Study Human Psychology, Then Make Money Doing Whatever You Want

The way to legitimately influence people without being manipulative

Image Credit-Midjourney (AI)

The headline may make your eyes bleed.

“Study human psychology” in a lot of people’s minds equals “being a manipulative little b*tch and scamming people to join a pyramid scheme.”

As always, the solution lies in the nuance.

One of the reasons I’ve had success with writing and in business is because I study psychology. It’s my secret daily obsession.

Mastering human psychology means you can get people to buy your thing, read your writing, and build a movement. If you follow this path below, you’ll also be able to achieve these results without manipulating people or being scammy.

Let’s get started!

Rule #1 – Know humans' default state

The average person gets knocked off their path when life throws them a curveball like:

• A job loss

• A death in the family

• A form of temporary sickness

Those who understand psychology know that our default state is chaos. Life isn’t meant to be comfortable and calm. The world is driven by chaos.

Everything gets easier when you understand chaos is normal.

Rule #2 – Change you first

Essayist Anaïs Nin said: “We don’t see things as they are. We see them as we are.”

If we want the world to change we first must change ourselves. That’s why people who have zero personal responsibility and act like victims should be avoided at all costs.

Until they do the inner work they’ll keep tripping over themselves and blaming an outside force like politics.

Rule #3 – Problem creators versus problem solvers

These are the two types of humans.

If you want to work with good customers or build a badass movement online, it’s better to work with problem solvers.

In a lowered emotional state, we only see the problems, not solutions
– Tony Robbins

The average person lives in a perpetually low emotional state. So they only see problems and do one of the following: 1) Believe America is going to collapse 2) Believe the world is going to collapse and become a doomsday prepper.

When people learn to control their emotional state, they start to see opportunities and solve more problems.

I like to work with problem solvers. You can also do well online by converting problem creators into problem solvers (although it’s harder).

Below is a map of consciousness. Most people operate in one of the survival paradigms. This explains a lot about how humans think and act. If you can help bring people online out of survival mode and closer to the spiritual paradigm, you can make decent money and do a lot of good in the world.

Image Credit: David R. Hawkins

Rule #4 – Struggles are an opportunity

Sigmund Freud is a psychological genius. He said this:

“One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.”

My struggles are my proudest moments. Telling employees to kiss my feet, then losing everything months later changed my life. It humbled me.

Struggling to become a DJ and working as a strip club DJ to get some experience taught me a lot about how the world works.

You want struggles or you don’t learn sh*t. You also don’t want to work with people online who will do anything to avoid struggles.

Rule #5 – The mind runs on code

Dan Koe is a friend and psychological genius. He said:

“You can either remain a slave to the code written in your head, or you can go through the painful experience of learning it, deconstructing it, and reprogramming it.”

This analogy is pure power.

Our mind is made up of information and lines of code just like a computer or piece of software. If you don’t write the code in your head then society will write it for you. It’s why the art of unlearning is more important for most people than new learning.

What I love to do is reverse engineer other people’s minds. It’s what I did with Tony Robbins. I studied his work so deeply that I started to think like him and eventually act like him. I credit that habit with much of my online success.

What ideas and beliefs are in your head? Write them down. It’ll reveal your programming. If you want to build something online, go through the same process for your ideal customer or follower.

Rule #6 – Become a pattern breaker

The mind runs on patterns.

Most of us just run our days on auto-pilot using the patterns already in our minds. Writer Jano le Roux says, “The most basic way to get someone’s attention is to break a pattern.” This is why being contrarian or semi-controversial when you post online works well – it breaks people’s patterns.

Only once you break someone’s pattern can you get them to snap out of whatever paradigm they're stuck in and help them change with your ideas, products, or services.

Rule #7 – Personal experiences are bullsh*t

The average person makes decisions and acts based on their personal experiences. Author Morgan Housel points out why this is bad:

“Your personal experiences make up maybe 0.00000001% of what’s happened in the world but maybe 80% of how you think the world works.”

In the space I work in, I’m surrounded by 7 & 8-figure creators. When I tell people outside of my group chats and little online bubble about this, they think I’m exaggerating or friends with career criminals who are worse than Al Capone.

Of course, if you’re not exposed to this underground world of creators, it sounds like clickbait. But that doesn’t make the reality a lie. It just means you haven’t been exposed to it which is fine.

We should heavily discount our personal experiences to expand our minds and access new opportunities that can create personal freedom.

Rule #8 – Selfishness harms humans more than smoking 10,000 packs of ciggies

The deeper you go into psychology the more you learn about humans primal instincts and fears. We’re survival beings. To survive we must be selfish.

I learned this the hard way in 2019. I got fired from my job. I started calling my old banking colleagues. Most of them ignored me or politely answered my call then offered zero help. Initially it hurt. Then I realized it was survival.

Associating yourself with a fired employee who has 400,000 LinkedIn followers may harm your career. People may think badly of you and you could even get fired.

This is a sad reality of the world. But it’s also a huge opportunity.

