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Nobody knows what skill to learn right now. Do you learn AI? Do you learn coding? Do you learn marketing? Am I wasting my time if I go to school while everyone else is vibe coding apps they'll never get traction on? Do I start a YouTube channel? What about a substack? Should I even try getting a job or should I build my own thing? There is so much opportunity right now, and I'm sure you've heard that a billion times before, but since there is so much opportunity, it just paralyzes more people than ever and into not doing anything because you feel like if you start learning one thing, it'll just become irrelevant in one to two years. However, there is one skill that will never go out of style. It is a meta skill. And if you learn it, it simply increases the power of every other skill that you learn, and it allows you to learn those skills much faster. And that skill is called human nature. Because if you understand how the mind works, what makes it tick, what makes it pay attention, what makes it take action, then you can really make any business successful. You can work your way into new opportunities. You can make friends and influence people. You can navigate through life with elegance and grace, because you are no longer a slave to your mind, but a master of it and a master of others. And if you want to build your own thing, how else are you going to succeed outside of a job when humans are the ones with the money, the resources, the opportunities that are going to support you? How else are you going to get paid if. If another human with money doesn't see you as valuable enough to pay? And even if your goal is to get a job and not do your own thing, how are you going to get your dream job if you don't position yourself as valuable to the employer? But the question is, how do you learn something as intangible as human nature? So in this video, that's what I hope to provide. I hope to provide the steps and principles that you can apply today that will give you a competitive advantage against everyone else who is racing to succeed as fast as possible because they think AI will somehow save them from their lack of experience. So we're going to start with dissecting the anatomy of human nature and how to exploit it. Now, you may not like the word exploit here, but we'll get to that and what it means to do this unethically or ethically. Now, there are eight human desires. There's survival, life, enjoyment, social acceptance, sexual companionship, freedom from fear, comfort and clarity, perceived status and safety of tribe. We're going to condense all of these into what I call the three tensions. These are the three psychological tensions that if you know how to hit, you can get people to pay attention. And you can position yourself or your work or your writing or your speaking or your social media posts or your landing pages or products as valuable. This is a meta skill. It applies to everything. And then after that, we're going to actually make that actionable with the five psychological levers that you can actually pull and apply to your speaking, your writing, everything that you do on a daily basis. And if you practice those five things, you'll be unstoppable. As hyperbolic as that sounds now, the mind is a story engine. That's what humans can't help but pay attention to. And that's what separates us from robots. Because robots are useful for utility. Because nobody would care, aside from the DMV workers, if the DMV was completely automated and made efficient. Who in their right mind looks forward to standing in a long line for hours just to get a new picture for your driver's license? It just doesn't make sense. People, people want to get rid of this. And it's the same with fast food or riding in an Uber or a taxi. Nobody likes when the cashier gets your order wrong. Nobody likes riding in a dirty back seat while someone you don't know asks about your day simply because they want you to tip them more money. So let the robot solve utility. That way humans can abstract out to meaning, purpose and narrative. Humans love stakes. Our chest gets tight when their team is about to lose in the final inning of a baseball game. Humans love novelty. We travel across the world to dine in a five star restaurant. So mastering human nature is about mastering story, storytelling, narrative. And I'm not talking about writing a novel. I'm talking about like the structure of reality in a sense. So I'm not gonna teach you how to write a short story. I'm going to teach you the principles of value creation to get people to pay attention, to position what you have to offer as valuable, and to get them to take action on it. Be that to pay you to change their own beh or to just get what you want, which we'll go over now. If you understand these principles that we're going to go over, you will write better, speak better, create better products, attract more customers, make more friends, and understand how to create value for others, thus increasing the value of yourself. So in essence, I'm teaching you marketing, sales and how to influence people, all in One go. And I genuinely don't think you'll understand the importance of this until you actually implement it, which most people won't. I made a video, I think like three years ago on the same topic and for the people that actually understand this, this and what I'm saying here, and see the patterns across all the different industries, it is completely life changing. It is a completely