The moment people feel they know what to expect from you, your spell on them is broken. More: You have ceded them power.
Interpretation
When people think they can predict your behavior, they gain control over you.
This quote highlights the importance of maintaining an element of surprise in our interactions with others. When individuals believe they can easily anticipate how we will respond or behave, they effectively gain a degree of power over us, diminishing our influence and the impact we have on them. To keep our 'spell' or allure intact, we must avoid becoming overly predictable.
In practice
In a leadership seminar discussing strategies for influence.
In a society where the roles everyone plays are obvious, the refusal to conform to any standard will excite interest. Be both masculine and feminine, impudent and charming, subtle and outrageous. Let other people worry about being socially acceptable; those types are a dime a dozen, and you are after a power greater than they can imagine.
When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinxlike.
The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways.
The Nihilistic Troll might pretend to be acting in the service of some cause or leader, but don't be fooled. The cause and their supposedly strong convictions are simply a way to justify and provide cover for their abusive behavior.
Only create associations with positive affinities. Make this a rule of life and you will benefit more than from all the therapy in the world.
Remember that the essence of authority is that people willingly follow your lead.
God will only give you what you would have asked for if you knew everything he knows
There are no makeovers in my books. The ugly duckling does not become a beautiful swan. She becomes a confident duck able to take charge of her own life and problems.
The secret of fortune is joy in our hands. Welcome evermore to gods and men is the self-helping man. For him all doors are flung wide. Him all tongues greet, all honors crown, all eyes follow with desire. Our love goes out to him and embraces him because he did not need it.
There is so much about my fate that I cannot control, but other things do fall under my jurisdiction. There are certain lottery tickets I can buy, thereby increasing my odds of finding contentment. I can decide how I spend my time, whom I interact with, whom I share my body and life and money and energy with.
The pleasures of the palate deal with us like Egyptian thieves who strangle those whom they embrace.
In creative endeavors luck is a skill.
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