The School of Greatness - Decoding Social Cues: Harnessing the Power of Communication for Success w/ Vanessa Van Edwards EP 1448
Episode Date: June 3, 2023The Summit of Greatness is back! Buy your tickets today – summitofgreatness.comToday’s guest is Vanessa Van Edwards, who is the Lead Investigator at Science of People and is the bestselling author... of Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People. Vanessa works with entrepreneurs, growing businesses, and trillion-dollar companies. She is renowned for teaching science-backed people skills to audiences around the world where her mission is to help introverts leverage their strengths, show high achievers how to activate their secret skills and teach awkward people to feel more confident. She’s written a new book called Cues: Master the Secret Language of Charismatic Communication.In this episode you will learn,How to make a great impression at a big conference or networking eventThe best questions to ask when you meet someone and whyHow emotions are contagiousWhy “fake it til you make it” isn’t the best strategyWhat personality traits to be mindful of when dating For more information go to www.lewishowes.com/1448Another great episode with Vanessa Van Edwards – https://link.chtbl.com/1231-guest
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Calling all conscious achievers who are seeking more community and connection,
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Join me at this year's Summit of Greatness this September 7th through 9th
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ready to learn, heal, and grow alongside other incredible individuals in the greatness community,
then you can learn more at lewishouse.com slash summit 2023. Make sure to grab your ticket,
invite your friends, and I'll see you there. I don't think you should ever pretend to be
something you're not. I think that you're better off spending your time instead of trying to be the bubbly extrovert
is trying to find out what is your unique brand of charisma.
Like what is your flavor?
I think that the more time you can spend on that before trying to emulate someone else
or trying to dial up something that isn't natural to you.
Welcome to the school of greatness.
My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or
message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending
some time with me today. Now let the class begin.
Welcome to today's special episode.
Over the last 1,300 plus episodes, there have been so many impactful interviews that I've been lucky enough to have, and I always like to reflect on some of the most powerful.
And this episode was one that resonated with most of you guys in the past, and I'm excited
for the value it's going to bring you today as well.
So I hope you enjoy today's episode.
So you wrote this book, Captivate the Science of Succeeding with People.
I love the first couple pages where it shows a photo of you with like, I don't know if
you have braces on or not.
Oh yeah.
So I'm in LA, my family's here, and I give my mom the galley.
And she was like so excited.
She's like, oh my God, yay.
And she opens it.
She was like, why did you choose this picture?
I was like, mom, like that's real.
It's real life.
Like that was me.
And she said something that was interesting.
She was like, that was the most painful part of your life.
Why would you share that?
Which I think is really. You to you have to connect with people and show them that you're not alone and that you're just like everyone else
yes also like i had i have this problem people like will put me in the expert position like i'm
always kind of uncomfortable in that position a little bit because i'm not a naturally charismatic
person i'm not naturally extroverted. I'm a
recovering awkward person. And so I was like, I could either position myself in the intro like
everyone does as I am. Yeah. All these awards. I'm the extrovert. I'm, I'm, I'm naturally
charismatic. And I was like, but like, that is not me. So I was like, I would rather switch it
and say, it is so hard for naturally charismatic people to teach people how they do what they do.
It's much easier in a certain sense to not be that person and then have to learn it the hard way.
So I say that I learned it the hard way to teach it to you the easy way.
So that was a big decision.
I love it.
I mean, if I showed you a photo of myself.
I sent a photo actually yesterday.
I don't believe you though.
No, hold on.
No way.
I'll send you a photo of me. No, you were like an athlete. I was like an athlete.
Come on. I was an athlete
the way you are an extrovert.
I was not
an athlete because I was good
because I was bad. And I said,
I'm going to master this just like you were.
Okay. Yeah. So that's kind of how
I became one. Are you going to show me a vest picture because
I want to see helmet hair? No, not a vest picture.
Let me see.
I'll show you a photo of me.
Recovering Awkward Lewis.
I mean, this is.
That's what I want to see.
This is pretty goofy, you know.
Oh.
Yeah.
It's pretty like.
Yeah.
Lame, goofy.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes, this would fit really well next to mine.
This could have been perfect next year.
Yeah.
So anyways, I mean, I was like tall and gangly and, you know, all those things.
But I was like, okay, how can I learn how to be a great athlete?
And so I reverse engineered.
I wasn't like gifted as a kid.
And I was very awkward.
I was in the special needs classes.
I couldn't read and write.
I was awkward in connecting with people.
I was the youngest kid always in the sports teams because in high school I started to become good at sports because I put my energy in that.
So I was like the freshman with all the seniors.
So I had to learn how to connect with people.
And I think I told you this before.
When I was a senior in high school, I was terrified because all the jocks that I hung out with were gone now.
So it was just me.
Yeah, I remember.
I was like, oh, you know what I'm going to do? I want to become friends with everyone. So I hung out with were gone now. So it was just me. Yeah. I was like, Oh,
you know what I'm going to do?
I want to become friends with everyone.
So I hung out in the choir.
I hang out with like the band people.
I hung out with like the science nerds. Oh my gosh.
And I hung out with everyone.
I was like,
I'm going to learn how to connect with each human being and just listen to them and hear
their needs and try to be friends with everyone.
And that was the greatest thing that happened to me is like having no jock friends anymore
and being like,
I'm going to connect with everyone. Yeah everyone yeah just understand people the science can we
reverse engineer that so like you told me that story i think a couple weeks ago and i was like
yes so there was research i have always been fascinated by the popular kids right like
these these magnetic sort of like what makes a kid cool or popular whatever that is
and van sloan did a really interesting research experiment with teenagers.
He found, well, can you guess what makes the most popular kids popular?
Like, what is it?
It could be anything from attractiveness to clothing to the way they talk.
If you had to guess.
Listeners, guess too.
What makes a popular person popular?
Yes.
Hmm.
Their confidence? I don't know they're outgoing i would have guessed outgoing that's exactly what i would have guessed like extroverted talkative which was like i was
like oh please don't let it be that so first of all it wasn't attractiveness which i think is very
important for people to keep in mind it wasn't the most beautiful girls or the hottest guys. What it was is the most popular kids also liked
the most people. That makes sense. And like, now that I heard that, which is exactly what you just
said, I suppose just five people, they're like, you know, right. So everyone, yes, exactly. It's
like he, what he found was, is that the most popular kids, when they were asked, who do you
like? They had the longest list. And that also meant that they were liked by the most popular kids, when they were asked, who do you like? They had the longest list.
And that also meant that they were liked by the most people. And this was measured by typically
they smiled more in the hallways. So they would do the, you tell me if this is right. So men,
when they know, see someone they know, they give the upward, Hey, nice to see you. Like it's like
an acknowledgement versus if you don't know someone, but you want to acknowledge them,
you give them the downward nod. Is that right? Probably. Yes. If you're conditioned that way,
I try to just smile at everyone. Okay. So that's, that's the cool kid.
Cause you like, you train yourself to this. I just started smiling everyone in the hallways
too. Just like, Hey, how are you? Like, good to see you. Just like a compliment or something
without realizing it. And that's what I kind of wrote about in your chapter was like,
without realizing it, you were actually activating a scientific principle that we like people who
like us. Makes sense. The biggest, you're not going to like people that hate you or ignore you.
Or, and this is the real killer of relationships. People do not think of it. We talk a lot about
toxic people, right? Difficult people, toxic people, but actually the killer is ambivalence.
cold people, toxic people, but actually the killer is ambivalence. You're not sure. Yeah.
You're not sure. Do they like me? Do I like them? Yeah. Were we friendly? That actually takes up more mental energy than the toxic people. And they did a study with police officers where they found
that police officers who have more ambivalent relationships versus police officers who had a
lot of toxic relationships, the ambivalent ones versus police officers who had a lot of toxic relationships.
The ambivalent ones actually had less efficiency.
They had less happiness and career satisfaction and they skip more days of work.
That's because if you, if someone's toxic, you know, you don't want to sit with them
at lunch.
You don't want to stop by their desk.
It's clear.
Ambivalent, you're like, should I, should I invite them to lunch?
Right.
Or no.
It's not safe.
You're like, I'm sure.
Right.
And I think that that's the key word is safety.
And so ambivalence, when you like someone, you clearly are like smiling, nodding.
Hey, what's up?
Good to see you.
The person's like, I'm liked.
And like that is the greatest feeling of safety in the world.
And so if you go to a conference, you have a big conference coming up, you're really nervous.
I don't want you to think about being extroverted, especially if you're an introvert
or ambivert. No, like don't pretend. Ambivert? Ambivert. Ambivert. Yeah. What's that? It's,
it's, uh, I'm an ambivert. An ambivert is, um, if introvert or extrovert never felt right to you,
it's when you can flip into extroversion if you need to, or in the right situation. So like for
me right now,
I'm not that nervous, right? I'm a little bit nervous. You make me a little bit nervous,
but like not terribly. Like learning one-on-one situations, conferences, I'm okay. Nightclubs,
bars, those kinds of things, no. So if you are in those situations going to a conference,
don't think about how can I be more extroverted? How can I be more outgoing? It's actually,
how can I just like more people? Like when I'm at a conference and I do this, you were at WDS.
So I go every year and all of my trainers, my science people trainers come with me. And I say
like, our one thing is we're inviting everyone to sit with us. We are inviting everyone to come to
lunch with us. If you see someone standing alone, we say say hello we invite them to come over like that
is our number one goal and so that that's an easier way i think to tackle like big groups
or conferences it's just how can you like more people that's cool yeah i think smiling is a good
practice anyways whenever i see someone on the streets i just try to smile sometimes people are
a little awkward about it like they don't react to me see i can't do that as a woman i don't think
that's true because you're like leading people on or something. You're flirting or whatever. Yeah. Gender differences. Yeah.
It's challenging. Um, I try to smile as much as I can guys and girls. Yeah, I think you should.
