Blog posts covering Knowledge, Motivation and Productivity | Get Lasting Results with Mike

Hugh Ranks Pep Talk – How to Analyze Political Language

Get Results: true education comes from questioning what your told

Hugh Rank may be better known for his model of persuasion, but he did also come up with the Pep talk, a framework for analysing political language.

It’s particularly important to be aware of the tricks politicians might employ to take control of the population through a form of mind control, manipulating the masses to their will.

Rank believed arming people with this framework might help protect against such trickery.

When you’re next watching the news or some political broadcast, look out for this framework being employed. Question politician’s and media’s motives, and pay particular attention to the language being used. For example, if you’ve listened to some of the Brexit debate lately, you may have heard terms such as

“we risk falling off a cliff edge”,
“into the abyss”,
“storm clouds are gathering”,
“we’ll be left in the wilderness”,

Now, consider the intent behind such emotive language. What are politicians (and the media) trying to get you to do, and what is their intent?

Whether you believe it’s likely to be true or not, what such language is attempting to do is influence your opinions, mess with your emotions, and stir a reaction in you. It’s trying to stoke up fear, largely based on nothing but opinion and assumptions rather than fact and evidence. This isn’t the Pep talk framework in full effect, but some elements are at play here.

However, you have seen the Pep talk at work, in all its glory, during the war on terror, particularly after 911.

The “pep talk” calls for committed collective action. Emotional intensity and group bonding are the two prominent features of a “pep talk” which is made up of the following components…

(1)the Threat; (2) the Bonding; (3) the Cause; (4) the Response.

1. The Threat

Rank believes persuaders are often problem-makers using the following tools:

words – warning, name-calling, horror stories
images – atrocity pictures to intensify threat to the group by evil other

Persuaders use predictable fears – “We fear that someone stronger (DOMINANCE) will take away our life (DEATH), our possessions (DESTRUCTION), our territory (INVASION), our freedom (RESTRICTION); or that someone else has more (INJUSTICE); or that a human system will break down (CHAOS).

There are six categories of fears;

Death and destruction
Invasion
Restriction
Dominance
Injustice
Chaos

The threat may be direct and tangible (such as traffic gridlocks, widespread power outages, computer network failures, mob riots, food shortages, and contamination) or the threat may be indirect and intangible (such as inflation, bank failures, devaluation of currency). But, in both cases, the harmful effects are, nevertheless, real and felt.

In political campaigns, the incumbents usually stress how well the systems work; the opposition party charges that the system should work better and that there should be change, and reform.

2. The Bonding

Hugh Rank believes there are three basic themes in bonding actions, which are the same, no matter what threats or causes are involved, these are:

Unity – “united we stand”
Loyalty – “be true to your…”
Pride – “we’re number one…”

Such bonding activities relate to past and present and involve organised group activities such as teams, parades, picketing, chanting, singing, and/or wearing uniforms, these are used for gathering and keeping the group together and ready for action.

Once the group has bonded a structure and organisation comes into being. Individuals often gain self-esteem from joining such groups, having roles to play and jobs to protect.

So bonded groups need a sense of movement and progress, often obtained by introducing new threats and new causes.

3. The Cause

Rank says a cause involves a sense of duty to defend someone from a threat and gain a benefit.

People working on a cause often increase their own self-image and have a sense of moral superiority and self-righteousness. They basically come from the view that “we are informed and good: they are ignorant and evil”

Causes often conflict, sometimes directly, more often indirectly. Opponents often disagree on what the main issue is. Dominance, or power, is sometimes the “hidden agenda.” Related causes often cluster, so group-bonding attempts often overlap.

Cause rhetoric can sometimes be controlled, like a thermostat, by organized groups, but sometimes gets out of control, like wildfire, because individuals may internalise a strange mix of messages and respond in violent ways.