different frame from how you operate within the world. And I'm genuinely convinced that this is the frame that most successful people have. And unsuccessful people simply just can't see through it. So the mind has three pressure points and if you press any one of them, attention, them giving you attention is almost involuntary. That is if you're speaking to a person who is prone to that specific tension or pressure point. And if you press all three of them, you have a grip on someone that logic alone can't break. So I want you to keep these three tensions in mind whenever you interact with someone or go to write something or anything where you're interacting with another person. Writing on social media is interacting with a bunch of people at once. Just hold it in your mind until it sticks in there. Now the first tension is the survival tension, because the mind is a story engine, but it's also a set of survival strategies. We're in a constant subconscious threat detection mode because we still have the same wiring as our hunter gatherer ancestors. We don't want to die, obviously, so we desire safety and solutions to problems. And if you can make someone aware of a problem, then provide a solution. That's sales in a nutshell and storytelling in a nutshell. So when I personally talk about storytelling, again, I'm not talking about writing a novel, I'm talking about problem solution. That's what it. And the in between, the transformation in between problem, transformation, solution. But the thing with the survival tension is that safety isn't just life or death situations. It can be a very small problem that is amplified into a big problem. And these problems can be financial or social or even just a missed opportunity. Right, fomo. Because that gives you better chances at survival. Your mind is constantly looking for something that gives them a better chance at survival. And in today's world, that doesn't mean like necessarily better shelter or better home. It means better skills, better knowledge. So you can stay on top of, let's say, AI. If someone on Instagram is like, oh, I have the latest, this Claude skill that you can download and it does this, this and this, then you feel the sense of missed opportunity because you don't use Claude the same way and you feel like you need to learn that. And the thing there is that it could genuinely be helpful. But you as a person, to protect your own mind from being manipulated, is you have to ruthlessly maintain your priorities and your values and your goals, because that Claude skill may not have anything to do with your priorities or goals and you may get sucked in and distracted. That's the definition of distraction. So a few examples of this well worded examples of the survival tension illustrated as a problem or something that you would say I guess is one. You wake up at 30 and realize you've been living on autopilot and the gap between who you are and who you want to be is so large that change feels impossible. 2. You spend a decade building someone else's dreams just to find that they don't care about you at all. 3. There are people dumber than you making 10 times more than you because they don't think about the risk. And as you may be able to tell, I've written those before as social posts and they grab attention because of this exact tension. Now, a quick aside and a quick self promotion. If you want to build your personal brand in 30 days and learn the AI skills that you actually need, the next content bootcamp starts in just a few days. And this will teach you everything that you need to know about personal branding content. How to write, how to generate compelling ideas that actually allow you to grow and get clients or just new opportunities, even new jobs. So if you want to learn a skill that compounds for the rest of your career, consider enrolling with the link in the description. Now, the second tension is the identity tension. And this comes after survival, because it's deeply intertwined with survival, because survival goes much deeper than physical survival. Animals try to reproduce the information in their genes through physical reproduction. Humans also do that. But we also try to reproduce the information in our consciousness through ideology speaking, socialization. That's all we're doing. It's just all survival. This is why you feel threatened when someone threatens your identity when they say, oh, your sports team sucks and you're too identified with the sports team. And when they lose, you're on the verge of fighting someone. Or you do get in a bar fight because of it. Or when someone says something bad about being a Republican or a Democrat or a Christian or an atheist or anything else. Any ideology, any set of concepts that you hold as a part of yourself in your little mind, you get threatened by that and you feel the response as if someone's holding a knife to your throat, even though they're not. Humans desire a tribe because it helps with survival and you identify with that tribe. Humans desire status, they want belonging because again, in your home, if you rebel against your parents, they're going to kick you out potentially if they're not open minded. So you have to conform to their values and beliefs and their rules. This is also why you choose to be anti AI or pro AI, which is the new religion. And you argue into oblivion about it all day on social media with nothing to show for it. You get nowhere. You can regurgitate how AI is rotting your brain, or you can test that theory against reality