This week there is a promotion for The Brain Audit version 3.2, but there’s a place where it all began. And you can compare the progress over time.

Here is the link:
https://www.psychotactics.com/bonuses/brainaudit_old.pdf

Is giving better than receiving? Maybe not. If you've tried to give something to someone and they won't accept it, you know exactly how it feels. We're not talking about something creepy here. The stranger off the street is wary even if you're handing out $100 notes, as giving has to have some trust involved. Even so, receiving is highly underrated. Let’s find out why.

A random piece of advice isn't supposed to stay with you for years, and yet it does. In this episode we zig and zag into India (where I lived for a chunky part of my life) and then into New Zealand, where I had to start anew and with little or no help from anyone.

Let's say you're about to learn a new skill—and you don't.

You finish the course and you're still not quite anywhere as good as you hoped.

Is that your fault? Or the teacher's fault? Or is it 50:50?

Learn why so many of us struggle with skill acquisition and why mindset matters.

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P.S. How do you change your mindset? What can you learn from children?

Here are 21 articles on learning.

Why a simple fix can bring them back.

Most of us have products and services that solve many problems. The natural, and the seemingly logical way we go about talking about the product or service, is to make sure the client knows they're getting a great deal. However, this over-enthusiasm is precisely what causes clients to be confused, and leave.

Let's find out how to simply, and quickly get clients to keep reading your sales page.

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P.S. Interesting in learning more about —How To Write Your Sales Page (And The Biggest Mistakes)? 

Write every day. Write every day. Write every day.

We seem to hear a lot of that advice when we start off in writing. Yet, are we likely to be misunderstanding what the real meaning of "write every day" means?

Most of us believe that we need to write at least an article a day, or at least some chunky bit of content. And yet that level of having to write on a daily basis is precisely what would cause us to fail. Yes, as you'd expect, there is a way out.

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P.S.  Here are 27 Articles on —How To Keep Your Reader Locked Into Your Article

Why would clients be uncomfortable on Zoom?

They're your clients after all. Yet, time and time again we notice a reluctance on the part of the client.

—They turn off their video, and it's possible they don't have a photo either.
—They don't ask questions, despite you trying your best to get them to pitch in.

Zoom calls can often seem thankless, but there's a way to get clients extremely comfortable on Zoom.

Let's find out how.

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P.S. Here is a series on—Strategies On How To Start A Podcast.

Some days, you can't get yourself motivated. Yet on other days, you're working so hard that you're frying up much too quickly.

How do you keep a balance between getting yourself motivated and still not tipping over to the other side?

Some days seem to start not on Monday, but Wednesday.

You fully intended to get your planning going, but something got in the way and it looks like the week is slipping away from you.

What do you do to arrest this slide?

We bring Goldilocks to the rescue—that's what we do. Weird weeks show up all the time, but here's a system that gets you back on the rails.

P.S. Here are 21 Articles on Time Management
(You can read or listen to the articles)

Most people tend to tell you to be more productive.

Sales need to be doubled, you somehow aren't satisfied with the client numbers, and need a lot more. In short, it's this endless race towards a rather nutty goal.

Instead, how about a goal that allows you to waste more time? That throws you back to when you were 17 and not constantly trying to earn, learn or hustle your way through life. Productivity is important, but the goal isn't exactly what you're expecting.

Let's find more about the real goal of productivity.

It seems illogical to sell just 25 copies of a product when the product is just digital. 

Isn't it just a PDF, audio or video? Shouldn't we sell as many as we can? On the face of it, this logic of selling less seems seriously flawed. But is it?

Find out what did we found when we started selling less instead of selling greater numbers?

Have you ever wondered why people keep buying recipe books?

Your grandma had a dozen books, so did your parents, and now, even if you're not such a good cook, you're likely to have a few around the house. There are tens of thousands of recipes in blogs and on YouTube.

Even so, there's when yet another recipe book comes out, and there's still a market for it. Why is this the case? The reason is more straightforward than you'd expect because this factor of recipe books doesn't just apply to food.

If you've tried to learn a language, you're likely to have gone to a live course, bought several apps and some home study versions of the language. When the next "wonder language program" comes out, you'll still want to try it out. And all of these purchases of books, courses and training don't just apply to beginners.