Also, I think smile is never going to hurt you. It might get you into a conversation that you
didn't expect, but I think it's always a good, a good basic thing to try. Yes. We're going to go
into later. I'm going to, I'm going to hook you guys right now. We're going to go into later. I'm going to, I'm going to hook you guys
right now. We're going to go in later and talk about how to understand when someone's lying,
what to do about it. And this Vanessa said that this is like a scary thing to talk about. It's
like, uh, she doesn't know if she wants to talk about it that much, but we're going to go into
a little bit, but first you have different sections in your book. It was the first five
seconds, the first five hours and the first five days, first five minutes, first five seconds, the first five hours, and the first five days.
First five minutes, first five hours, first five days.
Minutes, hours, days.
Yes, not seconds.
But the first five seconds were important too, right? Actually, I debated calling it the first five seconds.
It's true.
Like that would work.
But the reason why I didn't is because a couple of chapters are on like conversation starters and it's hard to get out of full conversation.
In a few seconds.
Right, right, right.
But there are cues within the first five seconds.
Yes.
Probably, right?
Very much.
Maybe sooner than that.
I think that it happens the moment you first see someone.
Within a second.
Within a second.
And that has proven as well online.
Like a lot of our first impressions are actually happening digitally, right?
Someone emails you for the first time.
They Google you.
They see you on LinkedIn.
See a photo, whatever.
That's it.
That's your digital first impression.
Everything matters in what you're putting out. Every angle, every see you on LinkedIn. See a photo, whatever. That's it. That's your digital first impression. Everything matters in what you're putting out.
Every angle, every smile or not smile, it can be like misread.
I think if you think of it like an algorithm, right?
So like if you think of, okay, my LinkedIn profile is a piece of my information that
I'm putting out there as well as like my email signature as well as my dating profile name.
I should just have you like break down everything that I do
and just say no.
Yes.
Can I give you a really quick tip
on dating profiles?
Are you on dating profiles right now?
I've got a girlfriend.
Okay, so anyone who's on dating profiles,
not Louis.
Yes.
I'm not on anywhere.
I've never been on,
I was on Tinder for like three days
because this was years ago.
It was my friend, I'll take his, I want to say his name. He's pretty well known. I'll tell you afterwards. He was like, get on here.
It's amazing. And I just, it's as an experiment, just get on there. Right. So for three days I do
it and I'm like, it's crazy. Right. It's like madness. It's addictive. You're swiping all the
time. And I'm like, and then it was just like, it's addictive you're swiping all the time and I'm like
and then it was just like
okay I had a bunch of matches
or whatever
and I was like
this is just exhausting
it's so exhausting
and I just deleted it
after three days
I was like
you didn't even see anyone
no I had a couple
text conversations
with people
and I never saw anyone
but here's the thing
I mean
I'm so like
forward with like
saying hi to someone
if I like them
if I'm single that I'm not like I I need to find someone to match with me.
It's not uncomfortable for me to see anyone and stop them.
Right.
You know that you don't have to optimize in that area.
I don't have to.
Because you don't need the intro.
I don't need to.
But I had to learn how to do that because I could never do that.
And I think I told you this when I was 16, 17.
I didn't have the good looks. I could never do that. And I think I told you this when I was 16, 17. I didn't have like, you know, the good looks.
I didn't have anything.
And I was terrified of girls when I was in high school.
And so for a summer, I made it a mission.
I said every single day, I think I was 15 going into junior year.
Every single day I was like, whenever I see a girl that gives me butterflies, I have to
go towards her and talk to her.
And then it was like, I have to go ask her.
Every day?
Every day I saw a girl
for the whole summer.
It was an experiment
that I gave myself.
I was kind of like a mini you.
Yes.
I was like,
I need to overcome this fear.
This is BS.
I want to be able to talk to girls
and not be afraid.
And I always stumbled over my words.
I just couldn't get anything out.
Yeah, yeah.
I was terrified.
So I said,
every day,
whenever I see a girl
that I'm like,
have butterflies,
I'm going to go run to her.
Not like literally, but yeah, I'm not like.
But I was like, I'm going to go up to her and just say hello.
And then it was like, ask her for her number.
Then it was just like, ask her out.
It was another challenge.
And by the end of the summer, I was like fluent in the art of like asking girls.
The approach, the ask, the opener.
And even if it didn't like work out or
they were like no i was just like at least we had like a fun interaction and it was like okay you
know and i learned how to gain confidence through taking action and giving myself a challenge oh my
gosh so if anyone is listening and feels great if they greatest thing that is like so i one of the
biggest challenges i think we have to think about our life like a big experiment yes and the problem
is as adults we did this when we were kids? Like you would play with something or you would
try something out. You would take a class just because you were curious. Now as adults, we're
like, I can't try anything because what if it becomes forever? Or what if it's permanent? What
if there's a risk? I think that every interaction is an experiment. And when you think about it that
way, you become so much braver, right? You think,
okay, I'm nervous about approaching that VIP or that girl or that guy or whoever.
That butterflies, those butterflies are a chemical signal for me that there is something here,
right? Like there is an experiment that I can have and I should do it. So there's a couple
things when you're approaching, if you're, if this is something that you want to work on,
whether it's a VIP or a stranger or a, say for another, so there's, um, a girl, right?
There's, um, the approach and the open. So the approach is actually very important because
that's usually when someone's first impression is made. So when you're approaching someone,
you want to signal a couple of things. You want to first signal friend, not foe. So friend, right?
Like I heard this last time. Yes. Hands. Perfect. First thing people look at is the hands.
Yes. Go, go, go listen to that episode if you, if you didn't hear that. No, it's great. Yeah.
The first thing, keep your hands out of your pockets. Hands out of your pockets and hand
first if you want to do a handshake or a hug, eye contact. Great. Then there's the approach,
the verbal, which we didn't get to talk about last time. So what people don't realize is actually
the verbal approach matters very little. And that is because in the first few seconds of
interaction, there's a lot of chemical reading going on. There's a lot of decoding. The verbal
becomes sort of secondary. It doesn't matter. That's why the, Hey, how are you? Is one of the
best openers you can do because it, it doesn't actually necessarily mean anything. It doesn't
take brainpower. It doesn't take a lot of brain power.
The first question, however, is important.
So after you-
Well, hey, how are you is a question, but after that-
But is it really though?
Like we never really-
It's more of like a, good to meet you.
Right.
So my approach is usually just, hey, my name is Vanessa.
Yeah.
Like, or hey, nice to meet you.
So it's not even a question.
Yeah.
That first question though, is when you want to have some kind of a spark.
This is a way that you signal to someone question, though, is when you want to have some kind of a spark.
This is a way that you signal to someone else, this interaction is going to be different.
Meaningful, interesting, unique.
Fill in the blank, what your intention is for the social interaction.
So you set up someone's response based on the kind of trigger that you ask.
So for example, if you say, so what do you do?
I'd be bored.
You've signaled.
I'd be like, peace.
Yeah, you've signaled autopilot.
Yeah.
I don't really want to think deeply about this. No, I don't care.
And I'm judging you on what you do, which might or might not be true.
Yeah.
I would much prefer, and I call these conversation sparkers.
These are these very dopamine-producing, dopamine is like a pleasure chemical that gets people excited.
And you can actually do this with the words you use.
Have you ever talked about priming on the show? I don't know if I've ever heard you talk about it. Yeah. Like, so priming
was one of those things that I had never thought about this way, but the words you use signal
things for other people. So for example, if you say exciting, the other person immediately looks
for hits, not misses. So if you say to someone, um, what are you most excited about lately? Right.
They're immediately in their brain going to search for anything in their life that hits
that.
If you say, Hey, have you been busy recently?
They immediately then search for hits for busy.
So that's actually a very powerful thing to know because your words dictate everything,
including an emails, right?
If you're sending an email to someone saying, Hey, we're meeting on Friday, we're really
crunched on time.
Um, I'm a little worried about getting everything done. So
hopefully we can make it all happen. Seems stressful. It's a very, you're actually
cuing the person. To feel stress. To feel stress, worry, and crunched for time. Oh man, that sucks.
Right. It's like anxiety, like, oh, I got to do this now. And you are, you were in control of it,
like you're creating it. Whereas if you look at your emails, you're like, what am I priming with
this email? Like, what am I asking them to search for in their brain?
I'm so excited to meet with you on Friday.
I can't wait to talk about all the topics we're going to go through.
And I know that we're going to be super efficient.
At ease.
Excited.
Yeah.
And like, boom, boom.
Like, you're going to try to get through each thing on your list.
So that same thing happens with that initial kind of big sparker.
So, hey, I'm Vanessa.
Good to meet you.
Hopefully not.
How are you? Because it's not a real question. And then working on anything exciting recently, going on of big sparker. So, hey, I'm Vanessa. Good to meet you. Hopefully not how are you
because it's not a real question.
And then working on anything exciting recently,
going on any big vacations.
Hey, do you love this wine?
This wine is pretty good, huh?
Those are all ways that you're signaling,
cuing what kind of interaction you want to have.
And that sets yourself up for success.
Yeah.
Interesting.
So those are the few questions you would ask.
Those are exciting.
Exciting vacations.
Vacation.
And then what I call context cues.
So whatever you're doing in the moment, like, isn't this cool?
Or you're like, God, isn't this restaurant great?
Wasn't that speaker awesome?
Hey, how's the wine?
Did you get any drinks?
Right.
So you'll never run out of things to talk about if you're looking for context.
Sure.
Sure.
Right.
Like I could even, I could even be like, wow, three cameras, Lewis.
Impressive.
Yeah.
Okay.
Now we're talking about cameras.
It's actually four, but you missed it.
Where?
Oh.
There's two on you over there.
My gosh.
It's all good.
I am impressed.
You just activated my mind to feel like you like me and that you're impressed with me.
Yes.
Now I feel good and at ease.
Okay, cool.
Yeah, so that's how it kind of works.
