People like to feel superior. As a marketer, understanding this universal desire can help you do an awful lot of selling.

By appealing to your prospects’ pride, you can persuade them to pay more — sometimes much more — than what you could get by appealing to any other emotion.

Let’s talk watches.

For $10, you can buy a handsome digital sports watch that will outperform and outlast virtually any luxury watch made. When these watches were first introduced (over 20 years ago), they were so good and cheap that everyone predicted the demise of the analog timepiece.

Well, it didn’t happen. The new technology revolutionized the watch industry and changed the market forever. But analog watches survived. In fact, according to one estimate, sales of $1,000-plus watches have more than doubled since the 1970s and continue to grow every year.

It’s Not Simply a Matter of Dollars and Cents

Why do people pay thousands for watches when a $29 one works just as well and looks great? (By the way, have you taken an objective look at some of the fancier Rolexes lately? Tack-eeee. Piagets? Like a muscleman in a tutu.) I like the look of the expensive watch I bought in Paris, but I’ve had to have it repaired twice in two years. And boy did they charge me for that!

It’s not reliability. It’s not durability. It’s not precision. And it’s not beauty. So what does all that extra money buy?

In a word, prestige. Slap on an Ebel or a Cartier and you have instant credibility with the fashion police. Thrust out a Rolex-clad wrist and you announce to all those around you, “I have arrived.”

You need not say a word. What could be better than that?

The idea that price equates to quality is a myth. But price does relate to value. In the case of luxury goods, that value is prestige.
(more…)

“I don’t have your attitude,” Jeff said to me. “I just don’t have the mindset of someone who can make a lot of money.”

“Do you want to make a lot of money?” I asked him.

“That’s the sad thing,” he said, smiling wryly. “I do.” (more…)

I watched in horror as my 11-year-old daughter Hannah plunged 150 feet down Cheakamus Canyon toward the river raging below.

My wife Karen and I had both tried to talk her out of it. But she wouldn’t be dissuaded.

She wanted to jump.

Of course, she was attached to a bungee cord, one that “exceeded Australian specifications” (whatever that means). And Whistler Bungee — an hour north of Vancouver and just below Whistler’s 2010 Olympic Village — has been in business for seven years with a perfect safety record.

Still … I got the willies just looking down through the 300-foot span as we crossed it. This was a murderous height. It would have taken at least three burly men to get me out on that platform.

(more…)

Wealthy people have a secret that makes it easy for them to dramatically increase their income. You instinctively know this secret… and are probably even using it without realizing it.

What is it? Leverage.

When people order in pizza for dinner, they are leveraging the resources of a local pizza place – its staff and food, as well as its delivery service. When parents with young kids enjoy an evening out, they are leveraging the time of a babysitter. When a businessman hops into a taxi, he is leveraging the driving skills of the cabbie.

Here’s how you can leverage other people’s resources, time, and skills to increase your success in business:

• Think of the work you do. Then think of ways that others already support you in getting that work done. Does your secretary help you get to meetings on time? Does a colleague with a flair for math help you balance your expense account at the end of the month? Is there more that these people could do to help you?

• Think of tasks you do that you are not particularly good at – perhaps PowerPoint presentations or writing memos. Can these tasks be done by others?

• Find a way to get help with just one task from just one person. Maybe ask your company’s graphic designer to help you beautify your product presentation… or forward your next memo to a staff writer for some editing and polish.

Start with one way to leverage someone else’s help. Measure your success. Celebrate your success.

Then find one more way… then another… and then another.

That’s what I do. That’s what every successful person does. Now, you are doing it too!

[Ed. Note: A well-known international speaker, Raymond Aaron is the author of seven books, including the New York Times bestseller Chicken Soup for the Parent's Soul. Get two free chapters of his latest book - Double Your Income Doing What You Love - at RaymondAaron.com.

Ready for even more success techniques for achieving your goals? Check out Early to Rise's Total Success Achievement program to get your plan of action and start changing your life today.]

Imagine this scenario… 

You wake up in the morning with a great moneymaking idea. All you need is a website and some traffic and you’re onto a surefire winner. 