An experienced writer, for example, will evaluate and possibly buy a new writing course or go to a writing event. Why is this the case, and how do you use this information to make your sales page better?

P.S. Find the entire Three Month Vacation Podcast Guide here.

Most of us believe we have to start a business. Hence, we get all fancy with business cards and websites. We talk about how we solve problems. And then—then we hear nothing. Clients should be rushing to avail of our products and services, but it's nothing. Why? Because the risk is too high. You and I are unknowns, remember? But what if you created something low-risk. Something low risk for you and just as low-risk for the client? Something like a doorway. Let's find out how you can get your foot in the door, shall we?

Everybody starts off with a plan, but shortly after that plan turns to custard. We should be able to realign ourselves and restart, but restarting seems to be extremely difficult.

Which is the quickest way to get back on course?
That’s what we’ll find out in this episode.

When I was 13 years old, my parents got involved in a court battle. I was past 40 when the issue was finally resolved. We don't see ourselves wanting to engage in high conflict.

Yet, there seems to be no way to avoid the tectonic forces of our world. No matter where you look online or offline, someone is continuously bashing the other side.

And often, that chaos spills over into our world.

Like it did with my parents. They had no intention of being sieged for over 25 years, and yet that's what happened. Tensions escalate beyond a point, original facts disappear, and conflict becomes a reality. Yet, all conflict isn't destructive.

There's a difference between High Conflict and Healthy Conflict.

The dangerous kind is when it's "us" vs "them", "good" vs "evil". That kind of conflict bestows arrogance and superiority. It layers on the rage, sometimes even dread. It's a state where almost everyone loses, unlike in Healthy Conflict, where disagreement doesn't soar and serves more as a way to understand each other and improve.

"High Conflict" is a book by Amanda Ripley, which kept me reading late at night. Typically, my eyes are on self-shut mode by 10 pm (since I wake up at 4 am), but this book was fascinating.

Plus, it tackles a topic that seems to swarm around us both on a personal and a societal level. Is there a way around High Conflict? That's what I set to find out.

The toughest part about creating bonuses is how time-consuming they can be, especially when you want to make them desirable.

Yet there is a method of creating extremely desirable bonuses without doing much at all. This is what this episode on “ creating bonuses out of thin air” is all about.

It may sound odd, but the bonus is often the tipping point for a client to buy your product or service.

And yet, by the time we are done with creating the product or service, we are too tired to work out what the bonus should be.

n this episode we look at two methods.

—One is a more traditional method called “bundling“, well the other is quite unexpected and requires very little work.

—A method called “Unbundling“.

Let’s find out how we can use both of these methods, or just one, to create bonuses that are extremely yummy.

We tend to think all is well with the world when no one complains.

Yet, most customers rarely complain. Instead, they just walk out of the door, without saying a word.

A silent customer is not necessarily an asset.

How can you get your customer to be a little more 'noisy'—and why you should start now.

What was the trigger for the Three-Month Vacation?
Why do we have workshops at random locations?

This is it—the second part in the two-part series of "how all these traditions started".

• How did the gold star show up in Psychotactics courses?
• How did we start sending chocolate across the world?

Here is a two-part series on how all of these traditions started.

It's rare that we don't learn lessons from a child.

Even so, I think we don't always pay closer attention to what they're saying. My two nieces have taught me a lot.

Here are a few nuggets of simple, yet intense wisdom.

Are you pro or anti-vaccine? Are you pro this or anti-that?

We seem to be pushed into one camp or the other and we end up getting ourselves in a tight corner. Is there a way to be part of a conversation and still neatly sidestep the argument?

When starting up, it's almost impossible to get clients.

Yet, there's a method that's almost fail-proof and gets the client interested in you, right away. What's more, this method not only gets you one job, but has the potential to get you back repeatedly.

The big surprise is that it doesn't work just when dealing with new clients, but it works amazingly well with current clients too. Want to get going? Well, here's what the checklist is all about.

