Time dilation in human interactions:
Whenever I negotiate with people about deals I tweak a single knob. Time. Remember your values vs their values. Your needs vs their needs. Your wants vs their wants. These overlap and express themselves emotionally. But you know that right?
Whenever I negotiate with people about deals I tweak a single knob. Time. Remember your values vs their values. Your needs vs their needs. Your wants vs their wants. These overlap and express themselves emotionally. But you know that right?
Here’s what you may not know. Time compression or expansion amplifies or attenuates their expression. Too fancy? Ok so here’s what you do. Someone throws you a time frame for when to meet or when something needs to be done, that’s your opening.
Even if the time frame maps perfectly for you, just randomly change it. Wanna meet tomorrow? No, can’t. Let’s do next week. See how they respond. Project needs to be done in 4 days. Ohhh sorry can’t. Schedule is packed. Maybe I can push it but no sooner than 6 days.
Why do this? You’re in a emotional dance. You need to test boundaries and you need to see the needs expressed in their rawest form. People focus heavily on price when negotiating. They forget that you have a free variable to fine tune. You can always “move things around”
and meet deadlines. This isn’t about lying or cheating or being a bastard. It’s about the first round of a fight. You’re feeling the other person out emotionally. Tuning the time knob allows you to see them express their values at in the most intense way.
Play with time. It’s not the same for everyone. Hence the dilation element. As always, please use it wisely and for good. A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. Don’t be dangerous, be kind. 🤙
