The following psychological hacks have been continuously practiced by successful people for decades. They will allow you to gain important advantages or more control of potential outcomes in various areas of everyday life.


If you want to get a positive response from someone, nod while you talk.

This one is extremely powerful and also a bit manipulative especially if the person is suggestive. So use it with your own responsibility and in an ethical way. Getting a positive response from someone is usually what we want. Whether it is making a sale, or promoting a viewpoint, we always want people to get on board. Nodding while you try to deliver your message is a powerful way to get the person to agree with you. People usually like mimicking, so they will most probably nod back while you talk. This will subsequently communicate to their brains that they have to agree with you.


Mirror people’s body language to build up trust

If you subtly mimic the body language of the person you’re talking to, you can effectively build up trust with them. By mirroring the way they speak and how they move they’ll like yo1u more, because, to them, it will seem as if you are pretty good compatible.

Scientists have shown in various experiments that this so-called “chameleon effect” can not only facilitate the smoothness of social interactions, but it can also increase liking between those who interact. To put it simply, we enjoy speaking to interaction partners who mimic our postures, facial expressions, and other behaviors.

Use the power of silence

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where someone asked you about something you’d rather not like to tell? It’s pretty safe to assume that we’ve all been in situations like this countless times. However, in some situations, some people inexplicably seemed to be able to reveal a lot more than we would have liked to reveal.

One psychological hack to accomplish this is to simply make use of the power of silence. If you’re not satisfied with an answer somebody gave you, remain silent and keep looking at them. Usually, the combination of awkward silence and firm eye contact will pressure your counterpart to bridge the silence by revealing more.

A clean and organised environment affects your mood, productivity, and others perception of who you are.

How many times have you waken up without any motivation at all? How many times have you started working on something without being able to get focused and inspired? Next time this happens, take a look around you. Is your environment clean and well-organized? If not, take some minutes to clean it up and put everything into place. You will feel refreshed and reborn and productivity will spark immediately. But not only that, you will come across as caring and punctual, two highly esteemed traits. Why do think most of the big companies pay so much attention to creating the best working environment for their employees? They know what makes them happy and how it affects their productivity.

Make others agree with you through subliminal signals

A classic example of priming is when you nod or shake your head while asking someone a question. In most cases, it will make them agree with you instinctively, as they do not seem to be thinking about your question too deeply.

Discover people’s self-image

We all have a certain (idealistic) image of ourselves. We know precisely how we want to behave and how others should think about ourselves. And, to most people, nothing could be more important than clinging to their self-image and acting accordingly. Whenever we do not act in line with our self-image, it somehow feels wrong. Something we’d rather like to avoid. Therefore, figuring out how people think of themselves can prove exceptionally valuable. This information will not only help you to avoid attacking another person’s self-perception, but it can also be used to your advantage.

Whenever you’re confronted with someone who acts against the best interest, try to discover how they think of themselves and try to reinforce their self-image.

If you want to be persuasive, try and reduce the use of the words “I think” and “I believe.”

I don’t really feel the need to elaborate on this one. Obviously these words do not evoke confidence and the other person will most probably not take you seriously. Change them to ‘I know’ and ‘I will’ instead.

Meeting decisions for others the right way

This one is a psychological life hack that works especially well with children: If you want your kids to do something, don’t ask them if they want to. Most likely, they don’t want to do it anyways. So instead of asking, “Do you want some vegetables,” give them an option to choose from.

“Do you want broccoli or do you prefer some of those delicious baby carrots,” is a much better way to approach things. Your kid will feel as if they have a great amount of control by being allowed to choose, even though you’ve already made the decision for them.


Naturally, this psychological hack does not have to be limited to children only. Whenever you have to meet a decision, don’t just ask people if they want to, give them a choice that lies within the frame of your decision. You’ll be surprised how this little hack will help you to avoid arguing with other people.


Want to find out which people are close to each other within a group and who is perceived as the leader?

Pay attention to who is looking at each other when everyone in the group laughs at a joke. People instinctively look at and agree with the person they feel closest to within the group.

Fake it until you make it.

No one became an expert on anything over night. However, the learning process in everything you do is accelerated by commanding your brain to think what you want it to think. In simple words. You are what you believe you are. • You are confident if you believe you are confident • You are attractive if you believe you are attractive • You are extrovert if you believe you are extrovert If you want to look deeper into this idea look up two words. Neuroplasticity and brain rewiring.


The psychic parent trick

Whenever you catch your kids in the midst of doing something they should not do, you can either confront them directly or make them think you have psychic abilities. If you choose the latter one, just turn your back on them or leave the room entirely when you spot them doing something bad. Once you’ve turned around, or have left the room, call them on what they’re doing. You’ll be surprised at their amazement. They simply cannot figure out how you knew what they were doing, especially when you were in another room.

Whenever you need a favor, open with “I need your help.”

Admit it. We all love to get others to do stuff for us. Either because we are lazy, or because we really need some help to complete a task.

Social dynamics show that when it comes to platonic relationships, nobody really likes an asshole. So whenever you need a favor, start your sentence with “I need your help.”

Want to see if someone is paying attention to what you are saying? Fold your arms.

Usually when we are in the middle of a conversation and especially if we talk about something very important to us, we get lost in our talking and rarely pay attention to whether the other person is following or not. So instead of losing time talking to a person who is distracted and might not even be interested in what you are saying, do this. Fold your arms while talking and see if the other person follows your move. If the other person is observing you and pays attention, they will most likely mimic you.


If you want people to feel good, give them validation.

Rephrase what they just told you.
We love validation. Most of our actions are the outcome of our need for validation. So what is the best way to get people to like you? Give them what they need of course. A simple example, is when you are in a conversation with another person and he says something really important for him. After he finishes, rephrase what he just said in your own words. This will make him think that you are a good listener and that you are really interested in him. It makes him feel he is the center of attention. That’s validation right there.



                              BONUS


1. People with a good sense of humour are most likely to be intelligent, cultured and honest. This is the real reason both women and men are strongly attracted to people who make them laugh in spite of hardship.

2. Laughter is a natural elixir for happiness. It drives happy hormones to the brain and helps relieve stress, reduce muscle tension, lower anxiety and dismantle fear. Couples who laugh together are more inclined to have a healthy relationship overall, as their general well being is amped by high functioning Oxytocin levels.

3. People who don’t exercise and look after their physical appearance are almost always a turn off for romantic prospects.

4. Cuddling is one of the best natural antidepressants. When two people cuddles or hug each other, brain releases Oxytocin hormones that helps relieve migraine and calms you down up to at least 4 hours.

5. People are more likely to break-up in the first 3-5 months of a relationship.

6. Women are generally much more attracted to men with deeper voices.

7. Making time to be only with your significant other for brief periods of time is proven to create a deeper bond. No phone. No devices, mostly when you go to bed. Use that time just for the two of you. Even if it’s 20 minutes, even if you sit in silence together. Make that time count.


8. One of the biggest red flags in a relationship is the inability of two people to sit together in silence for extended amounts of time.


9. Referring to a person’s first name when paying a compliment works up to 70% better. People feel more seen rather than looked at when they hear their own name.

10. Sarcasm can make or break your relationship.

11. The best relationships in your life will be with people who accept change, failure and progress without mustering to control them.

12. Body language doesn’t lie. For instance, legs pointing direction is a really useful tool to understand who’s interested in who, especially in a big group of people. If one of their legs is pointed towards you and the other away from you, it means that the person wants to escape the situation. Similarly, someone pointing their legs towards you stands for interest.