For example, they would crinkle their nose at companies that advertise in Times Square. "So stupid!" they would rant. "They're just wasting $50K/day in untracked advertising!"
And all the other engineers would laugh haughtily.
I'm like, WTF is wrong with you? These companies have been around for 100 years. They're WAY smarter than you or me. Instead of criticizing them … maybe we should try to understand them. What do they know that we don't?
From DISPARAGEMENT to CURIOSITY.
They stared at me, then went back to coding.
Easy to laugh at them. Yet we ALL do this.
I loved seeing an internet forum full of keyboard warriors saying things like...
- "Why do they try to get me to sign up for an email newsletter? Email is dead."
- "Ugh, he uses those long-copy pages. Only scammers use long copy."
- "Why don't they just reveal their price on their web page? If I don't see a price, I just leave."
EACH OF THESE COMMENTS IS UNBELIEVABLY CLUELESS. I know, since I've tested each one. Doing just these 3 things has been worth millions for me. Yet these critics were incredibly sure of themselves.
Instead of saying, "Ugh! They're so stupid!" they could have said, hmmm … what does he know that I don't?
From DISPARAGEMENT to CURIOSITY.
I went through this experience when I started learning about sophisticated direct-response marketing. I thought all long-copy pages and infomercials were scams. But I decided to set aside my skepticism, study them carefully, see what worked and what didn't, and decide what was ethical and what wasn't. And I learned several insights that I never would have encountered … if I'd remained SKEPTICAL.
This one mental model — from D-to-C — is an example of a Success Trigger, a "shortcut" you can use to emulate Top Performers.
Once I learned this Success Trigger (among others), it changed everything for me. Instead of criticizing car companies, or the local mom-and-pop shop, or even a friend, I forced myself to try to understand WHY they were doing what they were doing.
From DISPARAGEMENT to CURIOSITY.
And it's opened my eyes to all kinds of deep insights I never would have realized if I'd stuck with my old mental model.
Listen, I get it — it feels GOOD to say, "How dumb!" (I do it myself, and I have to constantly force myself to go from D-to-C.) But when you have this Success Trigger, it's truly a mental shortcut you can keep in your back pocket and apply EVERYWHERE.
Yes, this principle alone has been worth millions of dollars. But it's also helped me hone my social skills and become far more empathetic.
And this is just ONE Success Trigger! I have 29 others I want to share with you.
To get a "vault" of Success Triggers you can use from my course, click here:
I want to learn all 30 Success Triggers.