Flibbertigibbet

Master of Social Engineering

One of my coworkers said of me yesterday, "He is a master of social engineering."

Overhearing this remark, I said, "I don't know what that means, but it sounds really good!"

And he said, "It means you're good at manipulating people."

I laughed. "It IS good!"

We were joking and everything, but one thing I have learned to be good in my work is getting people to do what I want them to do.

I have lots of little tricks and strategies that I use and I want to share one with you today.

The trick I want to share with you is about deadlines.

When you want someone to do something, you should always provide a deadline. Don't just hand them something and say, "Whenever you can get to it" unless you really actually don't care if you ever see the results. And if you don't care about getting the results of their effort, it begs the question of why you asked them to do it in the first place.

Many people at my work do this to me and I try to go back and ask for a deadline, but when I don't, that request goes to the back of the line. If they say, "I need this by Monday" then I do everything I can to make sure they get it by Monday.

And it's so easy.

I find that people respond well to this. You should try it.