Mattson Financial Services June 2019

‘INFLUENCE’

A ROAD

Business majors and longtime entrepreneurs will be very familiar with this work. And in an age when many shiny new theories on leadership and personal development come out every year, it’s refreshing to revisit a classic that has stood the test of time. Thirty-five years after its original publication, “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” should still be required reading for marketers, small business owners, and anyone else looking to improve their negotiation skills. Written by Dr. Robert Cialdini, “Influence” explores why people say yes. A professor of business and psychology, Dr. Cialdini is uniquely qualified to tackle this question, combining scientific data with practical applications. “Influence” is still a subject of praise, with marketing research groups and journals of psychology lauding the book as a “proverbial gold mine.” You don’t have to get too far into “Influence” to see why.

Dr. Cialdini lays out six “universal principles” of the human psyche. These include “Reciprocity,” our tendency to want to return perceived kindness or concessions; “Commitment and Consistency,” our tendency to cling to past decisions; and “Scarcity,” our tendency to assign value to things based on their rarity. While these may sound like surface level business concepts, the way Dr. Cialdini uses these principles as a launching point gives “Influence” value. With each principle, the author dives into examples of how these psychological elements can be used by you or against you in any negotiation. Take “Commitment and Consistency” for example. If you are able to get a person to agree with you on several small points, you lay the groundwork for them to agree with you in the future. Conversely, you can be more alert when people try to use this tactic on you.

WHY TAI CHI IS COOLER THAN YOU THINK

Better Balance With the Internal Martial Art

When you think about martial arts, a few images come to mind: Mr. Miyagi, possibly nunchucks, and people breaking objects using impressive disciplined strength.

While the movements appear mild, the practice of tai chi requires discipline and strength. That’s part of the reason why it provides a powerful punch of health benefits and also why less than 5 percent of people stick with it. Some teachers say it takes three years to learn the basic movements of tai chi — and more than a lifetime to master. Physical training, combined with the internal meditative aspect of tai chi, are the reasons martial arts legend Jet Li has turned to the exercise in recent years, even campaigning to make it an Olympic event. In an interview, Li explained his push to make tai chi a more widely recognized and accepted exercise: “In our attempts to push ourselves, we’ve lost sight of an important part of the sporting mindset: balance.” For anyone setting out on a mission to age gracefully, tai chi can help reduce your risk of falling with its focus on posture. An ounce of preventive tai chi may be worth a pound of cure; the Center for Disease Control reports that people pay an average of $35,000 in health care costs every time they fall. Many community centers and health and wellness facilities offer opportunities to learn tai chi, from free community classes to entire tai chi facilities. Go see for yourself why this is the martial art everyone should practice.

But one of the most powerful martial arts you may not immediately picture is tai chi. This ancient Chinese form of combat in slow motion is an internal martial art that works from the inside out by developing the body’s internal energy, known as qi, or “chi.” In Chinese medicine, balanced qi is essential to good health. Hundreds of studies demonstrate the mental and physical benefits this quiet martial art provides. Because of its focus on posture, tai chi is particularly helpful for balance. In Harvard’s analysis of 20 different studies, tai chi was shown to improve cognitive

function and slow the progression of dementia more than other forms of exercise.

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