One of the questions I like as well as what are you most grateful for? And maybe it's not the first one, but it's, I like to keep
it one of the first few and maybe that's wrong. I don't know. No, I love it. I mean, you're a
triggering gratitude, you're triggering gratitude and you're setting an intention of like, I don't
want to talk about surface. Exactly. Right. And by the way, it goes the other way too. Like if
you're with someone who like you're not comfortable with or you're ambivalent about, or you don't want to build a deep relationship, you want to avoid those kind of personal topics because you're not safe yet.
And that's also a really important internal trigger.
There's – did I tell you about the skydiver study when we talked last time?
Probably.
Oh, my gosh.
This is like one of my favorite new studies.
So what they did is – this thing happened to be in New York City.
I was in New York City and I was walking by myself after a dinner party into the subway. New York City is like not like I love New York, but like at night by yourself, it's like.
fear. Like, you know, that feeling you get like in the pit of your stomach where you're like,
and like, I could feel the hairs in the back of my neck stand up. And I was like, what is it? What is it? What is it? And I'm like looking around the car and everything looks fine. And right before
the doors close, a guy saying right next to me grabs the purse of the woman sitting, elderly
woman sitting and runs out the doors. No way. Now, thank God people stopped him like within five
minutes of like within five seconds of him getting off of the car, got the purse back. But I was like, how did I know? How did you know?
So I was like, I don't think I'm psychic. So there's what else is going on here. So there
was a study that was done where they had first time skydivers before they went up in the air,
run on the treadmill. They ran on the treadmill enough to get them real sweaty.
And they had the more sweat pads to absorb their sweat.
They took those sweat pads out.
They put them in a new sweatsuit.
And then they had them jump out of a plane.
Took those sweat pads.
Obviously, you get a little sweaty when you're jumping out of a plane.
Then they had participants smell these sweat pads.
I know.
It's kind of gross.
See which one was fear or which one's excitement or what?
They didn't even tell them what they were smelling.
They put them in a brain scanner. and they had them smell each one.
And these people had no idea what was being tested.
They didn't even know they were smelling sweat.
Right, right.
When the people smelled the sweat pad that was used when they jumped, the person's fear part of their brain activated.
In other words, when we feel fear or anxiety, we actually produce a fear chemical.
This study kind of blew my mind because it means two things.
One is that, three things actually.
One, we produce, there's a physical response to the emotion that we feel in a chemical or a pheromone.
Second, other people pick that up.
And third, not only do we pick it up we actually mirror it like
we catch it like a contagion which means that if you if on that train i clearly smelled his
adrenaline or his fear and it made me very scared even though it only happened two seconds later i
could i could feel that something was about to happen so when you show up to an event feeling
either really anxious or really nervous you're're going to create that in other people. Yes. People are going to catch it from you,
which is why I do not believe in the phrase fake it till you make it. I don't think that that works.
I think that what's much better is figuring out where you naturally rise to the occasion where
you already feel strong and confident because I would much rather infect excitement than infect anxiety. So we are, we have a lot of power in our social interactions. The cues that
people catch from us can literally physically not only change our conversation, but change the shape
of their entire day. Wow. And so I think that that's where we're talking about here is not just
like, Oh, make fun conversation and smile more. It's like, no, you can actually change someone's entire being, but you can change their physiology.
Yeah. But you've got to have the energy to show up in a certain way.
Yeah. And, um, it also shows up in the body differently. Like there was a really interesting
set of studies that looked at how we feel emotion. And they found that, um, anger, for example,
you have a lot of activity in the chest and the face and in the
hands. Like they're like bright, they get bright red because usually we feel that heat in our chest.
We're usually yelling if we're angry and then we might get into a fist fight. Whereas depression
or sadness, we lose activity over our entire body. It's why people who are very sad or depressed
want to be in bed, want to be horizontal. They have literally less activity in their limbs.
So there's a lot going on that I think we still, it's very exciting. We have a lot left to learn
about people, but I think that even what we know so far, there's a lot we can do with it.
Amazing. Tell me about PQ. Yeah. What is PQ? Interpersonal Intelligence. And I love this
because once you're going to tell us what that is in a second, but you have a test in the first chapter, which tells you how your personality, what is it?
Your interpersonal, your level, your interpersonal intelligence.
Level.
Yes.
Got you.
How socially like adaptive you are essentially.
Yes.
So I'm, I love quizzes.
I can't help it.
I love quizzes.
It's my, my, I love checklists and all those to-do boxes
and things. So I was very focused on IQ, right? Like growing up, like book smarts, technical
skills. I never heard about PQ. I never heard about social or emotional intelligence. So there's
all these IQ tests and things like that. But I found that what a really good way to start is like,
where are, where is your smarts, right? Like socially, what are your social strengths? Like we even have like Strengths
Finder 2.0. I'm working on something right now where I want to do like Social Strengths 2.0.
Like, like what are our social strengths, which are just as important as some of our capabilities.
And so the quiz is sort of like, okay, where are you at right now? Right? Like how good are you
decoding? So we're talking about social social intelligence there's really two things we're talking about decoding so spotting cues spotting hidden emotions decoding
lies and encoding encoding are the signals that you send out to others yeah so we're kind of
testing both sides of that got it got it um and i read that people with a higher eq or pq
also make more than $29,000 more per year according to this research than someone with a higher EQ or PQ also make more than people. $29,000 more per year according to this research.
Than someone with a high IQ or lower?
Lower EQ.
Yeah, lower EQ.
So higher EQ, you're going to make more.
That's right.
90% of the time.
That's right.
And that's because we are interacting with people in ways that we don't even quantify
or realize, right?
Like every time you send an email, like that email has to be received, processed. There's a difference between having someone respond to it right away and having it
sit in their inbox for five days. Yeah. Right. Negotiating, interviewing around the water cooler.
People still have water coolers in their office, right? Like I, and I, my team is all virtual and
I still am using that PQ every day, all day. I, one exercise that sometimes I think about,
you can do this if you're listening is in the course of a day, make a note of every single interpersonal reaction that you have.
It will shock you how many of those there are and how big of an impact they have.
Right?
Like even if it's just like a casual coffee, all the possibilities that could come out of that interaction.
And then so you make one column where you mark out all the interactions you have.
The second column is if that interaction went as good as it could possibly go, what magic
could happen for you?
So much.
So much.
So much.
But instead, a lot of our interactions are like, meh.
Average.
So you get average results.
Exactly.
And when you, you know, I'm thinking about it.
I'm probably like, I have hundreds of these interactions a day potentially.
You do.
Especially with social media and emails and in person.
And if you're at events, like yesterday I was at Oprah's event, Super Soul Sessions.
Cool.
And there was like, you know, thousands of people, but I met a lot of people.
Yeah.
Even for like 10 seconds, I met people.
Yeah.
And I remember there were a number of people, even I just met and gave them a hug.
Like they always left a comment like, man, you give really good hugs.
Yes.
As opposed to just like, oh, nice to meet you, off.
Like they always said something.
Yeah.
That was like a positive reinforcement.
And for me, it's like maybe the next time and maybe months when I see them, but they
remember I gave them a good hug.
Absolutely.
So that was, you took something in the interaction, even in 10 seconds.
Yeah.
And you made it above average.
Yes.
So my-
I have awkward long hugs. I have awkward long hugs.
I try not to make them awkward, but I try to make them like, not like super awkward,
like get off me, but like just a little extra, like an extra second.
A little extra second.
Like right when they start to pull away, I squeeze.
You're like, no, one a little bit more.
I squeeze a little bit more, and they're like, oh, okay.
Yes.
I always do that.
Yes.
Sometimes it goes bad, but most of the time it works.
I mean, I have a theory that you should greet everyone like they're an old friend that's good yes that's what i do that's what i do because
if you have that mentality same with an email you give so much more like excitement whatever
it's like oh my gosh you haven't seen this friend in three years how would you greet them that is
the way that i think most people maybe not screaming up to that right like that's the
girl scream right two girls get together and like, I mean,
I told you like the volume would go up once I got excited. Yeah. Cause like we, we scream,
we go up. Um, what I was going to say also about that, which is really very smart is it doesn't
need to be a five minute interaction. It can be 10 seconds. A lot of the time we focus on
productivity. You know, we focus on efficiency. We focus on maximizing our business revenue.
All those things are great.
But like if we focus on some of the social aspects of that, it makes it so much easier.
Like let's not just optimize our IQ, our business acumen.
Let's also optimize our social acumen because you make that list of every interaction you have and all the good things that could happen if it went really well.
It's magic in every other area. yeah and oh gosh that's why i love this stuff because
i feel like this has really been kind of the the key to my results in my business in life because
i would probably have if i took an iq test i probably wouldn't even you know i don't know i
don't even know what this rankings are i don't even know what the lowest is i'd probably be at
the bottom and so for me,
it's like, I just feel like I stack and stack and stack so much good, uh, PQ, is that right?
Yeah. Exactly. Right. SQ, whatever you're calling it, social. Yeah. And I feel like
people care more about how you make them feel, you know, as opposed to how smart you are or whatever.
And that quote, that famous quote, I think it's by Maya Angelou. People don't care how much you
know until they know what you care is one quote. Yes. And then people remember,
remember what you say, but they remember the way you made them feel. Oh God. Quote,
quote. Those are my two favorite quotes. Yes. So I saw that quote, that second quote,
what I just explained with the skydivers, that is the scientific reason behind that quote.
So in the book, I talk about these quotes we share
all the time, like the Dale Carnegie, how to, you know, um, be interested to be interesting.
Like what is the science behind that? Not just like, Oh, that's a cool philosophy.
Cause now that Maya Angelou quote, you actually could think to yourself,
what emotion do I want to infect today? Right? Like, is it gratitude? Is it excitement? Is it
fulfillment? And like, by the way, this
doesn't mean that you cannot be vulnerable. This doesn't mean you can, you can't have a bad day.
