How To: 9 Ways to Get People to Do What You Want

9 Ways to Get People to Do What You Want

The art of persuasion (or subtle emotional manipulation, depending on how you're looking at it) does not necessarily have to be an evil thing.

When you want to make an important sales pitch to a tough customer, propose a risky business plan at work, or gently convince your significant other to start exercising, sometimes getting people to do or agree to what you want using basic human psychological truths isn't such a bad thing after all. Just tap into their inherent emotional drives and their desire to feel important.

That being said, watch out for the not-so-nice people who use these same tactics on you for their own evil benefit. Knowledge is power.

Got your own tips for getting people to do what you want, non-evil or otherwise? Share with us in the comments below!

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12 Comments

wow thanks for this :) i've been reading a Psychology of Persuasion book and i didn't expect for the art of persuasion to be this easy to understand.

wonderful simple ,elegant yet powerful and pregnant with meaning

the 7 is not truem people prefer to help, they feel more useful, then have a debt to you,what do them feel less strong...

very funny, reminds me of roz chast

so one of my favortie tips is a gun, with a gun, people do everything you want, same the thing they dislike to do...

Too easy and in my opinion, not nearly as fun and satisfying as charming the pants out of the other person.

Being absolutely charming is very hard but I will take it as a challenge. Hey thats #8
Joshua Smith

Thanks for all your comments everyone! If there are other sneaky / useful human psychology how-to requests for future posts, please let me know. I'm always looking for ideas.

Those are good suggestions and very simple! I am looking to do just this as I am now in education and having to redirect kids from one thing to another is almost impossible at times. But I will take these to heart and do some more research.

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