It’s our Duty … Obligation … Responsibility … Mission … Job … Work … Task
to Defend … Protect … Guard … Save … Help … Shield … Safeguard … Aid … Serve
the … Nation … Country … Homeland … People … Workers … Common Man … Poor … Oppressed … Children… Unborn … Future… Animals …. Environment
… from a threat and gain a benefit:
If the Threat is: DOMINATION
the benefit is: Victory … Triumph … Success … Conquest … Control … Sovereignty … Mastery … Superiority … Dominion … Supremacy
If the Threat is: DEATH & DESTRUCTION
the benefit is: Peace … Security … Safety … Stability … Tranquility … Calm
If the Threat is: INVASION
the benefit is: Territory … Country … Homeland … Fatherland … Birthright … Community … Inheritance … Neighborhood
If the Threat is: RESTRICTION
the benefit is: Freedom … Liberty … Independence … Choice … Liberation … Emancipation … Autonomy … Self-determination
If the Threat is: INJUSTICE
the benefit is: Justice … Equality …Right … Fairness … Balance … Retribution … Revenge … Vengeance
If the Threat is: CHAOS
the benefit is: Order … Prosperity … Progress … Abundance … Plenty … Growth … Efficiency … Honesty … Ability … Integrity

Rank says that duty, defense, and altruism are the key concepts. The basic concept of a “cause” can be expressed in the following formula:

A “cause” involves a sense of duty to defend someone from a threat and gain a benefit.

4. The Response

Effective cause group rhetoric usually identifies specific actions to be taken by the receptive audience. Often, an urgent plea is used, together with some common triggering words.

Start – let’s go, move, start or passively – rest, stasis, indecision, or inaction
Fight – struggle
Endure – keep on, hold on, stand fast, stick to it
Change – redirect, transform, channel, convert.

If the Threat is:	Key “Cause” words:	Response sought:
DOMINANCE	Victory, Success	Fight (or) Stop
DEATH OR DESTRUCTION	Security, Safety	Win (or) Stop
INVASION	Home, Country	Keep out (or) Get out
RESTRICTION	Freedom, Liberty	Free (or) Ban
INJUSTICE	Justice, Equality	More (or) Less
CHAOS	Efficiency, Honesty	Keep (or) Change
DAMNATION	Virtue, Goodness	Save (or) Keep

This is the outline of Ranks Pep Talk, it’s difficult to find much about it on the internet, his book by the same name is available on Amazon, and although, I haven’t read it, other than on his website, many years ago, it’s an intriguing subject, and as relevant today as it’s ever been.

Improve Your Advertising Effectiveness

Get Results: Marketing is about providing the right offer, to the right personal in the right place at the right time

Most advertising by small businesses is ineffective and simply a waste of money.

However, advertising is essential if you’re going to succeed. So here are a few points to consider for making your advertising effort effective.

Be clear about what you’re trying to achieve.
Advertise to the right people, at the right time, in the right place.
Understand what advertising can and can’t do.
Hire someone who is skillful to write your ad and someone equally skilled to design it.
Make sure your advert tries to do just one thing. More messages simply confuse and dilute your main point.
Don’t try to sell everything to everyone, segment your audience and sell one thing to each.
Put enough money to run your ad enough times, in enough places, with enough frequency, over a long enough period for people to notice it, and notice it again.
know it’s not enough to shout at people to grab attention, such you have to stand out in some way, but you need to go further to hold their attention long enough to deliver your sales message.
Understand that it’s not enough to tell people just the facts.
Understand that advertising doesn’t work by simply making rational argument, you need to engage your audience emotionally, if you’re going to get them to take action.

Top 7 Business Essentials

get results: a satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all — get results: satisfied customer

I was recently contemplating, what are the most important aspects of running a business. Here in order of importance, is what I have come up with..

1. Add value

Provide something of value that people are willing to pay you for, after all, if you’ve nothing that people want, regardless of how much you might like your offering, it’s a non-starter. Find a solution to a problem, something that scratches an inch, so to speak. Find a need, find a want, and work out a solution to solve it.

Become a good deal maker. Middle men leverage their resources to help both creators and customers. They bridge the gap in such a way as to provide value to other parties.

Win-win situations are the best for sustainability, for customers, suppliers and partners. If you’re not providing some benefit to any of these parties, you’ve got a limited shelf life.

Find gaps in markets. Where are existing solutions falling short?

Use and combine existing solutions to create even more value. My photography business brings together makeup artist and photographer to provide makeover photoshoots. It adds value to the existing propositions of both services.

An effective business person, successfully executes the promised value proposition from sourcing through to production/service to final output.

2. Have the right mindset

Be Motivated

Find and maintain motivation so that you take action and follow through.

Believe in what you’re doing or trying to achieve. But always keep number one in this list in mind.

Become self aware. Understand why you do what you do and don’t do what you don’t do.

Initiate momentum. Progress from a standing start into something meaningful. Once you make a start inertia will build and make things easier.

