Nathan Waters

Budding Young Entrepreneur

Archive for February, 2006

How to Win Friends & Influence People

I recently borrowed this book from a friend who also found it very interesting, so I thought I’d share its points and principles.

The book is called How to Win Friends and Influence People. It was written by David Carnegie back in the 1950s or so and has since (and continues to sell) millions of copies. While the title of the book isn’t great the content is awesome. The book is based around business contacts and interacting with people so that you can do all sorts of things from simply getting along with other people to influencing their thinking to achieve the outcome you’re after.

So anyways, rather than go on and on about the book, below I’ve listed all the main points the book presents. I’d suggest you buy a copy of the book as it also has a few real-life examples and stories which reinforce the effectiveness of the points below.

Fundamental Techniques for Handling People:

  • Don’t criticize, condemn or complain.
  • Give honest and sincere appreciation.
  • Arouse in the other person an eager want.

Six Ways to Make People Like You:

  • Become genuinely interested in other people.
  • Smile.
  • Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
  • Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
  • Talk in terms of the other person’s interests.
  • Make the other person feel important - and do it sincerely.

How to Win People to Your Way of Thinking:

  • The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
  • Show respect for the other person’s opinions. Never say, “You’re wrong”.
  • If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
  • Begin in a friendly way.
  • Get the other person saying “yes”. “yes” immediately.
  • Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
  • Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view.
  • Be sympathetic with the other person’s ideas and desires.
  • Appeal to nobler motives.
  • Dramatize your ideas.
  • Throw down a challenge.

Be a Leadet: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment:

  • Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
  • Call attention to other people’s mistakes indirectly.
  • Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
  • Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
  • Let the other person save face.
  • Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be “hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise”.
  • Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
  • Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
  • Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.

… And that’s it :)

I’m not quite back to regular posts yet, my computer is still dead (arggh) and I’m trying to deal with all the uni administration nonsense and my uni quota running out etc, so yeah it may be a while before things get back on track in a couple of aspects.

Nathan Waters
Just listen and praise!

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  • Filed under: Book Reviews
  • Hopefully I don’t jinx myself…

    Sorry about the lack of post for that past week :(

    Here’s the updates so far…

    OK I’m moving up to Wollongong tomorrow (moving into campus for uni).

    So here’s what happened today amazingly: I fixed my computer, my car is fixed and now working, etc etc

    Although despite not having my computer working, I’ve still been getting my daily dose of net through my mums school laptop. So in the past week (or was it two?) I have still been browsing the net, but just too lazy and busy to post here.

    In that time I’ve been working on putting together a network of wiki sites aimed at business and entrepreneurship.

    I’ve also nearly finished a static pixel site similar to that of the MDHP, but with a twist.

    I’ve just had a small modification completed on rentacoder.com which I may write up a post about my experiences with that.

    And I’ve also found the world of auto-surfing, which I think is something which I’m going to get into more (as soon as 12dailypro sorts out its payment issues with StormPay). I’ll be launching a blog on autosurfing soon which will track my progress as I try as many different auto-surf programs as I possible can with what money I have.

    So some interesting stuff coming up soon. I’m still broke and heading into uni, the parents couldn’t manage to get the extra $3000 loan and I still can’t get any financial assistance from the government (such as Centrelink payments). So I’m basically hoping that of these multiple projects, which are all just about to go live at the same time, will actually bring in some steady income.

    I helped Tristan move into the Gong a few weeks ago, although we haven’t had much contact mainly because he hasn’t yet got the net hooked up and I’ve been without a computer for over a week. Hoopefully once things start to settle down we’ll both get back to working on a few projects together. Although I’d say things won’t settle down for at least another 2 weeks - since there’s 0-week which is basically partying all week, and then the first week of uni).

    Anyways, you’ll see more of me in the next few weeks. Tristan recently came up with an awesome idea based around an open source model which should help us break into the internet entrepreneur market :)

    Nathan Waters
    Busy, Partying.. and Working

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  • Filed under: Miscellaneous