Don’t overdo your fake sincerity, however, or you’ll arouse suspicions. Appearing to believe what you say adds authority to your words.įor example, Iago destroyed Othello by appearing to be deeply concerned about Desdemona’s supposed infidelity. People are likely to mistake it for honesty, because they trust appearances and want to believe others are honest. Try False Sincerity to Conceal Your Intentionsīesides broadcasting a fake goal, you can use false sincerity as a red herring to throw people off the scent. This is the advantage of concealing your intentions.
Once it was gone, the duke marched easily into France. When they had it back, they destroyed it to keep it out of the duke’s hands. The French attacked and he let them recapture it. His decoy was to capture the fort and add some soldiers, to make it look like he wanted to maintain and strengthen the fort. In 1711 the Duke of Marlborough, head of the English army, wanted to destroy a French fort because it blocked the route he wanted to use to invade France. Most people will believe you had a true change of heart because people don’t usually change sides frivolously.Ĭonversely, you can pretend to want something you’re not actually interested in, and your opponents will be confused and miscalculate. So present a decoy or red herring - something phony that’s intended to attract attention and thus mislead - and people will take the appearance for reality, and won’t notice what you’re really doing.įor instance, you can divert attention from your true goals by making it look as though you support an idea or cause you previously opposed publicly. Fortunately, concealing your intentions is easy because it’s human nature to trust appearances the alternative of doubting the reality of what you see and hear - imagining there’s always something else behind it - is too exhausting. In contrast, you can gain and maintain the upper hand by concealing your intentions.
Watching your mouth - monitoring and controlling what you say - takes effort. People tend to be “open books” because talking about feelings and intentions comes naturally. And when it comes to plans and intentions, they’re quick to tell all at the slightest provocation. Many people wear their feelings on their sleeves. Use tools such as fake sincerity, ambiguity, and lures - and people won’t be able to differentiate the genuine from the false to see your goal. To conceal your intentions, take preemptive action to mislead by using decoys and red herrings. Principle #1 of Law 3 : Use Decoys and Red Herrings Send them down the wrong path with a red herring or create a smokescreen and by the time they realize what you’re up to, it will be too late for them to interfere. If you keep people off-balance and in the dark, they can’t counter your efforts.
Overview of Law #3: Conceal Your IntentionsĪlways conceal your intentions.
48 LAWS OF POWER TARGET TRIAL
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