This doesn't mean that you can't go into a meeting and be like, I'm so sorry. Like I'm
feeling really down. In fact, I have those days. We all do. I regularly do not cancel meetings on
those days. I feel that I would rather go in and say,
listen, like I am just overwhelmed. Yeah. Like I'm off. I'm overwhelmed. I'm sorry for that
because I also want to catch theirs, right? It's not just a one way street. We don't just infect.
I also like to be infected by others. And so I feel like, and not every time this has worked,
but a lot of the time it works when I come to someone and I'm like I am so stressed about this book launch right like I am
I am terrified like recently fully honest I am in so much fear really why god I am so book yes why
what are you afraid of everything I'm so I'm afraid that people aren't gonna like it I'm
afraid that people are gonna be like you're not a real expert.
You're an awkward person.
How could you write a book?
I'm like afraid that it's going to get out there and be misused or misrepresented.
I'm afraid that I put all this energy into launching.
You know, launching is such a big thing and it's going to fail.
What's failing?
For me, it would be no one reading it.
Okay.
Well, that's not going to happen.
I've already read it.
I mean, you had to read it.
I forced myself onto your podcast.
You had to read it.
My production manager read it.
It's two people.
It's two people.
Listen, people are going to read it because it's powerful and it's what people need if they want to get results in their life.
If you want to make more money, if you want to have better relationships, if you want to not be in pain and suffering, then you need to read the book.
I wrote it for me.
I wrote it for them.
So I think that going in with these fears is not necessarily a bad thing because then I can say, please infect me with calm.
You are so calm and so confident that that made me
feel better. Right. You're like, what do you, like, what do you mean? It's going to be great.
Like that's, I know what this book is. I'm like, right. Like if Lewis knows it, okay. Like Lewis
knows it. Right. You also have proof your, your blog does well, your courses do well. And this
is like an enhancement of those. I mean, you know, we can, we can talk about business models if you
want. This is, it was an interesting platform change for me because my platform is B2B and B2C. I've never had a book piece in a platform. So it was an interesting
addition to add in a book piece, which you know, not just online courses. Yeah, it's a new platform
play and I'm excited about it, but it's different. I've never done it before. It's going to bring a
lot more opportunities. I hope so. Yeah, it will. I hope so. People always ask, should I write a
book? And I've self-published and traditionally published and it's, that's like a totally different,
they're totally different bags. Those two buckets. Yeah. What was this publisher again?
Penguin Random House portfolio. That's great. And they're fantastic. Yeah. You're going to be fine.
Like your goal. Don't worry about it. Wait, I, I, can I tell you something though? Okay.
So neuroticism, I'm a high neurotic and I, I, people are always
like neurotic. It's such a bad word, but neurotic is a way, it's a way of talking about emotional
stability. You are, I think low neurotic. Yes. You're not very neurotic. You're very emotionally
stable. I can have triggered moments that make me frustrated and yeah, but I think I'm pretty emotionally stable.
Okay. But I like things the way I like them. Oh. And so, and it's not the way I like it. I,
you know, I get frustrated, but. So that's about the ritual that like the habit of setting things
up. So as a low neurotic, you told me it will be fine. Yes. Now for my high neurotics listening,
you might know who you are. When people tell you it
will be fine, it actually makes you more nervous. Really? Yes. You know what? It's not going to be
fine. You need to work harder. You're screwed. You're going to fail. Okay. So let me, I know
this sounds crazy, but so neuroticism is one of the five personality traits and it is actually,
So neuroticism is one of the five personality traits and it is actually, it's genetic. And what I mean by that is, um, so how we look at neuroticism is by the serotonin transport
gene.
I promise this won't get too scientific, but this made me feel a lot of relief when I read
this.
So serotonin is a very, very lovely little chemical that makes us feel calm.
It calms us down.
Yes.
Like if, if we like almost, um, get hurt and we're like, Oh, then like
serotonin is what floods our body to say, you're okay. Everything will be fine. Serotonin it's
mantra is everything will be fine. Right. High neurotics carry a special form of the serotonin
transport gene, which means they do not produce as much serotonin and it goes more slowly.
That's why they're more neurotic. Exactly.
Because when I have something bad that happens to me, it takes me longer to calm down than you.
Mm-hmm.
Depends on the thing.
Totally depends on the thing.
On the trigger.
Exactly.
If I feel like I've been attacked or something or been like something has been questioned
about me or something or someone did something to me wrong, I feel like wronged, then sometimes
it could be weeks that I hold on to it.
Oh, interesting.
It depends on the thing.
But other things are like, whatever.
Like if someone's like flipping me off in the streets or something or in the driving,
I'm like, all right, on to the next.
So that, my friend, is a resource language thing.
So that means that you have a resource language of status, which means that if someone has challenged you,
that there's a respect issue,
there was a wronging,
there was a disloyalty there,
your value was taken from you in terms of resources.
So there's six,
there's six resources,
status,
information,
money,
goods,
services,
and love.
We all have need all of these resources,
but we typically want the resource we did not get in our childhood.
Exactly. Absolutely. I mean, I was sexually abused. So for me, when I feel like anyone's taking advantage of me, We all need all of these resources, but we typically want the resource we did not get in our childhood. Yeah, exactly.
Absolutely.
I mean, I was sexually abused.
So for me, when I feel like anyone's taking advantage of me-
It triggers.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Absolutely right.
So I understand it.
Yes.
And it threatens you.
So when you talk about neuroticism, someone who cannot self-calm as much, they are more
anxious because they know it will affect them for longer.
Right?
Become more anxious, yeah. Right. So that is- I don't want it to just affect me. So I hire people will affect them for longer. Right. Become more anxious.
Yeah.
Right.
So that is,
so I hire people who will worry for me.
Like I literally don't have like official warriors on my team,
but my lovely team,
like I will say,
Danielle,
can you just worry about this for me?
That's smart.
Can you just,
because I know that if she's worrying about it, I don't have to.
So you'll notice that in relationships,
partnerships with colleagues,
you have to be able to ask for your resource theory.
You have to be able to ask for things that will keep you calm.
Can you take care of this for me?
Can you handle this for me?
Exactly.
And what your trigger points are.
So for a high neurotic, it might be emotional stability, right?
Like worry or anxiety.
And having someone else share that worry with you makes you feel better.
So in a typical male-female relationship, typical, and this is not everyone.
Generalized, yeah.
Generalized, the woman is the worrier, the man is not the worrier.
Not always, but sometimes.
So for example, in my relationship, my husband is the rock, right?
So I'm really worried about something and he'll be like, it'll all be fine, babe.
And that makes you even more worried.
Yes.
Because I want to know that I'm not the only one worrying.
So what if he says, you know what, don't worry about it, I'll handle it.
Okay, now we're getting better.
Okay. Yeah. Then you can say, all right, he's going to take care of it. Ooh, I like that. Especially if he's you know what don't worry about it i'll handle it okay now we're getting better okay yeah then you can say all right he's gonna take care of it oh i like
that especially if he's actually you can let go of it yeah i get on the way quicker quicker right
here here would be the ultimate i got this here i'll show you go do something else oh see that's
that would like be magic right if he was like does he not do that he does now he does do that
right because he knows what you Right. So he'll say,
like, I'll be worried about, I don't know, like planning something for an in-law trip or something
like that. Right. And he'll be like, babe, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to book the
flights. I'm going to let my mom know about our timing. We're going to make sure that we have
early reservations and we're going to make sure that all these things are taken care of.
You're going to pack a week in advance. Yes. Yeah. I'm the packer, actually.
I pack as he does the travel.
Sure, sure.
Right.
So I think that when we talk about how we're wired, it helps us not want to change the person we're with.
So the biggest mistake, especially when we're talking about personality or resource language,
is we hope that we can make someone better.
The problem is that we are wired a certain way. 35 to 55%
of our personality is genetic. The rest is shaped in early childhood. So yes, while we do have some
ability to change our personality, that's called free trait theory. You can optimize parts of your
personality to achieve your goals. Yeah. And you can be aware of it. And so you can move out of
it. It is much better to figure out how can I work with my partner, colleague, friends, resource language need or personality in a better way.
So, for example, one of the personality traits is openness.
So openness is like adventure, adventure, adventure, this creativity, new ideas.
People who are high open always want to try new restaurants.
They want to go to new places.
They're always trying new ways of doing things in their business.
They're the boss that's like, let's try this.
Let's try that.
Let's do this.
Low open people love habit and tradition and routine.
They love having things set up the same way every time.
They like to honor that routine.
It makes them feel whole and one.
So if you have people in a relationship where someone's high open.
The opposite.
You're like constantly stressed.
You don't have to
be you're constantly stressed it would be better to be like for the high open person to be like hey
i it's really important to me to be adventurous with food trying new restaurants is a thing is
that okay with you i'm totally okay with having the morning routine be the same having our grocery
shopping be the same smart but on this area that makes me feel that's a week we're going somewhere different yeah exactly or do i need to have a friend who's my adventurous eater
right yeah that that's like a i think something that we don't always negotiate in that way and
as soon as you have the language it makes it a non-hot button issue right so instead of
i want to try a new place you always want to try a new place. You always want to try a new place. That's a hot button issue, right?
Versus, hey, like Thursdays are night out, night.
Are you open to trying somewhere new
or should I call my friend George?
Right, like that's a very different kind of conversation.
And my goal is not to get rid of your fights.
It's to make them discussions.
Yeah, not fights.
Right.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
So you said you wanted to talk about something
in the beginning about personalities.
I did.
Now, what is this specifically?
Yes.
So you're like, I don't know about this topic.
Let's hear it.
So when we talk about signs of personality, there's a lot of things out there.
DISC and Enneagram and Myers-Briggs and all these things.
The only one that is scientifically based is the big five.
And it's five personality traits.
Is it the five love languages?
We talked about the five love languages, actually.
That's a good one, too.
So there's like special five.
Five love languages and the five big five.
Yes.
I know that's not scientific, the love languages.
Actually, I mean.
