Stop Being an ASS

A wise man once said, “when you assume, you make an ASS out of YOU & ME”.

Wise words.

Not only can that advice help you make more friends, it can make you more money.

One of the dumbest things about us humans is our need to feel smart. We will always pick the action we can explain with logic over trying something unproven. This “logical” approach to things is costing us all dearly and making content blur together to a point of boredom for consumers.

A utility company ran two contests to engage customers. The first with a prize of free energy for a year, worth nearly $1,500. The second, a penguin night light worth a whopping $20.

Which one do you think got more entries?

If you are like most, you made the costly mistake of believing people are rational. And if you are a smart ass, like me. You guessed it was the less obvious answer because of how it was positioned. Well done, mate.

Either way, the results should make you reconsider all of your content.

The contest with the prize value of $1,500 in free energy had 67,000 entries and the one with the cute penguin night light had more than 5 times the amount at 360,000 entries.

Anybody approaching this task with logic, would have gone with the first option. One massive problem, people aren’t rational.

It pays to experiment when everyone else is too afraid to.

Key lesson? You may want to try more silly stuff.

Sincerely,

Benjamin Hayden Paul Keith Leavitt. ✌️❤️

_{Post inspired from Alchemy by the great Rory Sutherland.}