In Japan, the Chinese character used for Monday is the moon. For Sunday, it’s the Sun.
Pretty coincidental, right? After all, the English word for Monday is based on the moon as well, and that dates back to ancient times.
Also, consider dragons. The idea of a big, fire breathing reptile exists in both Western and Eastern tradition.
What gives?
Another interesting thing is Joseph Campbell’s work on mythology. He found that pretty much any mythical story, in any society, advanced or not, has the same basic structure.
It seems that people, all over the world, are a lot more similar, on deep levels, than most people realize.
What’s this got to with persuasion, sales and seduction?
Most people treat sales as some kind of adversarial battle. You win, I lose. Even the word, sales “pitch” is a metaphor for a pitcher, throwing a ball at a batter, hoping to “sneak it past them,” so they won’t hit it out of the park.
But think about this. Just like vastly different societies have similar underlying structures which gives rise to similar mythologies, creatures and days of the week, all of us humans have the same basic wants needs desires and fears.
Do you think it might be easier, instead of feeling as if you’ve got to pull fast one, to simply try and find out what you’ve both got in common, next time you’re trying to sell somebody?
Next time you meet a client, or somebody whom you find attractive, instead of thinking “how can I trick them,” how about thinking more like, “what do we have in common, and how can we both benefit from this relationship?”
You might find it goes a lot easier.