, “they” really believe we are in danger if we don’t.

Which is why dieting by willpower alone is virtually impossible.

Fear of heights is another example. This is a natural born fear that exists deep in our programming. Try leaning over the edge of a high balcony and using your conscious mind to remove the fear.

These are a couple of instincts (fear and food) that we know and feel. Others are much more hidden beneath the surface.

Think about the last time you “cheated” on a diet, or promised yourself you weren’t going to eat or drink something, but you did anyway. Just before you ate it, you likely told yourself some “story” that sounded “logical” at the time.

But since you saw clear evidence of what you were doing, it’s easy to see this was just a rationalization.

But when we rationalize other instincts that we don’t acknowledge, we really tend to believe the rationalization as if it’s the real reason driving our behavior, and not the underlying instinct.

Which can get us into a lot of trouble. We end up saying, “Well, it sounded like a good idea at the time.”

What this really means is our instincts were driving our behavior, and our rationalizations for that behavior seemed logical enough.

Because we are deeply social creatures, two of the most powerful instincts that tend to operate outside of our conscious awareness are social proof and authority.

People that are in positions of authority can say the craziest things, and people will believe them as if they’re self-evident logic.

The strange thing about authority is that it’s not something that can be given to you. It has to be something that you simply assume to be true.

And since 99.99% of the people would be TERRIFIED of taking any kind of leadership role, assuming that position is pretty easy.

Naturally, this is like any other tool. You can use it for good, or you can use it for evil.

You can lead people to happiness, pleasure and wealth, or doom and despair. It’s completely up to you.

Where will you lead them?

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