Take responsibility for actions and outcomes. No blaming others and complaining that this or that isn’t working out for you. Develop a can-do attitude.

Be resourcefulness, make use of yours and other people’s resources and make it happen!

Learn to be able to shift perspective. Re-framing how you think about something can often change your performance, because thoughts lead actions. Most of our beliefs are built on shaky ground, built from assumptions and inferences, rather than facts and evidence. I love to use quote graphics as a way of looking at something from fresh perspective.

Be committed to what you’re doing. Burning bridges, means you’re forced to give full commitment to a particular course of action. I’m not particularly advocating this extreme approach, but if you’re forced down one path, you’re likely to find a way, even if the road ahead is a bumpy one.

Develop a strong work ethic. You’ve got to be prepared to put the work in if you’re going to succeed. Sure you can look to make things easier, by working smarter, but the more you’re prepared to put into something, the more you’re likely to get from it.

Embrace change and uncertainty. Change and uncertainty presents uncomfortable risk for many, particularly if they live from hand to mouth or with little margin for error, in terms of indebtedness. From an evolutionary standpoint we’re hard wired to resist situations that present uncertainty, because our ancestors may have mistakenly wandered into the path of a dangerous predator in years gone by, possibly resulting in loss of life. These days, we don’t live with such life threatening consequences if we get things wrong, but we still fear any threat to the status quo, in much the same way.

Always try to overcome fear and inner conflict, because these feelings will inevitably hold us back from making progress. Often the fear is greater than the reality.

Pay attention to your coping strategies. Coping strategies are designed to prevent cognitive dissonance, but often we use them as excuses not to follow through. I call them coping excuses, because we justify to ourselves why we do or don’t do something, even if it’s not really the right thing.

Replace bad habits with good ones. Bad habits are hard to break, and often it’s easier to replace them with good habits.

Be Productivity

Stay focused. It’s so easy to get distracted by the new shiny thing, but staying focused and maintaining progress is so important. Know where you’re going and measure progress against this. Be a meaningful specific rather than a wandering generality as Zig Ziglar used to say.

Be organised and work against a plan of action. Having a system to work within makes daily activities routine and habitual, and as a result much more likely to be done efficiently. The more you do things the better you get at them. This advice comes with a caveat though, don’t stifle creativity. Routine and organisation, is a left brain activity, creativity is a right brain activity, and it’s hard to keep switching between the two.

Improve problem solving and decision making. All life is about solving problems and making decisions and the better you can get at these, the more successful you will be.

Utilise IQ, EQ, talent and skill. Play to your strengths, improve and work at making them better, and use them to your advantage. You are uniquely you, so make the most of what you’ve got. We all have something.

Find the best way things can be done, not just the best way you can do them. Be a master of what you know, and an apprentice of what you don’t know. The moment you think you know it all, is the moment you stop listening and learning. Take the scientific approach and look to disprove your hypothesis, rather than falling into the trap of confirmation bias, where you look to confirm what you believe, while ignoring or rejecting anything that runs counter to them.

Knowledge acquisition

Find reliable sources of accurate information. Don’t be embarrassed to admit you are still learning. Life has something to teach us every day, even if it’s how not to do something. Always be learning.

Employ experts to help you. Don’t expect to do everything yourself, use the expertise and passions of other people to help your business. Get skilled employees, partners and suppliers to grow your business. Get others to do the things you don’t like to do, this underlines the point I previously highlighted about the importance of improving self awareness.

3. Master the art and science of Marketing and sales

Always be marketing and building your brand.

Think long term over short term.

Build your reputation, and influence what people say about you when you’re not there.

4. Understand your Financials

Financial literacy is essential to business success.

Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity.

Understand the importance of cash flow and the difference between it and profit and why you can go out of business even if you’re making a profit.

Study your profit and loss figures.

Use financial info for decision making.

Remember there are only 2 ways to make more profit, either by selling more goods and services (volume) or by making more profit per £ of sales.

There are only 3 ways to get more sales; by getting more customers, increasing transaction volume or by increase transaction frequency.

Keep costs down. They only rise if more is being spent per £ of sales or sales are increasing therefore increasing costs (volume).

Know lifetime value of customers and use this knowledge to work out your marketing budget.

5. Have direction

Be a meaningful specific rather than a wandering generality as Zig Ziglar used to say.

Have a clear vision and goal to give you a strong sense of direction, otherwise you’ll by like a rudderless boat, being dragged around by the tides of circumstance.