Although it seems.
There is some science.
Very practical.
There is some science behind it.
Yeah.
Yeah, there is.
And the big five has a lot.
Okay.
And so everyone has these big five
personality traits and they're either high or low in them there's one or the other it's high low
there's no middle there is middle it is a spectrum this is the biggest difference between like myers
briggs that like labels you like an extrovert or introvert like a lot of people like really
struggle with that well i'm kind of both or i'm in the middle exactly so it's all every trade is
a spectrum and like we have like a like a a nice spectrum and you kind of place yourself on it.
A lot of these personality traits are not our choice. So that is why I brought up the serotonin
thing for neuroticism. The greatest understanding that we can have about ourselves is to know that
our reactions, our emotional reactions are part of how we are wired. So a lot of the times like you feel guilty or
jealous or, um, all these dirty emotions, right? The negative emotions that we don't like to feel.
And then we judge ourselves for them. Like, Oh, I'm so not gracious right now. I'm so not feeling
my gratitude. But actually your optimism or your negativity is, is wired within you. So you're
better off trying to figure out what are my triggers, how am I naturally wired, and how can I optimize that?
So we talked about openness, right?
Figuring out how you can balance routine versus something new.
Talked a little bit about neuroticism.
The other one that I wanted to bring up was conscientiousness.
So conscientiousness in a relationship, studies have found that this is the biggest one, that if you have a difference in your partner's conscientiousness, you have the most relationship problems.
Say it again.
So if you are different than your partner's conscientiousness, scientifically speaking, you're more likely to have more relationship problems.
Okay.
So conscientiousness.
Yeah.
Conscientiousness is how you approach detail.
So hi, conscientious people.
This would be me.
We love to do this. Details with everything. people, this would be me, we love to do this.
Details with everything.
Details, alphabetizing, steps, routine.
We love lots of things.
And if your partner is like,
could care less about it,
and is like,
oh, loosey-goosey,
like, hey, we'll get to it someday.
Low conscientiousness
is exactly what you just said.
Yeah, yeah.
Big ideas.
Yeah.
Strategy.
Doesn't want to get bogged down in the
details this is you right it's not me i like the detail but i just see where you're coming from
it's funny yeah right and so what happens is is you have people who are like hey let's plan a
vacation i have a color-coded spreadsheet with all the different possible locations and approximate
weather in those locations and then you have the low open low conscientious person who's like
approximate weather in those locations.
And then you have the low-conjunctious person who's like, let's just fly to a place and figure it out when we get there.
Yeah.
I like that too.
So I think you're in the middle.
I think I'm in the middle.
Here's the thing, because I love big ideas and I love strategizing about them.
But I know as an athlete, you've got to execute on a daily basis if you want to make them
happen.
Ooh.
That's a different thing what you just said there.
Okay.
So here's what i do now
then tell me what you're gonna say okay so i come up with the ideas and then
i hire the people who are very detailed and say run with it so i can come up with more big ideas
and then bring them back to you and say now we're gonna do this now run with that
so i you know hire people with those strengths to work with me on that. The way that, I don't know if you guys heard what Louis just said, which is that is so free trait theory.
So what you said is basically I optimize.
I know that details are important as an athlete.
I know the details are important in my business.
So either I work those details out in a workout routine or I hire those people.
or I hire those people.
So that is a great example of how you can take what you naturally are
and then free trade there,
optimize it so that you leverage it up.
So I would say that you're probably medium low,
but you know how to turn it up in the areas
that it's needed,
which is probably one of the reasons
why you're so successful.
It depends too.
As an athlete,
I couldn't hire anyone to do the work for me.
It was like I had to train all day.
I had to do the research.
I was constantly studying game film. I was practicing. I was doing everything myself.
So I can't export it. Yeah. You can't, you gotta, you gotta do it yourself as an athlete. So,
um, so I understood it, but now that I have more resources and, you know,
different part of my life, I can optimize the thing that I like doing the most.
And I, I think that that is the key to happiness, right? i did a whole um two-year study on happiness
and we can get into if you'd like to write a book about it i didn't yet
i have an online course on it but i didn't write a book on it yet um and i wrote it from the place
of like i'm also not a naturally like a happy person like i am a warrior yeah and so like i
really have to work at it yeah and um what I learned was is that it's actually not the big things that make you happy.
It's the little things, including.
Like the cup of coffee you're going to get later as a treat.
Yeah, like the smell of the coffee, like the amazing juice at creation, whatever, right?
Like, oh, the smoothness.
By the way, everyone, I went to creation with Lewis.
Yes.
And you downed your juice faster than I could
drink. It was impressive. I was like, where did it go? It was magic. Um, so yeah, so saving those
things. And also those moments where you have optimized your natural personality instead of
changing it. Right. That is where happiness comes from. When you can say, I'm a big idea person.
I love creativity.
I love strategizing.
I love big ideas and big pictures.
Getting bogged down in the details is necessary, but I don't like it.
So therefore, I'm going to find a way to either outsource it or minimize it so I can focus on those things.
That feeling of capability, that feeling of control is incredibly happiness making.
Control is a very happy making emotion. It's, you know,
we think about happiness as like pleasure and joy and ecstasy, but actually, you know,
the words for happiness are control, capability, and optimization.
Like feeling like you're in control, right? Not like controlling people or something,
but feeling like you're in control of your results or your life.
Yes.
And one example of this that I like thinking about is there's this thing called the Tetris
effect.
I don't know if you've ever heard of this.
So these researchers had students.
Tetris effect.
I thought you said the Touchers.
I was like, Touchers effect?
No, like Tetris.
Tetris effect.
Tetris effect.
Got it.
But I like that one too.
That's very happy making. The Tetris effect that's very happy that's good too yes we can
hand hug later if you want hand hug yeah yeah so this this is not as fun as the tetris effect yes
so what researchers did this was not a study on happiness they brought research they brought
students in they had them play tetris for like four hours sounds fun i haven't played tetris
in probably 20 years but i used to love playing games all the time. It is addictive, yeah.
So they were testing something about the brain.
And an unexpected result of this study is that students left the lab and were literally seeing their entire life like a Tetris board.
They wanted to rearrange their furniture like Tetris.
They wanted to, like, stand in line like Tetris.
They wanted to reorganize their shelving like Tetris.
And they realized that in a weird way they had primed the brain to think in a Tetris-like pattern.
So what happens is, is typically humans have a negativity bias. We are trained to see the
negative things in the world, the bad things. This is a survival mechanism, right? As cavemen,
we had to go, hmm, it might rain. I better get ahead. I should really forage for the winter.
We are trained to see all the problems and potential things that could go wrong so we
could prepare ourselves.
So our bias, our training is negative, negative, negative.
We open our email and go, what's wrong?
What's wrong?
What's wrong?
We walk into a room and we're like, who don't I know?
Why don't I belong?
I'm not saying everyone has this, but there's certain extremes.
I think that we can retrain our brain,
just like the Tetris effect,
to see in happiness patterns.
So instead of walking into a room and being like,
oh, I don't belong, I don't know anyone,
thinking about why do I belong?
Who can I know?
That's a very different kind of framework
to see the world.
And so I think that that's
about control, right? That that's bringing control into a negative mindset and flipping it
so that it's not necessarily positive. You just know where your frame is coming from.
Yeah. Okay. Control. What was the other thing?
Control, capability, and optimization.
That's the key to happiness.
Those three things are, I think, are the key to happiness. Yes.
Wow. Okay, cool. And I think that are the key to happiness. Yes. Wow.
Okay.
Cool.
And I think that they're underappreciated.
I got it.
Especially with capability.
Okay.
So where else?
Did I get us off track?
I think I got us off track.
Okay.
I got like down the happiness.
You were going to say, so we're talking about personality something, right?
Yes. So the last thing I was going to say was with conscientiousness is thinking about if your
partner is a big idea person or a detail person,
same with your colleagues. Oh yeah, you said the most conflict of-
This is the most conflicts where you have, why didn't you clean up? I did clean up.
This isn't clean. Not the way I wanted it to be.
Exactly. So do you guys, you and your partner,
your husband, are you guys complete opposites in that space then? Or are you-
He is much lower conscientious than I am. So how does that work?
So we figured it out. So for example, we figured out what needs to be changed and what doesn't so like for example i like an
organized sock drawer my husband doesn't care if he's wearing whatever on his feet right so we have
after many months of being like did you get your socks did you fold your socks your socks are
everywhere i was like you know what like that is his drawer we do not share a drawer any longer
he has his side of the closet he wants my. So instead of trying to change him and teach him how to have
a better sock drawer, I was like, no, that's a waste of both of our, it's not, it's not real
to who we are. I'd rather have us optimize and say, that's his, this is mine. That's a really
small example, a very like concrete example, but there's bigger ones as well. For example,
if you are talking about, um, a friendship or how you want to raise children, someone who is high conscientious
is going to want to break down all the details and plan for every eventuality.
Or someone who's a big picture person is going to be like, let's, let's meet the kid and let's
see what we think. Right. And those can be major value differences. So instead of getting angry
at them or trying to convince them
to be more like you, big idea or detailed, the better conversation is why don't you want to
pre-plan or why do you think that going by the seat of your pants is better? Like where, where
is the value there? How can we pick this based on actual strengths and not how we're wired?
So I think that's a very different kind of conversation to have. So those are the three things. The ones I would focus on is how organized
someone is, how big of an open, adventurous someone is, and how much of a warrior someone is.
And it's okay if they're opposite on both of those, all those things with you, but you just
have to figure out how to optimize them. And by the way, if you're single, I think that one of
the things to think about is like, what is your ideal personality match?
I know this is a crazy, this is a crazy way to think about dating.
Like most people are like, they don't think about this, but like, I think that if you're
dating.
That's where a lot of stress comes from.
A lot.
A lot of pain and suffering in a relationship.
Yes.
And I think that like a really fun, maybe this is me, this is my idea of fun.
