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I recently saw a humorous bumper sticker that read, “Don’t believe everything you think.” I liked it because it made me ponder thought and how at times, I find thinking to be somewhat overrated. Wikipedia defines thought or thinking as: a mental process that allows beings to model the world and to deal with it effectively according to their objectives, plans, ends and desires. Writer C.S. Lewis (most notably the author of The Chronicles of Narnia but also a very active writer of non-fiction) believed that there are three levels of human thought. The first level is ‘the will’ and contains everything that is tangible and factual. These are the thoughts that rule your day-to-day activities and influence incredibly your other than conscious thoughts. Level two is the intellect. This consists of your consciousness and the thoughts and decisions we consciously make. This includes things we’ve studied, academics, true and verifiable information. And the third level of thought is fantasy. It’s the most random and often makes very little sense at all. It is most active in children and artists but even non-artistic adults have the potential for rich fantasy lives. For persuasion purposes, we are most likely to have the best advantage dealing with the will and fantasy aspects of our prospects and clients as these are the most malleable and less entrenched in “reason”. For example, with the fantasy level, we can create pictures for our prospects which they will internally experience of what their life will be like once they are involved with our product or service. When we give our prospects and clients images or a “fantasy” of what we have to offer them, we’ve got them already partially invested in having or owning or participating in our product or service. This can be done simply by saying, “Picture yourself as having achieved X. . .” or “What will it look like when you have Y?” and fill in the X and Y with their highest criteria. For extra power, look to their orientation — whether they are towards or away from in the way they view the specific item at hand. Tailor your language to go in the same direction. In terms of persuasion, ‘the will’ is another fascinating area to explore. We all like to believe we have strong, solid wills that can’t be penetrated. This may or may not be the case for the general public. I know for a fact, that my students and clients have learned to have incredible wills as a result of learning persuasion and we know for a fact when someone is attempting to influence us as a result of our study. This gives us a great advantage that most of the world doesn’t have in terms of unlocking the secrets of our affluent prospect’s and client’s minds.