and actually educate yourself on it. But that's not the point of this. That's a way to make yourself unsusceptible to people targeting your identity tension. Because every time you argue about the anti AI stuff or pro AI stuff, you are a slave to someone else's ideals and you do not seek truth, you seek hype. And you have not created your own mind. So that's the identity tension. And we'll learn how to target it. We're just going over what it is for now. But the third tension is the progress tension. So there's survival, identity, progress, and they each build on top of each other. People kind of evolve through the stages and by now you may be able to see the pattern which is Maslow's hierarchy, the stages of ego development, spiral dynamics, developmental psychology in general. People at different levels of mind have different things that tap into their psychology and make them pay attention because they see it as important. So first, people need safety and comfort. Second, they need belonging and status. And once they solve those things, which preferably you're helping them do, because you're a value creator, you're not a manipulator. You're not exploiting human nature to be unethical and just make a bunch of money. You're exploiting it, so to say. So you can help people rise through these stages. That's the ethical and meaningful version of this. And once they go through those first two stages, third, they crave deeper meaning, purpose and experience. And the complex thing about humans is that you can desire any of these at different times, right? AI can't just pin down exactly where you are. That's why it's unique. That's why it's a difficult skill to learn and practice because you're essentially able to read people's minds when you get it right. But people can desire these at any time. You can desire meaning and purpose, but if you're in a very stressful situation in your life or you lose a lot of money at one time, then you're going to regress down to the survival stage and survival tension is going to hit you a lot harder and you're going to be a lot more susceptible to people trying to exploit you. And for creators specifically, or personal brands, or people who are trying to do their own work online, or the writers or the speakers, or the writers or the speakers, the problem that I see is that people try to speak too much to the meaning and purpose crowd without understanding that 90% to 95% of people are not only beginners, but in the survival and identity stages, you have to work them up the ladder. If you want your content to be seen, then usually your topics revolve around the survival tension and the identity tension, but then your products and your lead magnets and deeper in your funnel. If you're a value creator, so to say, and not just an influencer trying to sell a weird product, I don't know. But you have to help them solve their lower level problems first so that then you can help them with where you're experienced in which is the meaning, the purpose, the spirituality, the fulfillment, all of that fun stuff, the deep philosophy. And this all sounds great, but what do you actually do with this information? How does it actually make you a better writer or speaker or businessman or husband or wife or just person, valuable person in general? How do you practice this skill? So now we're going to learn how to pull psychological levers to get what you want. And I want to start with just a quote that I love. I honestly pulled this from one of my previous newsletters. I don't know if I wrote it or if someone else did. So I hope that I'm not just stealing someone's quote here. But the modern information environment is breaking our ability to think. And most people don't even notice. Essays might be one of the last forms of content that actually develops your capacity to make sense of reality. And I say this because you can read all the books on persuasion. You can study psychology and behavior textbooks, you can think, you know a lot about why humans think and act the way they do. But if you have not tested that knowledge against reality, then you do not know what you're talking about. You need feedback. You need to put something out into the world and see how people respond. You need to write, you need to speak, you need to create a product and sell it. Entrepreneurship equals self improvement because the market and reality become your harsh Mentor. This is why I recommend writing so much. Because not only is writing clear thinking, you have to refine and clarify your thinking as you write it on the page. But there's a dual mechanism. When you post it, you get direct feedback as to how valuable it was. And in order for it to be valuable, it has to be attention grabbing and persuasive. You have to practice and refine the skill of human nature. So for now, understand that when I say you're pulling psychological levers or you're exploiting human nature, what I'm really saying is that you need to learn how to persuade. And persuasion is only as unethical as the person that wields the tool. It's the same with any other tool. A tool like money or AI is neutral until it's put in the hands of the stupid or the smart, or the unethical or the ethical. So someone who resides at a lower level of mind in survival mode, and all they can see is what is going to allow them to pay the bills this month, they're going to do anything to make the that happen. And they will inevitably use persuasion in unethical ways. Since their sole priority is money rather than meaning or