I think a really fun conversation you can have in the beginning of a relationship, the
first few dates is like, so like I read this book or I listened to this podcast on personality.
You know, are you, are you a big idea person or a detail person?
Are you a morning person or you're a night person?
Right.
Like those kinds of conversations early are so much better than when they normally come
out, which is on the first fight.
As opposed to just having like this chemical attraction and being like, Oh, we love each
other.
And it's like, you know, we'll figure it all out constantly.
Yeah. Right. Yeah. And remember that people will you know, we'll figure it all out constantly. Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
And remember that people will free trade that they'll optimize during the lust phase.
So you don't actually know how much they are.
This happened to me recently.
I hired a developer and in his interview process, he came across as very high conscientious.
He sent phases, sent the proposal.
I was like, great, this is wonderful because I work well with other high conscientious
people.
But he optimized for me during the interview process because I did not, of course,
put his best foot forward. Of course. So I didn't ask the right questions, which should have been.
So over the course of this eight month project, how do you like to work? Are you a weekly check-in kind of a person? Are you kind of like checking once in a while? And then I would have, I would
have immediately found out it's not good fit. And then I would have been like, shoot.
He's a kind of do it as you do it kind of guy.
Yeah, yeah.
But I didn't know to ask those questions.
So I think in the beginning of all relationships,
the best thing we can do is don't let the lust overcome us.
Right?
It's tough.
It's so tough.
In personal relationships, in business relationships, all that.
And I've seen in dating profiles,
people will put their MBTI in dating profiles sometimes.
MBTI? The Myers-Briggs, like ENFJ or INFJ. In dating profiles? I've seen in dating profiles, people will put their MBTI in dating profiles sometimes. MBTI?
The Myers-Briggs, like ENFJ or INFJ.
In dating profiles?
I've seen it.
I have seen it in dating profiles.
People are obsessed with that stuff.
I forget what I always, someone always tells me what I am, but I forget it.
I can't remember.
ENFJ?
I think so, maybe.
Yeah.
Yeah, maybe.
But that Myers-Briggs, remember, is not scientifically based.
Because also, we do change over time slightly.
And it's hard if you have one label.
Like if you're just E, it gives you very little wiggle room.
Yeah, yeah.
I don't like that.
There's another personality test with four quadrants.
Have you seen this?
DISC.
Is that what it is?
Where it's promoter, supporter, analyzer, controller.
Yes.
Have you seen that?
I think that that's DISC.
But I've seen that one, yes.
Promoter, supporter, analyzer controller yes have you seen that i think i think that that's disc but i've seen that one yes promoter supporter analyzer controller and you kind of like you rank you go through a quiz figuring out which quadrant you're the highest at yeah so you'd be you know i'm a promoter
controller yeah first of promoter i'm like a big idea i'm passionate i'm like excited let's go let's
do this yeah i like to be in control i like to you know have all those things and then it's support
analyze
it's kind of like
the top four
but really I'm like
very close to almost
all of them
like all of them
are pretty high
so I'm almost like
very spread out
and like the true leaders
I hear is what they say
is like you want to be able
to tap into each quadrant
to connect to an analyzer
if they're an analyzer
you want to be able
to be analytical with them
if they're a promoter you want to be promoting with them if they analyzer, you want to be able to be analytical with them. If they're a promoter,
you want to be promoting with them.
If they're a supporter,
you want to be in support with them.
Yeah.
So you're always meeting someone where they're at,
not trying to have them meet you where you're at.
So it's like a flexible leadership style.
Flexible leadership.
That is the same thing with emotional intelligence.
This is emotional intelligence.
Yeah.
That's what it is.
And it's the exact same thing with that.
And also like expressiveness.
Yes.
For example,
like from a nonverbal perspective, if someone shows up and they're like super bubbly and super excited and the other person's like kind of calm, it's a mismatch.
You got to meet them where they're at.
Yeah.
You got to meet them where they're at.
You got to be a little bit ahead and try to get them to that space.
I think that matching and mirroring is an interesting way to think about interactions, especially like phone calls.
interesting way to think about interactions, especially like phone calls. Um, we're doing a bunch of research right now on vocal power and which you think about vocal power probably all
the time because a lot of people are listening. Um, so we found was, well, there's, there's an
interesting anchor study here where, um, they looked at doctors and they found that doctors
who record 10 second voice tone clips. So hello, my name is Dr. Edwards. I work at
Children's Presbyterian Hospital and I specialize in oncology, something like that. They took those
clips and they warbled the words. So you couldn't understand the words that were being said. So it
was, they asked people to rate those clips on intelligence, warmth, competence. And imagine
this for a second. Like you hear a clip of like gobbledygook. Like.
How could you rate it?
Yeah, yeah.
Exactly.
How could you?
But people do.
They found that the doctors who got rated the lowest in intelligence and warmth also had the highest rate of malpractice lawsuits.
Wow.
Yeah.
Just based on confidence and voice.
Somehow.
We don't sue people.
We don't sue doctors based on their actual skills. We sue doctors based on our perception of their skills. So in your voice, how they show up, how they sound,
it does not have to do with the verbal. Remember how at the very beginning I was like, whatever
you say in those first few seconds is actually not as important as what you're showing up as.
We even catch that on the phone. So your vocal power, you know, how you say hello. And like,
what's interesting is the biggest mistake people make. Hello. Oh my gosh. Hello. Yeah, exactly.
Exactly. So tone, cadence and pitch. Also another one is like people will hold their breath while
they answer. So they go, hello. That's the highest end of my vocal range. I'm working
very hard right now to keep my vocal range in the lowest possible range.
Well, it's more calm and relaxing.
It's much more calm.
It has a better resonance.
Yeah.
Right, a better resonance point.
So if you hear yourself and you hear yourself going a little bit higher in your range.
It's not good.
The best thing you can do is actually speak on the out breath.
So if you hear the difference.
So I'm going to make myself go tense.
So if I get really excited and I tense my vocal cord, I sound a little bit nervous, a little bit more like a
child. Now, if I speak on the out breath, it forces the words out, it relaxes my vocal cords,
and it makes me sound more resonant. So the best thing you can do is actually answer on the out
breath. So not hello versus hello. A very, very different.
All these careers I could do.
Exactly.
It's funny.
I heard my brother told me that he read some science project or something where research on when he's on the phone, he smiles when he's like saying goodbye.
He's like smiling in the last like 30 seconds.
And he says people can feel that on the other side.
Yes.
Okay.
So that is absolutely right.
There are 16 different kinds of smiles that can be detected from voice tone alone.
Wow.
16.
16 different kinds of smiles.
What's interesting is we're on our vocal study that we're doing right now.
We haven't published this research yet, but it's super interesting.
We found in preliminary results, we had the same people record hello with different body language expressions.
Like hello. Exactly. Yeah. Like slouched over. Well, we can do it right now, actually. Let's
try it. See if you can guess what we're doing. So like, let's do like this one. Like really.
Hello. Hello. Right. Versus. Hello. Hello. Right. So like that's low power versus high power right
it's like it's supposed to change our voice now we make them do it for a little bit longer because
it's very quick and we also have them do micro expressions so happiness micro expression anger
micro expression was when you pull your eyebrows together harden your lips um versus uh sadness
micro expressions that's when you pinch your inner corners together.
Yep.
And we had them record hellos.
Wow.
And then we had people in our lab or participants,
and you can go play if you want,
listen to these clips
and rate them on warmth,
competence, and charisma.
The same person
will get totally different ratings
based on how they are holding their face
and their body.
So how you hold yourself on the phone matters.
This is the same thing we were talking about earlier,
which is like, what do you want to infect, right?
If you answer the phone sad and anxious and distracted,
not only do people perceive you as sad, anxious, distracted,
they catch those emotions too.
So what's the best thing people should do
before they answer the phone?
Out-breath.
So not holding your breath in.
So like if you can take one or two deep breaths before you answer, it will Out breath. So not holding your breath in. So like if you can take
one or two deep breaths
before you answer,
it will relax your vocal cord, right?
So you're like picking it up.
Who is it?
Yeah, a couple deep breaths
and then hello.
So that's the first thing you can do.
It relaxes your vocal cords.
Should you say hello?
Or if it's a friend,
you're like, hey, what's up?
Either one.
Good looking.
Either one.
I like that even better.
That's a compliment.
I like a compliment.
So like, hey, this is Lewis. Hello like that even better. That's a compliment. I like a compliment. Really?
So like, hey, this is Lewis.
Hello.
Hey, buddy, what's up?
Right?
So one or two deep breaths. So it doesn't matter what you say.
Exactly.
It's the energy and how you're saying it.
Yeah.
Just like when you're meeting in person.
Exactly.
So breath.
Yes.
Breath.
Oh, I didn't get an explosion.
Yes.
Breath.
I'm not cool like that.
You are cool.
I cannot do a fist bump like that.
You're cool.
Can we just like wave at each other? That's like way more comfortable for me. Okay. Hey, that. You are cool. I cannot do a fist bump like that. You're cool. Can we just like wave at each other?
That's like way more comfortable for me.
Okay.
Hey guys.
Hey guys.
Yeah.
So out breath is actually the most important one.
If you can do it.
The second one would be to try to actually just be as expressive as they are.
So if you hear this,
so you're,
you say hello,
right?
And they're like,
Hey,
what's up?
Oh,
hey,
what's up?
Yeah.
Hey,
what's up?
Right?
Like that match
is like an instant i'm with you i'm on the same page sure especially for business yeah yeah
especially great okay uh i want to get to the final part of talking about uh lying yes and how
you can tell someone's lying yes oh good so i don't have much of this in the book i don't i
don't have very much of this in the book.
Why don't you have this in the book?
The reason is because I think this is one of those evil superpowers.
Yeah.
It's like ma-ha-ha.
It's like that.
Because it is very powerful.
The science behind lie detection is very concrete.
It's not a guessing game.
We do know a lot about what happens to people when they lie.
