the 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene law four always say less than necessary
when you are trying to impress people with words the more you say the more
common you appear and the less in control even if you say something banal
it will seem original if you make it vague open-ended and sphinxs-like powerful people impress and
intimidate by saying less the more you say the more likely you are to say
something foolish ever sense the powerful auro of a confidently silent man
his ability to stay relaxed and be at ease in moments of awkward silence makes others
nervous
when alone with this person you tend to blabber on and on don't get it twisted
he speaks when appropriate and can be a great conversationalist in my experience
is the luls in a conversation the moment you both run out of things to say that
the silent killers presence becomes overwhelming
it's a simple trick really
just say the bare minimum and people's opnion of you will go up
in the 48 laws of power Robert Green breaks it down to 6 fundamental reasons
why you should always saying less than necessary
reason one
you risk saying something foolish this is very similar to why you should always
conceal your intentions I reiterate the story of Michael Jordan and his comments
about not supporting a black Democratic candidate saying republicans buy shoes
too for me it really highlights the wisdom behind these principles why
needlessly offend others only to hinder your own success why risk saying
something stupid and lose the respect others hold for you remember it takes months even years to
build a home and only one day to destroy it
reason two
you can't take back your words once you have offended or made yourself out to be
an ass you can't take it back
our words are nothing but symbols to relay your own conscious thoughts into others
simply put
you can only say what you think once you say something offensive or stupid it's
hard to argue that you didn't mean it
we even have the saying all good jokes have a little truth to them reason three
the more you speak the more common you appear scarcity is an attribute that
brings immense value to any item
something as useless as a shiny rock with no intrinsic value is revered for
its scarcity to the natives of the new world
gold was a cool-looking rock
to the European conquerors and settlers it was something worth
waging war over
risking lives for the only difference for such views of the
so-called precious metal was scarcity your words can be like gold
make people reveal more about themselves listen just listen when everybody talks
if you ever want to be effective at reading and influencing people
if you just want to improve your social skills just listen don't think about what
you're going to say next or decide to talk more
when you stop talking
something amazing happens
the other person starts to speak
now you can know all the person's thoughts and emotions what makes them tick
effective leaders smart entrepreneurs and clever politicians listen reason
number five
people interpret your words very carefully the less you speak more
attention people pay to your words they have to interpret the meaning for themselves by
being vague and open-ended other people will attribute their own thoughts on to you
in psychology we call this projection human beings think everyone thinks like
them
by speaking in vague terms a person will just project their beliefs on to
you making way a more relatable figure to them
reason number six the harder it is to decieve you how can you lure someone with
something they want if you don't even know what they want
King Louie the 14 was a man of few words so no one knew how to sway his favor all
he would ever say was we shall see this made him impossible to manipulate when
constructing arguments to present to the king for new policies his subjects would
go crazy stressing out on how to persuade him his Majesty was enhanced by
the sparseness of his words
whether you have ambitions of becoming a great and effective leader
or you wish to be more sociable in general always say less than necessary
by doing so you unlock another key to power
this has been theselfmadenerd here to talk nerdy to ya!