You switch on your computer and tap away at the keyboard for a couple of hours. Lunchtime arrives, and you’ve already got yourself a great looking website. 

Another 10 minutes is spent choosing a domain name and signing up for a hosting account. 

Just before you take a break to eat your lunch, you press the “publish” button and your brand-new website is live on the Internet, ready for business. 

How great would that be? 

From idea to reality in less than four hours. 

This may sound too good to be true, but for many people it’s far from a dream. It is happening every day of the week, all around the globe. 

“But…” I can hear you saying “… I’m just not technically minded.” 

Before you let that put you off, let me introduce you to Sarah, a 79-year-old lady who recently posted the following message on the XSitePro Messageboard: 

“At 79 years of age I was beginning to despair. Webmasters are young, highly intelligent, creative, irresponsible, indispensable human beings to people like me, who, 29 years into retirement, enjoys owning websites and receiving cheques every month. Fortunately, a week ago, I found this software, bought it, and have already built 15, or so, of my sites. Absolutely, stunningly, astonishingly brilliant for someone who does not even know what code looks like.” 

Isn’t that amazing? 

Now, if Sarah’s story hasn’t inspired you to get going, let me debunk four common myths that put many people off building their own websites. 

Myth #1 – You need to be a designer. 

Definitely not true! 

Most great website “designers” are not designers at all – they’re just good at copying what works. They take a look at what other successful websites are doing and then use a similar layout, the same fonts, etc. In other words, they don’t reinvent the wheel, they leverage what has been proved to work.

If you can look at other websites in your chosen niche you can do exactly the same. 

Myth #2 – You need years of training. 

Building websites doesn’t require the learned mind of a lawyer or doctor. It doesn’t need you to be as hands-on practical as a plumber or electrician, either. You don’t need to go to college for four years to learn the requisite skills to build a website. You don’t even need to go part-time.

Any person of reasonable intelligence can learn to build great looking websites in less than a week, if they have the desire and a willingness to learn a new skill.

Myth #3 – You need to outsource the site’s creation. 

There are two important points to remember when it comes to outsourcing.

First, it is very easy to be taken advantage of when you’re outsourcing something you know absolutely nothing about. I can’t count the number of times that people have told me they’d paid several hundred dollars (sometimes even thousands) for a five-page website that shouldn’t have taken more than a couple of hours to build. And that just seems like too high an hourly rate to me.

Second, even if you do choose to outsource your website building, in the long run it is essential for you to have the skills necessary to make minor updates yourself. Otherwise you’ll end up paying out each and every time you need to change anything. Lots of people who outsource forget this, and then begrudge having to keep spending money every time they want to make a change.

It reminds me of an age-old Chinese proverb: ”Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” 

And with the skills so readily accessible, for such a small investment of time and money, it seems crazy to tackle your website creation and management in any other way than by learning to do it yourself.

Myth #4 – You need to be technically inclined. 

This is probably the number one reason why many people are scared to build their own websites. But don’t let it put you off. Remember, if 79-year-old Sarah can master building websites, you can too!

Agreed, some people are more technically inclined than others. But if you can follow basic instructions, you can build your own websites – and that’s a fact. Yes, it may take a little practice. But it is a wonderful new skill to acquire, and it is one that you will have for the rest of your life.

My hope is that now that I’ve busted those four common myths, you’ll have the confidence to take a big step forward and grab yourself a big chunk of that virtual real estate in the increasingly online world in which we live.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention… one of the most important reasons why building a website is a great skill to learn is that it’s FUN too! Just imagine how exciting it would be to be able to build a site for your son’s Little League team… or a site about the sponsored walk you’re about to embark upon… or a site about the history of your family… or about your favorite hobby.

Building websites isn’t just about business, it’s a life skill that will benefit you in oh so many ways.

[Ed. Note: Online marketing expert Paul Smithson is the creator of the XSitePro website-building software.

This July, Paul and ETR's team of Internet marketers will be teaching an elite group of ETR readers how to build their own online businesses from scratch. You will leave the conference with your own fully functioning Internet business - website and all. We've already sold over half the spots we have available, so if you're interested in attending, learn more right now.]

