You frame what you want as “good” and paint all the other choices as “bad.”
Seems simple enough.
This idea is akin to the persuasive principle of association.
You don’t just sell your idea, you also have to point out why the other choices are wrong.
I always find myself creating contrasts for people who are complaining about something.
Oh, you can’t sleep because you are worried about which job offer to take?
Somewhere around 50% of the world does not have indoor plumbing.
Contrasting yourself with others can even work too.
For if I know you are a rockstar at X – it’s hard for me to not let that bleed over into what I think of you in Y.
This is why people are always interested in what medical doctors and actors and musicians have to say about politics and economics.
You can use the power of contrast to improve every part of your professional and personal life. Here are some suggestions to get you started. Participate in activities at which you excel compared with others. People’s impression of you as talented and capable compared with the average participant will spill over to the rest of your personal brand. In business, always present your ideas in the context of alternatives that are clearly worse. Don’t just sell your proposed solution; slime all the other options with badness. If someone you know is treating a small issue as a big one, remind them what a big problem looks like. That can reframe how they process their small worries. Always remember that people make decisions in the context of alternatives. If you aren’t framing the alternatives as bad, you are not persuading at all.