Once you understand humans are selfish, it changes how you act. You find ways to help people by tapping into their selfish desires.

There’s a flip side. People who don’t understand their primal instincts suffer from this:

It’s not thinking that hurts, it’s thinking about yourself that hurts – Naval Ravikant

The more they think about themselves the more pain they feel. At an extreme level they can take their own life if they make the mistake of thinking too much about themselves and what they should have gotten in life.

Selfishness leads to self-harm. The antidote is more selflessness.

Rule #9 – The mindset that creates uncommon millionaires

This one pisses people off. Soz.

My buddy Michael Lim says: “A growth mindset is a prerequisite for wealth. A fixed mindset has killed more financial dreams than a lack of talent ever will. If you don’t think you can be wealthy, you never will be.”

Some people see scarce resources, saturated markets, limited opportunities, impending doom from AI… and others see unlimited opportunities, billions of dollars changing hands online, new ways of working & a transition to one-person businesses.

Both types of people are right. But only the second type of person gets wealthy.

It’s cliche as f*ck but a growth mindset trumps everything.

• If you think those with money are immoral and greedy, you’ll stay poor.

• If you think anyone can be wealthy, you’ll find a way to serve people and get wealthy.

There’s no middle ground.

Rule #10 – Determine someone’s psychological age

Adult babies exist.

They go through childhood, then reach adulthood and never grow up. It’s why Marvel superhero movies are so common. There are so many man childs in the world who never grow up and they can’t get useless superhero movies out of their minds.

Writer Kevin Kelly explains:

“You are only as young as the last time you changed your mind.”

Immature adult babies refuse to change their minds. They can’t contemplate that maybe their wrong or their views are outdated. They’ll hold onto an idea or belief even if it kills them or isolates them from all other humans.

Treat people who refuse to change as harmful as terrorists.

The less a person refuses to change their mind the older they are. If they never change their mind they’re a grandpa.

Rule #11 – Know the habits of a weak mind

A weak mind must be constantly entertained and stimulated. A strong mind can occupy itself and, more important, be still and vigilant in moments that demand it – Ryan Holiday

If someone hates boredom, they’re likely to be psychologically weak.

Rule #12 – Learn how people respond (to master persuasion and sales)

Whenever I’ve sold anything in my career, I usually only get two objections:

1) No time
2) No money

I used to try and deal with these objections until I realized our objections are far deeper. We may say no and use time or money as an excuse, but that’s just a mask for a deeper problem we’re not comfortable sharing with a stranger.

Bow Tied Sales Guy helped me understand this psychological phenomenon at a deeper level:

“Once you understand that the majority of people’s responses are both programmed and automatic you begin to see (and perform) on a different level.”

Now you have the opportunity to go below the surface of someone’s objections if you want to. This technique can be used in running a business, working a job, leading people, sales, or writing online.

Ignore the first automatic response. Go deeper.

Rule #13 – 50 years of psychological research reveals this

William James was the first educator to offer a psychology course.

One sunny afternoon The American Psychological Association sent a prestigious invitation to him to give a talk on what the first 50 years of psychology has taught humans. They expected him to be hornier than a pornstar about to have a g*ng bang.

Old mate William showed up to the speech and said one sentence:

“People by and large become what they think of themselves.”

He then dropped the mic and walked out.

If you have a poor self-image you’ll produce poor results. Affirmations, positive psychology, and self-improvement work because they make us feel better about ourselves. From that place we can achieve anything.

Rule #14 – Obsession infects the brain with a good virus

Obsession is the one trait all high-performers have.

It’s effective because of this idea from Luke Belmar: “You become what you think about all day long.”

Someone who’s obsessed can’t stop thinking about one thing 24/7. They think about it so much, they eventually find a way to make it happen. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you want to achieve a big goal then think about it all day every day.

Rule #15 – Humans are just trying to escape reality

Being a human is torture by design.

Life is hard, we all face incredible struggles, we’re wired for survival so negative thoughts dominate, then we die on an unknown date never to be seen again.

Comedian Norm Macdonald unlocked a psychological superpower:

“I remember a psychiatrist once telling me that I gamble in order to escape the reality of life, and I told him that’s why everyone does everything.”

Image Credit: GQ.com

You can create value in the world by either helping people escape reality or make reality better. Both are good but the latter helps you reach a higher state of consciousness. Choose wisely.

Rule #16 – Turn silent torture into good feelings

My favorite quote of all time: “Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always” – Brad Meltzer

This changed how I think because it made me realize everyone is going through something, even me, and so I should treat people with kindness.

Zach Pogrob says:

“Most people you pass on the street are silently torturing themselves inside their own mind. If you just make someone feel good about themselves, even in a small way, it can redirect them towards an entirely new life.”

People who use human psychology in a good way do this. They make us feel good which eases the torture a little and can even eliminate it.

Final Thought

These 16 psychological rules form the basis of how humans think.

Once you, not only understand them, but put them into practice, you can make money doing whatever you want without manipulating people. Try it.

Tell me which of the 16 rules you found the most useful and why in the comments.

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