The problem is amateur lie detectors do worse than people who don't know anything about lying.
Ah, got it.
So always my worry is like, oh my gosh, if I give someone a little bit of information,
I actually make them worse. So for example, in the biggest study on lie detection that was done,
we can spot lies with 54% accuracy.
So flip a coin?
Exactly.
It's terrible.
Like we're terrible.
By the way, like police officers don't, oh, so can you guess there's one group that did
better on this?
It's not police officers.
It's not doctors.
It's not teachers.
Kids.
No, I wish it was kids.
They actually didn't test kids because that's a whole different IRB process.
Who could test, who is more efficient and see if there's a lie?
It was.
Is that what you're saying?
The group?
Prison inmates.
Wow.
That makes sense.
Right.
As soon as I read that,
I was like, oh, yeah.
And they joke,
like the title of that section
is like it takes one to know one.
Oh, yeah, of course.
Right?
And so that was like
very interesting to me.
A BSer.
Exactly.
Can't steal from a thief.
All those things. Yes, yes exactly the same thing happens
with lying so the problem is is that the moment you give an amateur like a liar like someone
amateur tips their ability goes below 55 it gets even worse they don't know yeah because it's like
you need the whole system but i think there's a couple things that if you are interested in this
thing or in this idea this topic there's a couple of things that if you are interested in this thing or in this idea or this topic, there's a couple of things that you want to start with. And there
are things that can immediately help you spot lies in your life. Are you ready? Let's do it.
Okay. The first thing that you want to look for are incongruencies. So in interactions,
it's very easy to control our words, right? Anyone can say anything. What you're looking
for is incongruencies with the body or voice tone. So for example, if I were to show up and be like, I'm so happy to be here
today, right? Like you can hear it. Um, our body language has 12.5 times more weight than our
words. So with liars, what you're looking for is leaks, leaks or incongruencies. A very common one
is in Western cultures, an up and down nod, a vertical nod means yes. And a horizontal
one means no. So an incongruency would be like, yes, right. Exactly. Or like, um, and for people
who are listening, I'm shaking my head opposite. So it would be, um, so did you, uh, take the
cookies from the cookie jar? Um, no. Right. Right. So that, that's like a leak. That's something that
we often see where we're seeing some kind of incongruency.
The other big kind of incongruency is microexpressions.
And this is something that I do talk about in the book.
It's sort of the first step to lie detection is learning how to read faces.
Yeah.
And the most important facial expression to recognize, this is the most powerful one,
is the expression of contempt.
So contempt is a one-sided mouth raise.
Smirk. Dr. John Gottman, he analyzed thousands of couples in his love lab looking for patterns in marriages. He found that couples who showed contempt towards the other
with 93% accuracy would get divorced within 30 years. I mean, you don't hear stats like that very often. So contempt is a really
interesting one. You see it a lot on liars because if someone is truly happy about something or very
excited to see you or happy to be there, there's no reason they're going to show contempt for the
smirk. It often will come out either because they're actually not happy with what they're
saying or they hate having to lie. Liars hate lying. So oftentimes,
and we have, we did a big lie detection experiment. We had people play two truths and a lie with us
and we analyzed their videos. Oh yes, it was, want to play Lewis? No, I'm just kidding.
So like they, we actually analyzed their cues. Liars hate to lie. We don't like the feeling in
our body when we lie. It feels really inauthentic. So sometimes you'll see a liar who will make contempt because they're
like, oh, I really don't want to have to do this. And they hold their mouth in that side contempt
expression because they really don't like it. So the two things that I want you to look out for,
and if you're starting to see it, that means you actually have an eye for it, is contempt when
there shouldn't be contempt and any kind of incongruencies,
like that negative head nod
or when someone says something
but doesn't actually mean it.
You start with those two steps
and you're already going to increase your abilities.
Your lie detection capabilities.
Yes.
I like it.
I like it.
But you use your gut.
You use your intuition for lie detection.
You feel it, you know.
You're reading everything,
just kind of like you're reading the guy, like sweating and smelling it and you're like.
Yes.
Everything combined.
Exactly.
So actually that is more important.
That's the most important thing.
Eye contact as well, you know.
If someone's like not looking at you and they're, you know.
So liars, if you're lying face to face, not on video.
So liars typically look you in the eye more because they want to see if you believe them.
Oh, see if you believe them?
No way.
Yes.
Why don't you want to like try to do that so you could try to like just act like you're
telling the truth?
So either one.
So really good liars actually make more eye contact.
Like I don't believe you.
Right.
So like, for example, like a really good liar is like, I'm going to deliver this to you
and hope you do.
And they're trying to see, does this, do they believe me?
Are they making any weird facial expressions? Can I
convince them? So actually looking away, shifty eyes is just a sign of nervousness. Oh yeah. A
truth teller can be nervous too. So there's all these weird myths. Also, um, you want to guess
the, um, mode of communication that has the highest amount of lies. So your choices are
face to face emails. I, or chat, like text.
Which do you think has the most amount of lies?
Text.
Is that the least amount?
Nope.
It is phone has the most amount of lies.
And the reason for this is because.
Oh, I think I know why.
Tell me.
Yeah.
Maybe.
Yeah. I bet you.
I bet you.
Right.
Well, because one.
Well, I don't know.
I was going to say anything that's not recorded. Yes. That's it yes, that's it. But text is like you've got proof or something.
You can go back to it. That's exactly right though. That's why. So phone has the most
because there's no paper trail and you don't have to lie to someone's face, right? Like it's real
easy to like turn your back and be like, yeah. So, um, whereas email text and face to face,
email text has a paper trail and face to face hasn't. So there email, text, and face-to-face, email, text has a paper trail and face-to-face
doesn't. So there's all these really interesting things about lying that we have misconceptions
or we don't think about them. So by the way, if you're doing a lot of business on the phone,
if you're doing a lot of coaching on the phone, you really have to be careful. I have a lot of
students who are life coaches. They work with a lot of students and they do a lot of phone
consulting. The problem with that is if it has the most amount of lies or we're talking about hidden emotions.
If you're working as a coach, like you really have to spot those hidden emotions.
You have to think about what are ways that we can either bring the video to this, like do video chat or do in person.
Or at least say, hey, I'm taking notes on this call.
I'm going to send you a summary after we hang up.
That actually brings the amount of lies down to email level because
you're telling them, I'm going to commit this to black and white. I'm going to commit this to paper.
Yes. They feel like it's trustworthy.
Exactly. So whenever I do negotiations, I do a lot of phone negotiations when I'm doing corporate
events. I always say, my assistant's on the line. So third person, right, to hear.
Who's taking notes.
Exactly. My assistant's on the line. She's going to be taking some notes for us. And don't worry,
she'll send a full summary out afterwards. Please confirm that we got all the details right when you get it. Exactly. My assistant's on the line. She's going to be taking some notes for us. And don't worry. She'll send a full summary out afterwards. Please confirm that we got all the details right
when you get it. Amazing. I have caught so many little lies. People don't mean, I don't think.
Take the notes. Yeah. Because my assistant will take notes, very good notes. And then we always
send it back and we say, please review these notes and please send us receipt that they all
look good too, that we got everything right.
And what do people say?
Well, the lies that we've caught is they've overestimated amount of people, overestimated a budget.
They're not the actual decision maker.
And so when we reply back with that email, they have to say, you know, I'm so sorry I mentioned $5,000, but I actually think it's going to be a little bit closer to $3,000.
Right.
Right?
Because they know that we'll have it in writing if anything is changed.
Of course.
So protect yourself in the business world by adding that in there.
I think that's a really important strategy for just getting more honest interactions.
What about negotiations?
Yes.
So for negotiations, the biggest thing here is actually vocal power.
So going back to vocal power.
Yes. the biggest thing here is actually vocal power. So going back to vocal, yes,
because we sue doctors
based on our perception of their skills,
the same thing happens in negotiations.
We value people on our perceptions of their skills.
So I know-
Perception of their skills.
Our perception of their skills.
And that comes through vocality.
Yes, because when you go to a negotiation,
you're not thinking about vocal,
you're thinking about what are my assets?
What are my value points?
What are the things I'm going to do?
Those are all important.
But the very first impression,
especially how you ask your number,
is the most important thing.
So for example, if you are quoting a price,
and this is the hardest part of negotiation,
someone says, how much do you charge?
What do you cost?
And you say, question inflection.
I charge $10,000.
Yeah, it's not good.
You are begging them to negotiate with
you. You're basically telling them, I'm not sure of this number and you shouldn't be either.
So first is making sure that you are saying, not asking. So make sure that you're going the
downward inflection. So the question inflection is when you go up at the end of your sentences,
that's very, very not asking. Yes. Versus going down at the end of your sentences.
So when you have a number, you have a skill that you're going to share, think about the verbal
ahead of time. But with vocal, you want to deliver that and authoritative voice tone.
So for example, like President Obama was very good at this. So if you said, how would you say $10,000?
Ah, so here's the bad way first. I always like to do negative practice first. So bad way is,
it'll be, I'd love to work with you. I think we'd be a great partnership and it will be $5,000. That's the bad way. The good way is, I'd love to work with you. I think we'd be a great partnership and it will be $5,000.
That's the bad way.
The good way is I'd love to work with you.
I think we'd be a great partner and the cost will be $5,000.
Right.
So it's just adding it at the end.
It's a finality, right?
It's like saying like, this is my cost and I know how much I'm worth now.
If you don't know how much you're worth, we can have a different discussion about that.
Right.
Like I want you to own your worth.
Your time is valuable.
Your skills are valuable.
You spent years learning to do what you do.
So you have to be able to price that well.
Your worth is only worth what someone's willing to pay as well.
100%.
So if you can't convince or enroll someone or, you know,
and then back it up with results, then, you know,
you may get it, but you may not keep it.
So you've got to do a lumber.
And they don't have a perception
of your value that way.
So the first thing is the downward inflection.
