A short story you might like if you want more sway in your day-to-day life:
I’ve written about my love of magic many times in these daily emails.
The first time a Derren Brown show hit the West End, I trotted eagerly along with two of my pals. Derren’s psychological trickery had me baffled when I saw him on TV and I wanted to see his persuasive, suggestive and mind-boggling magic up close and personal.
About midway through the second half of the show, Derren threw a frisbee into the audience. He said whoever caught the frisbee would join him on stage.
A middle aged man wearing a woolly jumper caught the frisbee. This chap climbed the stairs, walked over to Derren and shook his hand. Then Derren placed his hand on the guy’s
head and said “sleep”.
Instantly (and I mean instantly) the man’s body relaxed, his arms went limp and his head slumped against his chest. It was like watching a puppet having its string cut.
Derren had hypnotised this
bloke on stage, in a full theatre, in less than a second.
It was so unexpected that the audience audibly gasped. Even now, I get goosebumps just thinking about it.
I could see a few people in the audience muttering it must
be a hoax.
I had my suspicions too. But at the same time, was Derren really planting stooges in the audience and flinging frisbees at them from across the stalls?
That show ran between 2005 and 2006. Ever since, I’ve
wondered how the hell Derren pulled this off.
Until a couple of weeks ago, that is.
(cue dramatic drumroll and a puff of smoke)
That’s when I picked up a copy of daily email maestro John Bejakovic’s new book, The 10 Commandments of Con Men, Pick Up Artists, Magicians, Door-to-Door Salesmen, Hypnotists, Copywriters, Professional Negotiators, Political Propagandists, Stand Up Comedians and Oscar-Winning Screenwriters.
As I zipped through the book, I came to Commandment IX.
There in black and white, for the first time, I read exactly how Derren Brown achieved his sub one second hypnosis.
Yes, Derren
used hypnosis that night.
But as the book explains, the real trick allowed Derren to slip past the man’s defences before the hypnosis even began.
It’s the same technique that US comedian Gary Gulman used in
2016 to deliver a 6-minute comedy routine on the Conan O’Brien show which has since been called “the best joke in the world”.
It’s also the technique that renowned door-to-door salesman Sam Taggart used to become the #1 salesman in a company of 3,000 sales reps.
Plus I'd wager a pint of Guinness that bankers, lawyers and marketers can use this same technique too, whether it’s to shift a colleague's priorities, drop someone's objections or potentially even get a pay-rise from your boss.
This is powerful stuff.
Maybe even a bit sneaky too, dare I say.
And if you’d like to take this technique and use it for your own daylight sorcery, all the details are in Commandment IX of John’s new book.
I'm promoting John's book until Thursday.
If you order the book and send me your receipt by 5pm UK time on Thursday, I’ll also send you a bonus 41 minute masterclass where I grill John about how to use daily emails to write and publish a non-fiction book.
More details on that below.
In the meantime, here's how to get your hands on the bonus:
- Go to your local online Amazon branch
- Search for John Bejakovic’s new book, The 10 Commandments of Con Men, Pick Up Artists, Magicians, Door-to-Door Salesmen, Hypnotists, Copywriters, Professional Negotiators, Political Propagandists, Stand Up Comedians and Oscar-Winning Screenwriters
- Buy the book (kindle or paperback)
- Send me your receipt before 5pm UK time on Thursday
Just make sure you email me your receipt before the deadline if you want to grab the bonus.
Once the hypnotist's pocket watch
strikes 5pm UK time on Thursday, it'll be too late.
p.s. here’s a small taste of what’s inside the bonus recording:
*** The copywriting technique that makes it almost impossible for readers to put your book down (this
method pulls readers in on page one and keeps their eyeballs glued to every word until the very last page... even if they started reading just to "take a quick peek")
*** The surprising reason John avoided a big launch event for his new book
*** The traffic source that’s dropping book sales into John’s lap every day – for free! (you don’t need a newsletter, a website or an audience to put this source to work)
*** How John mines his archive of 2,000+ daily emails to build his books
*** The “Sudoku Puzzle” trick that gave John's new book its razor-sharp structure and helped John connect the dots across wildly different topics
*** The curious reason books like The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and How to Win Friends and Influence People are still
flying off shelves 50+ years after being published
*** When to put on your “copywriter’s hat” and when to doff your “author’s hat” instead
*** Where to dig up original stories that perfectly prove your points (plus the
specific resource John uses to find long-forgotten stories from 100+ years ago)
*** How to turn your email list into a real-time feedback lab for your book. John shares his strategy for testing ideas, sharpening insights and spotting what makes readers lean in
*** A sneak peek at John’s draft third book
*** Plus lots, lots more…