Instant Influence

How to Get Anyone to Do Anything—Fast
by Michael V. Pantalon, Ph.D. | Little, Brown and Company © 2011 · 256 pages

I got this book after reading Dan Pink's To Sell Is Human. As he says in the front-cover testimonial: "The rare book that is both practical and profound." If you'd like to, as the sub-title suggests, get anyone (including yourself!!) to do anything (fast!), then I think you'll enjoy the book. Big Ideas we cover include: the 3 guiding principles and the 5-steps of the Instant Influence process, the law of psychological reactance (and how to avoid it! hint: focus on autonomy!), and creating an action plan plus a personal contract to rock it.


Follow that will and that way which experience confirms to be your own.
Carl Jung

“Instant Influence is the only scientifically-proven method for motivating people in seven minutes or less. It gets people to take action by encouraging them to find their own reasons for doing what you are asking of them. Just by asking someone six simple questions, you can inspire him to realize why he might want to take some kind of action: quit smoking, get to work on time, fill out his quarterly reports, or pay you back the twenty dollars he owes you. Instant influence works on pretty much anything at all. You can also use this approach on yourself, to become more productive, stick to your diet, take up exercise, or accomplish anything else you may be struggling with. It works on people who know they want to change and are eager to get started, people who think they want to change but fear they can’t, and people who think they don’t want to change. It doesn’t really matter who uses it—Instant Influence just works.”

I got this book after reading Dan Pink’s To Sell Is Human. He referenced a fascinating motivational process (and paradoxical question) from this book so I picked it up. (We’ll talk about that question and process in a moment. :)

Although it doesn’t have a ton of reviews on Amazon, it’s *really* good. As Dan says in the front-cover testimonial: “The rare book that is both practical and profound.”

If you’d like to, as the sub-title suggests, get anyone (including yourself!!) to do anything (fast!), then I think you’ll enjoy it as well. (Get a copy here.)

Michael Pantalon is an award-winning faculty member at Yale School of Medicine. He’s also a motivational coach, consultant and therapist.

His “Instant Influence” process has been installed in places as diverse as General Electric and your local Emergency Room to addiction recovery centers and probation departments.

The process has been empirically tested and proven to work in all those environments—earning it the distinction of being “the only motivational approach scientifically proven to succeed in less than 7 minutes!”

Of course, it’s packed with Big Ideas. And, of course, I’m excited to share a handful of my favorites we can apply to our lives TODAY so let’s jump straight in!

But first…

If you feel so inspired (no pressure, as always), I have a quick question:

Why might you be interested in the Ideas in this Note? Are there any benefits you can see to Optimizing your ability to influence others—whether that’s at work or at home?

Got it? OK. Now let’s jump in!

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About the author

Authors

Michael V. Pantalon, Ph.D.

Dean & University Professor