The biggest problem with perfection is we feel we have to keep to the job until it's done. As logical as the idea sounds, it's always—yes, always—counterproductive. Instead, there's a method that's far superior, and quicker. Which allows you to reach even higher levels of satisfaction than you'd expect. All of this "perfection" can be achieved by understanding the "coats of paint" system. Ready for a quicker, faster road to "perfection?"

Many books, yes whole books, are dedicated to the pursuit of happiness. And yet, all it takes is a simple mind shift. Happiness isn't something we need to find, as it's something we feel all the time. Which begs the question: Are unhappy people choosing to be sad? Find out how to tap into instant happiness.

In a perfect world, you would be asked a straightforward question, and you'd give the answer that was expected of you. And most of the time, interviews on podcasts, radio or TV can be just as you imagined, or even better. Yet, there are times when the questions are awkward, or worse, boring.

What do you do under these circumstances? And there's a third situation too: where you're terrified.

All of us, will, at some point need to be in some kind of interview. It might not happen today, but it will occur at some point. When it does, this advice is likely to come in handy.

We often see overwhelm as a nameless, faceless monster. It seems to charge into our lives like some Godzilla and never wants to leave.

However, the moment we categorise the concept of overwhelm into sections, we realise we don't have to be powerless. Here's a trip into the three faces of overwhelm and how to beat it—or at least keep it at bay.

Sometimes we need to make big changes to our behaviour. Sometimes, it's just a little tweak.

In today's episode we look at three very tiny tweaks that I learned while listening to other podcasts. And yes, you are likely to find good value in these tweaks too.

Do Clickbait Headlines Work? Can a normal headline be just as powerful?

Clickbait headlines seem to be designed to get our curiosity. But what makes a clickbait headline so attractive in the first place? And how do we write “normal” headlines that are far superior in getting the attention of the client?

Let's find out in the podcast.

When is it beneficial to adopt a contrarian mindset?

What does it mean to be a contrarian? What is the concept of contrarianism?

Do you know why Tesla is such a big car? Think about it for a second. Tesla Motors only make electric cars. The bigger the car, the heavier it's going to be and the greater the drain on the battery.

So why make a big car?  Let's find out.

Which product should you pre-sell?
Should it be the $20 product or the $2000 one?

Let's find out what's involved and how you can systematically manage your pre-sell. 

Stage 1: Which products are the most important? Which are not?
Stage 2: Have we created a “separate section” for each of the vital products/services?
Stage 3: How can we create urgency and scarcity?

What is a mastermind mindset? How does a mastermind group work for courses, workshop and membership sites?

When we think of a mastermind mindset, we tend to isolate the ideas to a group of people. But what if you could use the very same concepts in online courses, workshops and even in membership sites?

Here are three steps to powerfully use mastermind concepts across the board in your business.

Learning is odd. It should be logical, even progressive. This is why we feel that we're bad at learning. But if we recognise what's really happening, we can move forward steadily.

In this series, we look at three sets of phenomena that I've personally encountered while learning.

You'd think you'd need to be someone great or at least do something wonderful to inspire others.

Yet, you're a source of inspiration. How do you inspire? It's remarkably simple —and here's a short piece on how you need to go about it.

We often go looking for a magical solution to help us write. And yet the magic is often found in the ordinary. How can seemingly repetitive advice help you become a consistently good writer? Let’s find out

When someone asks you what you do, what do you say? People tend to give a top-level answer. They say, "I'm a lawyer, a real estate agent, a fitness trainer". And while that information is descriptive, it's also extremely vague. It doesn't necessarily get clients to want to work with you right away and often they're not curious enough to ask for more information. How do you avoid being vague? You do so with the power of subsets. Subsets allow you to be extremely precise and in turn make the client want to know more, thus increasing the chances of working with you. Best of all, creating a subset is easy. Time to figure out how to create a subset and use it to your advantage, eh?

Does generosity have its limits? Let's say you decide to give away a lot of information to clients. How do you get them to come back to buy the rest of your information? Won't it overlap? Won't they get mad and demand a refund? Not necessarily. It all depends on how you go about about the free vs fee strategy. At Psychotactics, we give away hundreds of articles and an equal number of podcasts. We give away whole courses, reports and other goodies. And yet there are no shortage of buyers. How do you manage fee vs free? Let's find out in this episode.