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One of the most interesting things I learned from the individuals I knew who became billionaires is that they considered every dollar to be valuable. Money was a means to advance their goals – in particular, the goal to become wealthy. And you don’t become wealthy by being careless with any amount of money.

I’ll give you an example.

About 15 years ago, I was working with a successful hotel magnate who was opening a convention center. One of the things that had to be installed was an industrial dishwasher – and, at the time, industrial dishwashers retailed for around $40,000.

Millions of dollars were being spent, so you’d think he would have just given his team a quick okay to go ahead and make the purchase.

But no. Experience had taught him that rebuilt equipment was just as good as new. So he had his team do some research to see what it would cost for a rebuilt dishwasher (same make and model).

They found one that was selling for $7,500, and they snapped it right up – for a savings of $32,500 that could be allocated elsewhere.

You should do the same, whether you’re dealing with your business, family, or personal budget. You should always be looking for ways to spend less (or not buy at all). Because every dollar adds up, especially when your goal is to be wealthy.

[Ed. Note: In the next 11 minutes, you could be well on your way to making an extra $100K, $500K, or even $1 million by this time next year. Get specific advice from Bob "Mentor to Billionaires" Cox about how to change your life and increase your wealth. Find out more here. ]

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What products and services sell best in a recession?

Hint: This is not a trick question. The answer is the one that immediately popped into your head when I asked it.

Before you started over-analyzing this…

The products and services that sell best in a recession are the cheaper ones. That’s right – the ones that cost less.

I recently read in a biography of Milton Hershey that he believed his business was recession-proof and depression-proof because he sold an affordable product. He reasoned that, even if a person couldn’t afford new shoes or a new car or a vacation, they could always afford a nickel for a Hershey’s chocolate bar. (That was the price in those days.)

Milton Hershey was right.

According to an article in Ad News, as the economy continued to tank in the fourth quarter of 2008, the Hershey company increased its advertising budget by 23 percent. And as consumers switched from expensive premium chocolates they no longer felt they could afford to Hershey’s, the company’s net income for the fourth quarter of 2008 rose 51 percent to $82 million.

Similarly, with the restaurant business in its worst slump since 1991, McDonald’s worldwide sales rose 7.1 percent in January 2009. Diners may not be able to afford steak anymore, but they can still afford a Big Mac.

I have found the same thing – consumer preference for lower-priced goods and services during an economic downturn – to hold true for the two little businesses I run: information marketing and freelance copywriting.

In my online publishing business, my low-priced products are e-books selling in the $19 to $79 range. My mid-range products are DVD and audio CD albums selling in the $100 to $150 range. And my high-end products are multimedia programs selling in the $300 to $1,000 range.

In recent months, my customers have clearly been telling me that (a) they are worried about money, (b) they really appreciate my reasonable prices, and (c) for now, they prefer offers for low-priced products.

They are not asking for special discounts or “recession sales.” They just want me to focus on offering products that sell for under $100, which seems to be the magic recession-proof price point for my market.

Whenever I advertise mid-range or high-priced products to my customer list, I always get at least one e-mail from a reader telling me she wants to buy the product… but can’t because she has lost her job!

If you are an information marketer, I suggest that, rather than fighting this trend, you accommodate your customers by:

• Expanding your product line, especially with the lower-priced products (like e-books).

• Offering your readers more free content (such as special reports and teleseminars).

• Bundling products into packages that enable customers to get related materials at handsome discounts (e.g., buy two e-books, get the third one free).

I am also finding that offering low-priced service options works for my freelance copywriting business.

To make $10,000 as a freelancer, you can either do one $10,000 project or five $2,000 projects. These days, I am doing a lot more $2,000 projects for clients who want to continue their marketing but are focused on controlling costs.

For instance, I am saving my clients money by helping them do more marketing online and a bit less offline. We are also using marketing methods that can be tested at minimal cost before rolling out the campaigns (e.g., small test mailings of 1,000 instead of 10,000).

