I used to be so laid back, non-pushy, relaxed. My time wasn't respected very much.
Now I'm getting a hell of a lot more demanding, pushy, and abrasive. My time is getting respected infinitely more.
Today I was running through a plan to make a client lots of money. We had fleshed out all the groundwork steps that would take 10-20 hours or so, but were just getting the entire thing down on paper.
It was a good plan, but he was kind of losing interest and mentally checking out.
We were halfway down the page. I said, "Okay, go back to the top and write this. 'If this project makes tens of thousands of dollars, I'm taking Sebastian to Boracay to go scubadiving.'" He laughs and does it, and then is a lot more engaged.
Since I'm doing the radically honest thing lately, I said a while later, "You know, you were kind of dragging ass, and then I say you've got to take me to Boracay if this works, and you got a lot more excited and locked in... that's kind of weird, don't you think?"
He says, "Yeah. Actually, everything just felt a lot more real after you said. I could imagine it all working out, going well, and then we'd go to Boracay."
Funny world.