Develop a definite plan of action and strategy, but build in room for flexibility, because sometimes things come along we could never have anticipated, and we shouldn’t reject them because they don’t fall perfectly in line with what we were intending to do. Just be wary we’re not being pulled unnecessarily and unproductively off course with no benefit.

Work on the business not in it. Don’t lose yourself in the day to day stuff, you’ve got to keep one eye on the big picture at all times.

Be ahead of the demand curve not behind it. Otherwise you’ll have to work harder to maintain income, because of the downward pressure on prices later in products life cycle.

6. Future-proof yourself

Disrupt your own business model before others do. Technological advancement is so rapid these days, you’ve got to keep an eye out for major shifts in your industry. The music and film industries have endured major industry shifts over recent years, and they won’t be the last to do so.

Innovate. Always be look to be better, faster, be more convenient, provide better quality, and add more functionality to the value you provide.

Demand continuous improvement, from yourself and your team.

Consider multiple income streams to hedge and spread risk. Having your eggs in one basket is a dangerous game to play in such a fast moving and changing environment.

If you’re not progressing you’re falling behind, so drop the idea of maintaining the non-existent status quo.

Always be doing SWOT analysis. SWOT which stands for strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats is a great tool for analysing your business. If you pay particular attention to the threats your business faces, you have a chance to turn these into opportunities, and disrupt your competitors.

Use cost benefit analysis to weigh options.

Use Decision matrix when considering options, so that you fully analyse all the variables and attributes in play.

7. Be a good Leader

Lead your team.

Inspire employees.

Use a carrot over stick approach.

Sell your vision to your employees. Get them enthused by your passion.

Encourage contributions from employees. Two minds or more are often better than one. They give you an opportunity to see things from a different perspective, from someone with different life and work experiences than yourself, and this can only be a good thing to tap into.

So there you have it, hope you get some value from this post, please share with anyone you think will benefit from reading it.

Check out our business guide for more information.

Check out more business related posts here.

Healthy Eating: Garlic Butter Prawns

Here in the Turner household, we’re still trying to eat healthy, by avoiding eating processed food and sticky to real food, and not eating too much.

The recipe for today is Garlic butter prawns.

Ingredients include:

Olive oil
Butter
Garlic
Onion
Paprika
4 Chopped fresh cherry tomatoes
Salt+pepper or vegetable powder/seasoning
Sausages (precooked)
Potatoes (precooked)
Corn (precooked)
1/2 tsp sugar
a little bit of water
Prawns
Chillies
Parsley
1/4 Fresh squeeze lemon juice.

Happy Cooking

Healthy Eating: BBQ Pork And Sesame Seed Balls

Another healthy and tasty meal. Who says eating healthy has to be boring? Keep clear of processed foods, aim for fresh natural foods when possible. It’s okay to treat yourself as long as you’re not overdoing them.

Grilled pork BBQ with coleslaw and avocado salsa on a bed of lettuce and sriracha or ranch sauce.
Sesame seed balls or Buchi.
Happy Cooking.

The Starfish Story

While watching the Great North Run on television today, I came across the following story, called THE STARFISH. It’s such a powerful story, in terms of motivating action, so thought I’d share it with you. Here it is, hope you get some inspiration from it. Please share it and spread the love.

Life Is Full Of Contradictions

Get Results: The more you have the more you have to lose

Life is full of contradictions, such as…

The more you learn, the more you know, the more you realise how little you actually know.

One person’s rubbish is another person’s treasure.

Letting go of expectations might well reduce suffering, while at the same time lessening the drive to take action and chase down goals.

The more we have, the more we have to lose.

The more you give, the more you get. “Givers gain” is a popular quote.

The more in need you are, the greater the tendency to “grab” at opportunities, but the less others are willing to give you as a result of this.

Is it best to aim for specialised learning, to go deep and narrow, or generalise by learning wide and shallow, to keep options open, and allowing for easier pivoting in the future, if needed?

There are contradictions everywhere.

Maybe nothing has any meaning other than the one we give it. Maybe life is about experiencing the rich tapestry of existence, and learning to break free of social conditioning and find our own meaning of experience. Maybe we should aim to break free of judging and labeling, or at least improve awareness of the process.

When we read a book with the intention to learn, we are encouraging our mind to shift perspective, to see things from a different position. We are seeking permission to think and feel differently than before, by reading the wise words of someone who may know better than us.