One thing that has worked especially well is a new service bundle I call the “Starter Package.”

Normally, I charge $500 an hour for consulting. With a 10-hour minimum, payable in full in advance, that works out to $5,000 – affordable in normal times, not so affordable during an economic crisis. With the Starter Package, I offer new clients 90 minutes of my time for a flat fee of $750.

There’s no reduction in my hourly rate. I merely allow people to start working with me for a lower initial commitment.

I picked 90 minutes deliberately. Not only is it enough time to give prospects a taste of how my advice and copy can benefit them, but it comes in at a price point under $1,000. And that is within the comfort zone of a new client who doesn’t know me all that well.

More important, the Starter Package shows prospects that I empathize with their desire to cut back on spending and have designed a service to accommodate their smaller budgets.

Interestingly, what usually happens is that, after reviewing the Starter Package offer, prospects call me to get a quote for the full service they really want. And more often than not, that’s what they choose to go with.

So while I don’t actually do a lot of copywriting and consulting under the Starter Package arrangement, it makes prospects more comfortable with me as a vendor who respects their budget concerns and limitations. And that’s been keeping my freelance business active and profitable.

[Ed. Note: Bob Bly is a freelance copywriter and the author of more than 70 books. To subscribe to his free e-zine, The Direct Response Letter, and claim your free gift worth $116, click here now.

It IS possible to make sales during a recession. As Bob Bly explained, you need to know what to sell... but you also need to know HOW to sell. Tomorrow morning, we're unveiling a brand-new power-packed program that will give you everything you need to become a master of ultra-profitable sales. Keep an eye on your inbox for this limited-time opportunity.]

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In his thoroughly entertaining book The Prime Movers, Edwin A. Locke gives this example of the way entrepreneurs think:

An average person observes evergreens growing along the roadside and thinks that they look pretty, especially when partly covered with snow. At this point, his thinking stops. An entrepreneur observes the same trees and thinks, “These trees would look good in people’s living rooms at Christmas. I wonder what people would pay for them?

And he would continue to ask such questions as:

• How hard is it to grow evergreens?
• What investment is required?
• How big should they be before being cut?
• How difficult would it be to cut and transport them?
• How much would it cost?
• How long would they keep before losing their needles?
• Where would they be sold?
• What would the competition be like?
• Could I make other, related products – e.g., wreaths?
• Can I make money in such a seasonal business?
• How much?
• How can I get started?

This kind of active, directed thinking is one of the things that separate entrepreneurs from the rest of humanity. In fact, the most successful entrepreneurs in history – all of them mega-billionaires by today’s standards – seemed to have dynamic, pragmatic minds.

Locke gives plenty of examples, including these:

• Thomas Edison: He was a “virtual thinking machine. Almost until the day he died, his mind poured forth a torrent of ideas, and he might track as many as 60 experiments at a time in his laboratory.”

• Steve Jobs: He bombarded people with his ideas – his investors, his board of directors, his customers, his subordinates, and his CEO John Scully.

• Henry Ford: “He threw himself into every detail, insisting on getting small things absolutely right…. But he never lost sight of the ultimate, overall objection. He had a vision of what his new car (the Model T) should look like. From all the improvisation, hard thought, and hard work came a machine that was at once the simplest and the most sophisticated automobile built to date anywhere in the world.”

You may be thinking, “Hey, I’m no Thomas Edison or Steve Jobs or Henry Ford.” Well, neither am I. And I could rattle off a dozen multi-millionaire entrepreneurs I know who don’t have that kind of brain capacity either.

Raw intelligence is not the issue. If it were, Einstein would have been wealthy. What matters in the world of commerce is how you think.

Some people, whether because of their upbringing or their DNA, have a natural billionaire mind. But just about anyone who is smart and ambitious can learn to think like a billionaire.

You can transform your mind completely and permanently in a matter of a few short months by making small changes, one at a time. It will take some effort, though. As Joshua Reynolds once said, “There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labor of thinking.”

Begin by vowing to talk to every successful person you know or meet. Tell them how much you admire what they have accomplished and ask them how they do what they do.