When we think of writing, we automatically assume it's the act of sitting down at the computer and creating a new article, report or book. What we seem to miss is that there are other factors that come well before the writing process that drain us more than the writing itself. What's even more important, is that you're able to easily avoid those other factors—those minefields. While writing may still be difficult, there's no reason to make it even harder than it is. Let's find out how to remove the unnecessary obstacles in our way.

It's one thing to create information and quite another to know whether you've ticked all the boxes. When creating information, the client doesn't just seek information. Instead, she looks for other elements as well. Elements such as examples, entertainment etc, all of which need to be part of the product itself. In this podcast, we go back to front. Let's say you've already finished creating your information product. Can you go back and make tweaks to make it more complete, even more interesting? Sure you can and let's find out how.

When we start to build a list, we think of followers or fans, but all of these potential clients are elsewhere on YouTube, or Instagram or Facebook. We can't wait for the fans to swell up in number. Instead, you need to move quickly. Even if you have just four-five fans, you need to get them over to YOUR list, your website. How can you go about that task effectively? And how do you then get them to the very next stage, which is to buy something? List building isn't complex, but without these fundamentals in place, it's can be a massively wasted exercise. Find out how to avoid the pitfalls that a lot of people drop into and never seem to recover.

It's a line we've all heard, but as it does in life, the very same line plays an extremely important role in list building. When we think of building lists, we hope that some course will give us a silver bullet. That some coach will tell you which buttons to press, and you'll magically have a list. Or worse, we believe people who tell us that we can build our lists pretty much like a Jack and the Beanstalk story. Unfortunately for us, all of these promises are castles in the sand. The reason why we fail time and time again to build lists, is because we believe the dream-merchants and fail to pay attention to how a list—any list is built.

Imagine you've missed the sunrise for the past 300 days. Would that mean you'd give up on sunrise forever?We know the answer to the question, don't we? Even if we snoozed right a few hundred sunrises, it's possible for us to wake up on the 301st day and bask in the glow of a morning sun. And yet when it comes to projects, we often treat a stalled project as a form of failure. Why do we follow this crazy method of giving up? And how to we restart a stalled project?

In this second part, we go deeper into how it's not just the writing alone, but how a fixed formula can derail us. We often believe that if we've written 800 words in the past, the next article needs to be just as long. Which slows down your writing and often throws you completely off track. Find out why staying flexible is good for you as well as the reader.

Why does writing seem like a chore? It's easy to believe that we need more practice. But practice alone doesn't bring an article to life. A dull article, even when filled with lots of words, is still very boring. The problem lies in the misunderstanding that we need to write like authors. Authors and writers may be similar but most often are not. Being an author is often a gruelling task, and as a writer of articles, it's best to avoid that path. Here's how you go about it.

Did you finish the last book you bought? How about that last course? And if you're like me, you probably have at least two dozen things that you've bought—and still not finished. Well, there's a reason why. Somehow, our note taking gets in the way. We never seem to reach the finish line and we have a ton of books and courses to complete. Yet, what if there were a way to solve this problem? It's a method I use, and it's based (strangely) on boomerang behaviour. Here's how it works.

When clients leave, we automatically assume they say they aren't using the service or membership site. They give reasons why they're leaving, and it sounds logical to our ears. However, there are situations where clients almost never leave. And as you'd expect, it has all to do with community. Which is also why you don't leave your family, your friends and your dance group. How can we understand this concept of community better? And how can we make clients not only stay but benefit from community. Let's find out.

The 1000 true fans concept seems to follow a simple multiplication rule. If you have a thousand fans and they buy $100 worth of product in a year, you earn $100,000. Which sounds perfectly fine when you're doing the multiplication, but falls apart in reality? Where are the flaws in the 1000 fans concept? And what if we went down from 1000 to just one? Just one? As in "zero to one"? Let's find out.

Almost all of us will be asked, “what do you do?” And despite having to answer this question frequently, we struggle to create a powerful sense of curiosity with our answer. In short, the elevator pitch seems to fall flat. What makes it flat and how can we easily fix the problem?