truth. Because they don't feel comfortable financially, they will manipulate and scheme to acquire the money until those values fundamentally shift. So in my eyes, it's very important that you develop yourself. You pursue personal development and truth so you can reach this higher level of mind. And I don't say that to say that the lower level of mind is bad. Most people just don't have control over it. I think that is a great fundamental thing to pursue in your life so that you have a more positive impact on your customers or your readers or whoever it may be. So with that said, know where you stand, right? I'm not here to tell you how to use persuasion. That's you're going to use it however you plan to use it. Now, there are five psychological levers that pull one or more of the three tensions we just discussed. So you create tension first. This is what gets people to pay attention when you write, speak, post or sell. And then you offer a solution that preferably changes behavior in a positive way. Now, the first lever, psychological lever, is name the threat which aligns with the survival tension. Because before anyone cares about a solution, like your video or product, etc. They need to be aware of the problem. And there are five levels of awareness, and these are from Eugene Schwartz. The first level is unaware, so they don't know they have a problem and you make them aware of it by just naming it. Level two is problem aware, so they know there's a problem but don't know a solution exists. So you just name the olution here. Level three is solution aware, so they know a solution exists, but they're comparing options and don't know about your unique solution. And level four is product aware, so they know about your solution, but they need proof. Objection. Handling testimonials and the rest. And then level five is most aware, so they simply haven't implemented it and need a little nudge over the edge. Now, when I create these videos, I always start by naming the problem. Literally go back to the very start of this video. What do I say? Nobody knows what skill to learn right now. And what this does is it allows people to self qualify. Like, do I know what skill to learn or do I not know what skill to learn? And it's also the start of the story, because when you start a story like a novel, you're usually in this place of tension and then it slowly gets resolved and they go on an adventure and then they reach the conclusion. So the best way to actually learn this is to just look and notice it. On social media, when people make a post, I guarantee that most of the posts you read have a problem that's implied or just directly stated. This is the most powerful thing you can do. It's so simple. But just start with the problem in your writing speaking posts at the start of your product, you need to frame the situation. When you're trying to convince your wife that you want to go and have a night out with the boys, you start with a problem first and that will open them up much more to hearing your solution, which in your case is going out with the boys. The problem could be, oh, you haven't had a night to yourself in a long time, you want to watch Grey's Anatomy, and you can just have a chill night alone. And then you continue on with the persuasive argument that you're making. Now, another practice you can do here is to just name five problems you've experienced in your life. Seriously do that. Think of the problems that you've experienced and boom, now you have problems. Five content ideas that you can go and post and they're going to be a lot better than if you just thought of them from scratch. And towards the end I'll mention it, but I actually created a prompt that acts as like a persuasion coach slash teacher slash writer. So if you just run the prompt, it'll ask you what you want. And you can practice with the prompt. And it'll help teach you human nature and persuasion a lot faster. So the second psychological lever is mirror the identity, which aligns with the identity tension because you identify with a group or tribe without realizing it. Like being a morning person or being a coffee drinker, or being a Christian, atheist, Republican, Democrat, anti AI, pro AI, or any of the other ideologies or religions we like to adopt as a part of ourselves. Now, as an example, here's a YouTube video that got 3.9 million views, and the title is you're not forgetful. My system for memorizing everything. So it quite literally packages everything we've discussed into eight words. Problem, identity, solution. And there are so many different ways to pull the identity lever, but my favorite way, and the one that I go to, is I just start with if you are or if you're. And that's it. If you're lazy, if you're broke, if you're unhappy, if you're a writer, that hits the problem tension or the survival tension and the identity tension in one lever that you can pull. And all of those. If you're lazy, if you're broke, if you're unhappy, they're the start of four almost viral social posts, or the start of a public speaking gig, or the start or title of a YouTube video. And by the way, if you have interests or skills or knowledge that people already talk about online, I'll teach you my system for building an audience and a personal brand and writing compelling content that you actually resonate with in the content bootcamp that starts in five days. So link in the description. I would enroll before then. I'll teach you my system for building an audience, a personal brand, and writing compelling