You may be amazed at how open they will be to such inquiries. Nine times out of 10, they’ll be eager to tell you just about everything they know.

Unfortunately, many of the twentieth century’s greatest entrepreneurs have been disparaged by historians and the media. As Locke points out in The Prime Movers, if you mention the names Andrew Carnegie or John Rockefeller or Cornelius Vanderbilt to most people, they think “greedy robber barons who took advantage of their circumstances.” They know nothing about their accomplishments. What they know, for the most part, is based on persistent myths that prevent them from learning from these men and prospering.

Locke says:

“It is often claimed that the Prime Movers have been viewed with suspicion at best and with distaste or repugnance at worst…. The most basic motive [of those who envy them] is… hatred of the good for being good… it is hatred of the Prime Movers because they are intelligent, successful, and competent, because they are better at what they do than others are.

“The ultimate goal of the haters of the good is not to bring others up to the level of the most able (which is impossible) but to bring down the able to the level of the less able – to obliterate their achievement, to destroy their reward, to make them unable to function above the level of mediocrity, to punish them, and, above all, to make them feel unearned guilt for their own virtues.”

When you become super-successful, you’ll have to learn how to handle the people who are going to resent you for achieving what they themselves have been unable to do. But first, you have to get yourself into that enviable position. And you do that by practicing the thinking of the great entrepreneurs who thought like billionaires and so amassed billions.

I’ll be writing more on this subject in the future. But for right now, here are eight characteristics of the billionaire mind that you can emulate:

1. A “normal” person is concerned with protecting his ego. When dealing with a problem he doesn’t really understand, he pretends he understands the contributing factors and doesn’t try to find out what anyone else thinks. A person with a billionaire mind asks questions incessantly. He has no ego when it comes to learning. He knows that knowledge is power.

2. A “normal” person has a consumer mentality. He looks at a hot new product and thinks about how he would like to own one. A person with a billionaire mind has an entrepreneurial mentality. He looks at it and thinks, “How can I produce this or something similar in my own industry?”

3. A “normal” person is wish-focused. He daydreams about making gobs of money. A person with a billionaire mind is reality-based. He is always analyzing his own success and the success of others and wondering how he could learn from it.

4. A “normal” person, when confronted with a challenging idea, thinks of all the reasons why it might not work. A person with a billionaire mind sees the potential in it and disregards the problems until he has a clear vision of how it might succeed.

5. A “normal” person resists change. A person with a billionaire mind embraces it.

6. A “normal” person accepts the status quo. A person with a billionaire mind is always looking to make things – even good things – better.

7. A “normal” person reacts. A person with a billionaire mind is proactive.

8. A “normal” person looks at a successful business owner and thinks, “That guy’s lucky.” Or “That guy’s a shyster.” A person with a billionaire mind thinks, “What’s his secret?” And, “How can I do that?”

Start by being humble and asking questions. Do this until it becomes a habit. Then take on another characteristic of the billionaire mind – like looking at a successful new product and thinking, “How can I do something like that?”

Go through the list, mastering one characteristic at a time, and within three months you will be able to create new businesses almost automatically. You will become a natural leader. Money will flow to you like water coming down a hill. And then you’ll be ready to deal with all the “normal” people who are jealous of your incredible success.

[Ed. Note: Get more of Michael Masterson's surefire strategies for getting ahead in business in True Path to Profits: A Master Entrepreneur's Guide to Business Success. Find out more (including how you can get a bonus subscription to his VIP newsletter, Ready Fire Aim) here.  

You can learn more about how to develop a billionaire mindset - straight from a man who mentored four billionaires. Discover how to get proven achievement advice and powerful success techniques that can help you reach new heights in your business and personal life right here.]

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Why do some people retire rich and most people retire poor? This question has fascinated philosophers, mystics, and teachers throughout the ages. There have been so many men and women – hundreds or thousands, maybe even millions – who started with nothing and became financially independent that people are naturally curious to know why it happened and if there are common rules or principles that others can apply to become wealthy as well.