So should we live a life where we chase down dreams and pursue goals, in which we are driven to succeed?

Do we live life in gratitude and contentment, happy to live spiritually in the moment, free of attachments to thoughts, possessions and people, like a monk would do?

I guess, the beauty of life is, we get to decide as individuals.

Sure we might come across difficulties, obstacles and even pressure from people around us, who want us to serve their agendas, but in the end, we have the choice to either put up and shut up or take action to do something for ourselves.

Aligning the inner world of what makes us tick, with the outer world of what we spend time doing is key to living a fulfilling life, so we should perhaps try to live a life that best achieves that aim.

Being DRIVEN To Take Action

I was chatting to a friend of mine some time ago, when we got onto the subject of DRIVE. Drive to take action, to follow a certain path. I guess you could refer to drive as motivation.

Anyway we got to chatting about drive coming from the need to escape something, in the sense of keeping busy to keep the mind occupied, so as not to dwell on unpleasant memories.

I remember watching a Tony Robbins video where he was having a conversation about his fear of not taking action being so great, that it overcame any fear he had about taking action. The fear of taking action is often what prevent people pursuing their dreams and chasing their goals down. They fear failure, so don’t even try.

Having thought about this some more, I came to the realisation that we can be driven towards something, like a dream or a goal, or we can be driven to escape or avoid something from our past or in our present situation. There is a third option which is to not do anything because we are indifferent about or content with the status quo or we fear change, but we’ll just keep this post about the first two with regards to drive.

I questioned myself as to what the pros and cons of each of these drives were, and decided that if it helped someone achieve a desired course of action, then either is valid. However there are wider implications with regards to dealing with the issues that a person is running away from, because if they aren’t dealt with sooner or later, they are likely to be running forever. Running might originate from the fight or flight response, but prolonged flight is not particularly healthy in the long term.

It’s much healthier to be driven towards something or be driven by doing something. If you’ve a passion for doing something, than that seems like the ideal situation to aim for.

After all life is lived in the present moment, so it makes sense to enjoy the present moment by doing something you love. Anything else is a mind created construct, both past a future. The past has been spent, the future is not promised.

Healthy Eating: Grilled Chicken

Healthy Eating: Grilled Boneless Chicken Thighs, Orange Salad and Grilled Pepper Couscous

Marinate chicken with juice of half orange, juice of half lemon, 1 tbsp.
wholegrain mustard salt and pepper for at least 6hrs, or overnight.
For Salad: lettuce, orange, and spring onions and few drops of lemon juice.
Pepper couscous: just add some olives, pickled garlic and feta cheese, grill.

During my weight loss journey, I’ve learned to eat healthier, focusing on more of a plant based diet, cutting out rice, potatoes and bread. Having more vegetables and salads. It can be difficult to think of things to eat sometimes, so I’ve added this category to the website to help me remember what I’ve eaten and liked and hopefully you’ll find some value in it as well. This dish, as with all of the dishes featured on this website, was lovingly crafted by my wife Hazel.

Check out our weight loss guide for more info on losing weight and getting fitter here.

Don’t Be THAT Kind Of Marketer

I recently read an article by Seth Godin about there being 2 kinds of marketing

“There’s the kind that no one can possibly like. The popups, popunders, high-pressure, track-your-private-data, scammy, spammy, interruptive, overpriced, overhyped, under-designed selfish nonsense that some people engage in.

And then there’s the kind that inspires us, delights us and brings us something we truly want.

We call them both marketing, but they couldn’t be more different.”

I completely agree with Godin’s assessment, marketers shouldn’t steal time away from or rudely interrupt people using pop ups or make them wait through adverts for the thing you promised them or for the thing they actually came for.

Give them their time back. Help people who want your help, who want what you’re selling. Be where they are looking.

If people land on your site, show your offering, have it close at hand but don’t try to beat them around the head with it. Let them know it’s there. If they are interested they’ll look, if your headline is tempting enough.

But don’t bait them with the promise of interesting content and then withhold it behind your bullshit offer. It’s wrong, your wrong and quite frankly you deserve nothing from them other than their scorn.

Don’t do it because everyone else is doing it either. Marketing has a bad name because marketers have a habit of abusing trust and taking things too far. There will be a backlash at some point, or at least some degree of bad feeling from prospective customers, towards you and your brand. You might enjoy some limited success, in the short term, but your reputation, in the long term, will be compromised and tinged with negativity. Don’t be that kind of marketer.