The second thing is volume.
So when we're really nervous,
we will lose volume.
Remember how we're excited?
I go up.
Yeah.
So sales people,
I do a lot of sales trainings.
They'll do this thing
where on the point
that they're most nervous about,
like their weak point
or something they're lying about
or a bad number,
ah, yeah, we'd love to work with you.
I think it'll be really great and the cost will be $5,000.
Right, right.
Again, that's a social signal of, ah, this person doesn't really want to charge that.
I'm going to ask for less.
I think it's when you're calm and comfortable when you speak about it.
That's going to come across well, right?
And practicing saying your hardest points.
So go through that practice sheet, the notes you take before a meeting, and practice saying to another human being, not your mirror.
Here's my rate.
Here is my rate.
Or there's other things you can be nervous about too in a negotiation, right?
Like a timeline or a skill level or maybe other competitors you think might be able
to beat you.
Make sure that you are practicing those comments with authoritative voice tone and solid volume.
So people feel comfortable and confident in your work.
And they catch it.
And you infect that feeling.
I love like, for me, it's so easy.
I get a lot of inbound email requests for speaking.
And I never want to jump on the phone with anyone because I'm just like, it's exhausting. I have the same problem. You know, like's so easy. I get a lot of email, inbound email requests for speaking. Yeah. And I never want to jump on the phone with anyone
because I'm just like,
it's exhausting.
I have the same problem.
You know,
like having these conversations.
So,
people will say,
we'd love to book you
and I literally reply with like one sentence.
I'm like,
I'm $35,000.
Just let me know the dates.
Yeah.
And I'll see if I'm free.
Yeah.
That's about all I say.
Yes.
Sometimes I'll ask like,
tell me more about like what it is,
but you know,
it's usually just like,
here it is.
If I'm free, let me, I'll let you know, but tell me more about like what it is but you know she's just like here it is if I'm free let me I'll let you know but tell me the dates and typically someone who is emailing you should already know that you're going to have a high value right and if you're that's also part
of your brand right like you're very direct if people want to know about what you you have a
podcast they can listen to you have a book that they can read and so it's also about how do you
position your numbers so yes you can give a lot of information, right?
And there's different kinds of proof.
There's three different kinds of proof.
There's social proof.
So that would be, you know, we've had 15 events in the last six months or whatever.
There's qualitative testimonial proof.
So this is like a CR person or a salesperson says,
Lewis was the best speaker I ever had.
And there's credibility proof.
So media mentions, published book, bestselling author.
So you have to think about, now, Lewis, you have those.
You have all three of them because you have a book
that's on your website.
You have social proof, you have podcasts.
So you don't need to necessarily go and prove that.
However, if you don't have a website
or if you don't have those obvious buckets filled,
you need to make sure that you are hitting
all three of those proof buckets in your response. So if you don't have a book or a podcast or anything like that,
your email back should be, so great to hear from you. First mention of social proof. I've done
events for groups like yours in the past. They've done really well. I think we did three different
groups last year. Social proof number one. Second, attach this email.
I have a deck with an overview of topics as well as some testimonials
from some of our previous groups
that have really enjoyed us.
And then here are my rates.
Please let me know dates.
And then at the bottom,
any professional credibility mentions.
So are you certified?
Are you a doctor?
Yeah.
Have you been on any media?
Those can be at the very bottom.
That way you're very subtly
hitting those three proof buckets. Yeah. And they're very important media? Those can be at the very bottom. That way you're very subtly hitting those three proof buckets.
Yeah.
And they're very important in negotiation.
I love it.
I love it.
Is there anything that you want to share that we haven't shared?
Oh my gosh.
I would say that the last thing, and this is something that I tried to make a big point
in the book.
I don't want to hit people over the head with it, but I don't think I got it as well as
I wanted, which is I don't think you should ever pretend to be
something you're not. Again, I don't believe in fake it till you make it. I think that you're
better off spending your time instead of trying to be the bubbly extrovert is trying to find out
what is your unique brand of charisma? Like what is your flavor? I think that the more time you
can spend on that before trying to emulate someone else
or trying to dial up something that isn't natural to you is a much better place to be.
And that's where happiness comes from.
I think that's what people mean when they say authentic.
And so anything I've said today in this interview or anything that you've read,
try to figure out what's your unique take on that.
Like go make me prove my worth, right?
Like if I said something that sounded interesting to you, go make an experiment, right?
Like go up to 50 different people in the next 50 days.
Yes.
And see if you can try out a conversation tracker if that works for you.
If you can find your unique flavor, if you can treat it like an experiment, you can never
fail because experiments never fail.
Yeah, that's good.
I did an experiment when I moved to New York City as well because I was like, I want to
meet some new people.
I don't know anyone here.
Yeah.
And I call it the Red Rose Project.
What?
Can you guess what it was?
Did you give red roses to people?
I did.
Yes.
Every day I bought roses that I would give them out.
Yes.
This is when I was single.
I gave them out to girls.
Yes.
Were you only trying to meet girls?
Yes.
You were about to say no. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to meet girls? Yes. You were about to say no.
I'm not going to lie.
I'm not going to lie.
I feel like you were about to say no.
I'm not going to lie.
Don't lie.
You can't lie.
No, I was trying to meet guys too,
but this specific project
was for dating girls.
Take girls on a date.
And it only lasted like four days
because I met a few different people.
It worked.
Yeah, it worked.
But a couple times it didn't work.
What happened?
I thought I was so smooth. Did it throw to hit you with the rose like you know i'm a nice guy like
i'm disarming you know i wasn't like this weird like dude or whatever i thought i was like a nice
guy pretty good yeah yeah but i remember i went up to like one girl and she like ran from me and
i was like oh my god i was like okay this did not work. But most people over there were like, oh, thank you.
They were kind of taken aback.
They thought it was going to happen.
And I didn't ask for anything either.
You just gave it to them?
I just gave it to them, yes.
And let it go.
And I would see what would happen.
And what happened?
I would just smile and just say, I wanted to give you a rose today.
And I would walk away.
And did you meet people?
Did you meet girls?
I did.
I met a few people.
Yeah.
But it only lasted for a few days.
And then I was like, oh.
So here's a challenge to everyone listening.
I love that. Is there a challenge to everyone listening I like love that
is there a project you can do
for five days
yeah
okay so
for my introverts listening
for my lovely introverts
maybe for you it's something small
maybe it's as small as
texting a good friend
a conversation starter
that you heard today
right like
just with your good friends
yes
right deepening a relationship
you already have
maybe if you're a little more ambiverted it's um asking a new colleague to lunch or asking a friend
to lunch you haven't been to lunch with and for my extroverts maybe it's the lewis challenge which is
go buy roses or go buy lavender i actually did this in the streets of new york with my
lavender yeah we did we did little bouquets of lavender for everyone um and just told them to
have a great day maybe it's something like that like buying lavender lavender for everyone and just told them to have a great day. Maybe it's something like that, like buying lavender, buying a rose.
See what happens.
Just see what happens.
See what it's like when you get butterflies in your stomach and you have to approach someone.
Take a five-day challenge from today because I think that we can hear all this stuff as
knowledge.
We can keep it in the back of our head and it makes us feel good.
But turning it into action is how we actually have behavior change.
Yes.
Make sure you guys go get the book, Captivate the Science of Succeeding with People.
I'm telling you, it's a game changer.
Highly recommend it.
You'll like Lewis's chapter, chapter five, reverse engineered Lewis's success.
It's good.
It's good.
Final couple of questions.
Yes.
If this microphone was connected to 8 billion people right now and they had headphones on
and you had 30 seconds to share a message that they would hear from you, every human in the world would hear this message in their language.
And this was your message to the world.
What would you say?
Okay.
Hold on.
Doesn't start yet.
It didn't start yet.
It didn't start yet. It didn't start yet. I would say there is one person in your life you've been meaning to reach out to.
There's probably one person in your life who you've been holding something back or worried
about or you've been trying to fix something with them and it's scary to fix things.
Reach out to that person and actually work on
fixing it. Ask them the question you've been waiting to ask them. Bring up the thing that
you've been too afraid to bring up and try to mend that relationship because those broken things
really weigh us down and there's a lot of potential in fixing whatever is broken in that relationship.
So go talk to that person. That's great. I like it.
A lot of healing there.
Yeah, healing.
Yeah.
This is called The Three Truths.
So if you could only share three truths and your book would be gone
and all your videos you've ever created,
no one would have access to anything else
except for these three truths.
Yeah.
That's all they would have of you
for all the time.
What would be your three truths
or three lessons that you would share with the world?
Vulnerability is sexy.
That's just three, right?
Yes.
Vulnerability is sexy.
Own your weirdness.
And your confidence is contagious.
Hopefully we've touched on some of those today.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay, good.
Okay, good.
Those are my
thesis statements good uh i want to acknowledge you for a moment for continually using your
awkwardness to help other people to help yourself to you know not feel so awkward and feel so alone
because i know you felt that way for many years. Very alone, yes. And I'm sure sometimes you still feel that way.
So I want to acknowledge you for constantly pushing your discomfort to stretch yourself,
to help yourself, and to help so many people that listen to your work,
that read the book, that watch the videos.
So I want to acknowledge you for all of that.
Thank you.
For my awkward people listening, you are not alone.
Exactly.
I don't know if
I asked you this last time. So final question is what is your definition of greatness? I think we
did, but I actually like revisiting this question because I think that that definition can change
on the brink of a book launch. I would say greatness is not the success of that book launch
or hitting a list. All of those things would be great.
Actually, I think the real greatness was being able to put my truths into something and have it be so kindly accepted by others.
That feels like the best feeling in the world.
I think that's what greatness is.
Love it.
Scienceofpeople.com.
Get the book, Captivate.
Vanessa, thank you so much. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thanksofpeople.com. Get the book, Captivate. Vanessa, thank you so much.
Thank you.
Appreciate it.
Thanks, everyone.
Bye.
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