The Parable of the Talents is one of the stories told by Jesus to illustrate a moral lesson. The message in this case (from the Gospel of Matthew): “To him that hath, shall more be given, and he shall have abundance. But from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away.”

What does it mean?

In the modern world, we say it this way: “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” The fact is that people who accumulate money tend to accumulate more and more. People who don’t accumulate money seem to lose even that little bit that they have.

Why should this happen?

The great success principle, the single idea that explains human destiny is simple: “You become what you think about most of the time.”

Control Your Thoughts

Whatever you dwell upon grows in your reality. You create your entire world by the things you choose to think about and how you choose to think about them.

It just so happens that wealthy, successful people fill their minds – most of the time – with thoughts, words, pictures, and images of wealth, affluence, success, productivity, and solutions to problems in the marketplace. These thoughts trigger the reticular activating cortex, the part of the brain that makes you more alert and sensitive to things that you have decided are important to you.

For example, if you decide to invest in a mutual fund, you will start to see news and information about mutual funds everywhere. Mentions in newspapers and magazines will jump out at you. These things have always been there, but now you have sensitized your brain to pick them up and draw them to your attention with far greater frequency and vividness. This is the function and power of your reticular cortex.

Think Like Wealthy People Think

Wealthy people, from an early age, think about how much they have, how much they want, and all the different things they can do to acquire and earn the money and things they desire.

On the other hand, what do poor people think about most of the time? Unfortunately, they fill their minds with thoughts of scarcity, lack, poverty, being unable to afford things. They are always thinking and talking about how little money they have, how much things cost, and how they wish they could be better off financially. What they think about most of the time is how little money they have.

Find Out How Rich People Think

Here’s a rule for you. If you want to become successful, find out what failures do and don’t do it. If you want to be wealthy, find out what poor people think about, and avoid thinking that way. Instead, find out how wealthy people think. Find out what they read. Find out how they spend their time. Study their lives, read their stories and autobiographies, and listen to their words when they are interviewed and on tape. The more you find out about what financially successful people think and talk about most of the time – and do the same things – the more rapidly you will enjoy the same rewards that they do.

Here are two things you can do to put The Parable of the Talents into action:

First, make a decision that, starting today, you will think and talk only about the financial success you desire. At the same time, you will refuse to talk about or dwell upon your financial problems.

Second, instead of saying “I can’t afford it,” you will ask the question “How can I afford it?” When you think of something that you want or need that you don’t have the money for at the time, the only question to ask is “How?” How can you get it? What can you do to achieve it? What are your options? How can you get from where you are to where you want to be?

It will change your life.

[Ed. Note: Today, make the decision that you'll end "poverty thinking." Instead, find out what the wealthy do and copy it. One "Mentor to Billionaires" can give you dozens of simple strategies that his billionaire colleagues used to transform themselves into master moneymakers. Learn more here.

Maybe you want to set goals for yourself - but don't know where to start. Now, success expert Brian Tracy will show you a proven way to set and accomplish even your toughest goals. Just follow the step-by-step instructions in his easy-to-use Maximum Achievement Goal Planner workbook. Start on the path to achieving lifelong success and abundance today.]

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In last year’s best-seller Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, author Malcolm Gladwell points out that our “adaptive unconscious” is constantly making assessments about people and situations in just a matter of seconds.

He argues that these snap judgments are not just good, but extraordinary. For example, he cites a study showing that college students can watch short film clips of professors lecturing and rate them as accurately as students who spend an entire term with them, even when the clips are only two seconds long. (Two seconds!)

This is quirky and interesting, but I’m skeptical. Much of my own experience has rebutted this line of thinking.

How many times have you made a new acquaintance, thought you knew him, and then one day discovered he was not the person you thought he was? (Sometimes better, sometimes worse.) How many times have you been badgered, cajoled, or (okay) dragged to an event that turned out to be a lot of fun?

In making snap judgments, we often shortchange our friends, our family, our co-workers, even ourselves. We miss opportunities for new experiences and relationships. And, more often than not, we are almost completely unaware of it.

