Convinced! – Jack Nasher | Free Book Summary

Convinced! – Jack Nasher

Mentalist Jack Nasher offers tips to help you appear more competent, attractive, intelligent and important.

Projecting Competence

Use the technique of priming your audience by projecting competence from within. 

For example, suppose your boss asks you to stand in front of your colleagues and answer several questions. “What are you good at?” “What was your greatest professional success?” “Why should you, of all people, take on the responsibility for an upcoming project?” 

 Prime yourself by developing answers in advance to these and other likely questions.

Your speech patterns

Powerless speech indicates a lack of status. On the other hand, power talk suggests elevated social status. To speak powerfully, avoid the “uhs.” Don’t repeat yourself. Make your speech and speech patterns crystal clear and direct.

Women routinely fall into “powerless speech patterns,” including showing hesitation, trivializing phrases such as “you know” or “pretty good,” and excessive politeness, for example, “Won’t you please close the door?”

The Halo Effect

The greater your attraction and popularity, the greater will be your perceived competence. Project tact, authenticity and self-confidence.

The more popular you are, the greater will be your perceived competence. The same is true about being more attractive. Popularity and attractiveness are positive indicators. 

Thanks to the halo effect, these factors enhance all other personal attributes, including perceived competence. 

Increase Your Popularity

Ingratiation – People like you more the more you compliment them. This is true even of obvious flattery.  

Opinion Conformity– People like people who agree with their opinions. But if you go overboard, you’ll come across as a toady.

Self-presentation – Most people intuitively know how to win the favour of others. Being kind and courteous is a great place to start. Underline the similarities you share with others.

Physical Attractiveness

Personal attractiveness has been a compelling factor for humankind since the Stone Age. 

Keep in mind how people perceive beauty.

Remember four factors when it comes to physical attractiveness:

For women, what counts most is physique – your weight vis-à-vis your proportions.

For men, what counts most is facial attractiveness.

When it comes to women’s faces, most people prefer features like full lips, big eyes, and a small nose.

The Power Of Symbols

Many perceptions rely on symbols. Status symbols such as a company car, a title on a business card, a frequent flyer card, and a corporate credit card will shape what people think about you and how they act toward you. You can control some of the powerful symbols that help define you in the world.

Habitus: The Visible Stuff You Project

People use habitus to determine someone’s status, and it’s the most reliable measure of a person’s competence. The habitus elements you choose will define you to the world. Your clothing, your lifestyle choices, and so on will affect how others perceive you and your competence.

Judging other people’s competence is hard; recognizing their incompetence is easier

Assessing other people’s competency is a useful skill. This assumes critical importance when choosing, for instance, a lawyer, a surgeon, or a financial expert.

Try to assess someone’s intelligence instead of competence because it is so challenging to do so. Competence is directly related to and indicated by intelligence.

How To Spot Intelligence

Highly intelligent people generally:

• Speak confidently and without hesitation.
• Maintain constant eye contact when speaking to others.
• Have a lot of confidence.
• Be vigilant and quick to respond.

The Intelligence Checklist

• Does the person ask intelligent questions?
• Can this person separate important from unimportant factors?
• When you present a particular issue that needs resolution, does he or she respond with the most logical, appropriate answers?
• Is the person able to consider all the possible options for resolving the issue?
• Can he or she properly weigh the pros and cons for each option?