It feels like an eternity since I sent the last email.
Best friend didn’t die, which is obviously good and he also jokingly said that I’m supposed to die before him anyways…
So it just goes to show that a dark sense of humour can get you through pretty much anything.
(He’s recovering well too btw)
I’m finally settled back up North again after taking an extra break because of all of the fuckery that went on.
It was a needed break because even though what happened to my friend was horrible. It was a wake up call we both needed.
It left him and I talking about a whole bunch of things we used to go on about when we worked together and did all the nerd shit in the I.T. world, where we should probably write a book or 3 on it but anyways…
(It did take me 10 minutes to figure out how to get my laptop to work again, cause who knew that not opening it up for a few weeks could lead the not so fully charged battery to be dead…)
Equally, I’m grateful for everyone who reached out via email to check in on me. I appreciate you.
I’ve also yeeted myself off of social media. Just straight up deleted the apps off my phone completely. No more Facebook or Instagram.
I’ve kept Twitter because It’s mainly used as a lead generation outlet, cause believe it or not.
Those people are genuine in comparison to all the peacocking and outright performative bullshit you see on the other places. I don’t know what it is about those places but they just leave me angry, even if I’m just scrolling through it.
So if I haven’t replied to anyone who happens to follow / are friends with me on there. My bad. Although you could’ve just emailed me innit…
With that all being said.
I’ve finally created a place where we can hang out where I can brain dump everything I know, while still having that human element of 1 to 1.
I want to keep it low-key as the kids would say and frankly I don’t even care if you join or not. It’s mainly a dumping grounds for what I’m doing, or working on and if you want to satisfy your nosey tendencies I’m sure you’d join in.
You can be as anonymous as you like or out there too. Whatever floats your boat.
Anywho…
Here are the types of things I’ll be drip feeding into this little world as I research, build and create them…
- Why the most persuasive people in any room almost never “try” to persuade anyone and the strange 19th-century parlour trick that explains exactly how they do it (most psychologists won’t touch this with a barge pole)
- The “Dead Man’s Hand” principle of human decision making that lets you predict what someone will do next with eerie accuracy, even if you’ve never met them before.
- A dirty little cognitive bias retail stores have exploited since the 1920s that works even better inside a Telegram chat than it does on a shop floor (and no, it’s not scarcity or social proof)
- What a disgraced Navy interrogator accidentally discovered about getting people to reveal their deepest objections, without ever asking them a single question.
- The real reason people “ghost” on you after saying they’re interested and why it has almost nothing to do with you, your offer, or your follow up (this one stings, but it’s liberating once you see it)
- How an obscure 1947 hypnosis paper explains why most marketing falls on deaf ears and the two word “pattern interrupt” that snaps even the most jaded prospect out of their scroll coma.
- Why trying to “build trust” the way the gurus teach actually destroys trust with the exact people most likely to buy from you.
- The “kinked garden hose” phenomenon behind almost every self sabotaging behaviour you’ve ever had and the absurdly simple way to unkink it (a trauma therapist friend shared this with me after three whiskeys and I haven’t been the same since)
- A little known finding from behavioural economics that shows why people who set goals the “SMART” way are statistically more likely to quit than people who do something far lazier and less respectable.
- The “status game” hiding inside every conversation you’ll ever have and how to spot whether someone is playing for dominance, for approval, or for something much darker (once you see this you can’t unsee it)
These just a few little bits from the psychology and human behaviour things I’ve been deep diving on. There’s going to be a whole bunch more to come and well, if you like to have your brain meat massage a little bit. You should join or not…
Stephen Walker.
https://stphnwlkr.com/TheEscapeHatch
P.S. Download the app. Make an account and you can choose to be who you wanna be or not. It’s entirely up to you.