content that you actually want to post and write about your interests in the content bootcamp. And that starts in a few days. I don't know exactly when because I don't know when this video is going out, but I would encourage enrolling before then. Now, the third psychological lever is to exclude people. And this is the identity tension deepened. So here you just want to explicitly name who it is not for, because exclusion creates that sense of belonging and it pushes people to pick a side. Now, this is best done after you mirror the identity from step two, which draws a line filtering out the wrong people who weren't going to support you anyways. So a few examples, and you've probably heard something like this before, but this isn't for people who want to try to get in shape. This is for People tired of their own excuses and ready to completely change their life. Example two, if you're looking for a productivity hack or morning routine, you're in the wrong place. Example three, this isn't for people who want a dinky side hustle. We're building a real business here. So I think you get that. And it leads to psychological lever number four, which is paint the transformation. And this aligns with the progress tension. So essentially, mastering human nature is about changing people's lives for the better, hopefully, because that's how you build your life's work. You become a massive value creator. And this is how you create value for other humans, or at least something that's perceived as valuable. You hone in on a purpose, and that purpose revolves around solving a problem for as many people as you can. Persuasion is simply how you get people on board with that. So so far we've captured attention by naming the threat and filtered out those who don't match by mirroring the identity. And now we create desire by simulating the future. So again, you can probably see at the beginning, the introduction of this video. I hit all of these in a short amount of time. It was like three minutes. And so why does this work? Well, one, the problem catches attention and then the solution or the desired outcome or the end of the transformation causes you to actually experience the feeling of having that thing. That's what the mind or the brain does. The same neural circuitry fires when you imagine an experience as when you actually have it. They're the same. Now, again, if this doesn't sound too practical, even though it's very practical, it's just hard to do unless you have something to apply it to. So if you aren't posting on social media or giving public talks or trying to get a promotion and trying to persuade your boss, you need a vessel to practice this, right? And in most jobs, you aren't in the position to do that because you don't have the direct feedback from reality. You aren't an entrepreneur. So if you want a way to practice it right now, again, I have the prompt link in the description. You just pop that into AI and then it can be your coach or your teacher or any of those things. And it will guide you through it. And you can use that while writing posts or newsletters or scripts or while you're preparing for a talk, really anything while you're writing a book. And I think it's pretty dang cool and helpful. Now, psychological lever number five is to just give the first step. And now this is the progress tension activated? To an extent, because the reason most people don't change is because they don't believe they can actually do the thing they don't have. Clarity, the comfort of their current life is more desirable than the discomfort of doing what it takes to solve the problem you're offering them a solution to. So in a tweet this looks like don't overhaul your life overnight, just go to bed an hour earlier. So in a product, this looks like making the first step so stupidly simple that they just can't avoid getting results. That's what makes your product valuable to them is time to result. And another interesting reason why this is just so powerful is that it causes the zeigarnic effect to kick in, which is that the brain hates uncompleted tasks. So when someone starts something or think about starting something, they can't help but complete it. And that's it. The more you practice this, the more you practice human nature, the more it impacts every other skill that you acquire. And when people or you go and learn the latest high value skills, essentially if it's a good skill, you're just learning a lower layer of human nature. So if you learn the meta skill itself and practice all of this, practice everything from that frame or from that lens, you can pick up almost any high value skill and do it better than everyone else because the skills are going to continue to evolve. There's going to be new skills every single year that you're going to have to keep up with. And this is how you actually learn those faster and become valuable at them. Because again, the people who have the money that you want to support your work and the opportunities and the resources are humans. So you need to study them. So that is it. Thank you for watching. If you want to start a personal brand, build an audience, learn how to write compelling content in your own voice, and find your unique voice. The link to the content bootcamp is in the description that starts in a few days. There's also the prompt in the description and a few other things that you might like, so check those out, like and subscribe before you leave. Thank you for watching.
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