To begin explaining how this trick of the mind, and trick of language works, I will first need to explain some things about some human behaviours.
Humans have two characteristics that make almost all humans vulnerable to a skilled salesman using Time perspective.
These characteristics are:
- Humans have amazing imagination!
- Most humans over-value what they own
The first One might hope needs no explaination, the second can seem a bit strange at first which is why luckily there are numerous studies done to see how far this goes.
Here are some examples :
- When individuals place a bet on a certain team in for instance a Football game, they are often ambivilent about which team to select between the two until they finally place their bet on one of the teams. From that moment on they tend to dramatically favor that team and show little hesitation in expressing their believes in that team’s win.
- Students given mugs in a research setting are given the opportunity to sell the mug. Other students are given the opportunity to buy the mug. On average, students will not take less than $7,12 for the mug they have taken possession of. On average, students will not pay more than $3,12 for the same mug.
- When students are given decorated mugs in return for filling out a questionnaire and other students are given a bar of Swiss chocolate, given the opportunity to trade, 9 out of 10 will stay with what they have.
Conclusion: Once you own something, you value it much higher than those who do not own it, even when you own it for as little as 10 minutes!
(source: Kevin Hogan)
I could go on and on about how people can experience time differently and how it effects decision making, for example how some people live in the past and tend to remember the bad choices they made, or how some people live in the future and tend to save up for things that aren’t important right now, but for the purpose of getting to the point fast I will just begin giving you an explaination of how much language can change your perception of time, and after that, some examples of how it is used and how you can use it yourself.
TIME AND LANGUAGE
To understand how the mind percieves time through language, I will use the word RUN as an example, so stick yourself in these Shoes while you allow yourself to notice where you will find yourself on your timeline:
“I am running”
“I ran”
“I was running”
“I have run”
“I had run”
“Having run…”
“I will run”
“I will have run”
“I will have had run”
Some of these sentences may not even be totally correct, but they are certainly effective when put to good use. Noticing yourself on your timeline you may find yourself in the past, further up your past, in the present, in the future and in the past of your future.
all options inbetween are also possible
EXECUTION OF THE TRICK
So what can a skilled salesman do with this knowledge using only language and your eyes on the price.
All your internal resources come from the past, otherwise you wouldn’t have them yet, and as we have learned, you value things more once you own something. So let’s get an example and get you to own it in your mind so you can access your resources to make sure you know it’s good.
For now imagine standing in a car dealership and see a car you like to buy and hear the car dealer say “When you will have had bought this car and you see yourself going for a green light and people look at you with envy because this is the car of your dreams, what cars have you already had that makes you know now, this is the car you want?”
There is no telling from a computerscreen how good your imagination is, but specially for a man looking at a car he likes, not much effort is needed to make him imagine owning it already and attaching some good feelings to it.
SOME MORE RANDOM EXAMPLES
“Imagining 2 years from now how you will have had won that tennis game we bet my new iPhone on, how do you feel now about passing up on the other bet we had where you could’ve won my TV?” Wanna play a game NOW?
“What was it you have experienced in the past so you have the resources now to know you will have solved this when you have all the time to love your future grandchildren?”
“If you could make this change for yourself, so you could STOP, having already made that change, and see yourself now, do you like the way you look? –Richard Bandler
“What will you have had done once you already done it?” -John La Valle
This ofcourse works best in specific situations, done verbally, by a skilled salesman or therapist, because you have watched television and know that how things are said with timing and feeling and inflection improves upon the impact.
All questions are welcome in the Reply / Comments section.
Practice, stay sharp and alert!
Love,
healthlogics