Investment legend John Templeton once wrote, “A successful life depends less on how long you live than on how much you can pack into the time you have. If you can find a way to make every day an adventure – even if it’s only a matter of walking down an unfamiliar street or ordering an untried cut of meat – you will find that your life becomes more productive, richer, and more interesting. You also become more interesting to others.”

Gladwell says that we’re much more apt to “think without thinking.” But the results of such thinking are biases that are not always on target…

When I first met my pal Rob Fix at work more than two decades ago, I had two overwhelming impressions. One, he talked too much, and, two, he was a bit of a kook. For several weeks, I avoided him like the IRS.

Then, at a party at a friend’s house, I noticed a crowd of people in the backyard. They were gathered around Rob, who had brought over his telescope and was busy showing everyone the moon, the planets, the Orion Nebula, and the Andromeda Galaxy.

“How far is it to the moon, anyway?” asked a young woman who was peering into the telescope.

“Now let me see,” said Rob, thinking out loud. “I just drove it the other day…”

“Hey,” I remember thinking to myself, “this guy isn’t so bad. He’s actually pretty funny.”

Of course, now that I’ve known Rob for 26 years I realize that my first impression of him was totally off base. He’s not a guy who talks too much and is a bit of a kook. He’s a guy who talks way too much and is the biggest kook I’ve ever met. He is, in fact, the world’s most lovable kook. Perhaps that’s why he was the best man at my wedding.

Our prejudgments can mislead us…

A friend declines tickets to a jazz concert because he knows he wouldn’t like it. My daughter Hannah turns up her nose at every food she doesn’t recognize. We pass on taking a weekend trip because we imagine “It won’t be worth it.”

Each day, we face making dozens of small decisions. For expediency, if nothing else, we lapse into the safe, the familiar, the unthinking – denying ourselves the pleasure of a new discovery.

Just ask Walker Percy. In his Foreword to John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces, he describes how the book came to his attention:

“While I was a teacher at Loyola in 1976 I began to get telephone calls from a lady unknown to me. What she proposed was preposterous. It was not that she had written a couple of chapters of a novel and wanted to get into my class. It was that her son, who was dead, had written an entire novel during the early sixties, a big novel, and she wanted me to read it. Why would I want to do that? I asked her. Because it was a great novel, she said.

“Over the years I have become very good at getting out of things I don’t want to do. And if ever there was something I didn’t want to do, this was surely it: To deal with the mother of a dead novelist and, worst of all, to have to read a manuscript that she said was great, and that, as it turned out, was a badly smeared, scarcely readable carbon.

“But the lady was persistent, and it somehow came to pass that she stood in my office handing me the hefty manuscript. There was no getting out of it; only one hope remained – that I could read a few pages and that they would be bad enough for me, in good conscience, to read no farther. Usually I can do just that. Indeed the first paragraph often suffices. My only fear was that this one might be just good enough, so that I would have to keep reading.

“In this case I read on. And on. First with the sinking feeling that it was not bad enough to quit, then with a prickle of interest, then a growing excitement, and finally an incredulity: surely it was not possible that it was this good…”

Oh, it’s good all right. Walker Percy’s discovery went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981, and has since sold more than two million copies. The novel – which features the hilarious misadventures of slob extraordinaire Ignatius Reilly – is now regarded as a comic masterpiece.

Let’s be grateful that Percy didn’t follow his intuition, his instant assessment, his inner “blink.” And just maybe we should keep a close eye on our own, too.

Life really is full of surprises. But “thinking without thinking” may not be the best way to discover them.

[Ed. Note: Relying solely on your snap judgments could be keeping you from taking advantage of powerful opportunities. One of the most common snap judgments we see at ETR is people who think, "No way. An Internet business isn't right for me." The truth is, practically anyone can start his or her own Internet business - and make it profitable. For a step-by-step guide to doing just that, click here.  

And be sure to join Alex Green, Chairman of Investment U and Investment Director of The Oxford Club, as he tackles some of life's more difficult challenges in his free, twice-weekly e-letter Spiritual Wealth. Get your roadmap to a rich life here.]

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