Hey guys and welcome back to another episode of ChangeWired Podcast , the show for leaders , makers , everyday transformers and change agents . My name is Angela Sharina , I'm your host , I'm your executive coach . 360 , mind , body work systems for meaningful work , change leadership and culture transformation strategist . Consultant and culture transformation strategies consultant and coach all in one package , and I absolutely love doing this podcast where I share my learnings , the books I read , the best practices in the business world of change , transformation , ai readiness and adoption , among other things .
Speaker 1These days , you know AI . Who is not talking about or not thinking about AI these days ? I think , like the older generation , are the only people who don't , who really you know out of workforce and don't really care what's happening all that much . So I think those soon become the only people . But anyhow , today's podcast guys , we're going to start with a question Would you read a restaurant menu if you're hungry ? What today's podcast is all about and what you're going to get from it . Well , you get to understand why people won't listen to your message , why very few people will read your stuff , how to write better email titles so people actually open what you write . What else , how to make people pay attention and listen to what you have to say , how to design your products and services , and just you pitch to your mom , your kid or your spouse so they listen to what you have to say and , most importantly , take some action based on that . So this is what we are talking about today and , as usual , you're going to learn some fascinating signs , which I try to bring down to the ground level and make it as simple and clear as possible , and by the end of this podcast episode , the hope is you're going to have a mind-transforming idea . So , from now on
, you take different action when pitching , writing emails , designing your workshops , classes or anything that you want other people to pay attention to .
Speaker 1And we are starting with this term of cognitive budgeting or cognitive resource allocation . If you didn't know that , guys , but your brain is the hungriest organ , hungriest for energy . It spends more than 20% of your daily energy , like your cells are busy making energy , and more than 20% your brain gets , it being just less than 5% of your body weight . It's a hungry machine and because of that , it's a hack of an economist when it comes to energy budgeting . And your energy is spent by much , by far and much for paying attention , for filtering the reality , reading , learning , you know the different sensory information and then figuring out what to do with that . So you succeed and thrive in life .
Speaker 1And these days we are bombarded with , you know , emails and messages , like so much stuff that we're getting more and more of , but your brain's capacity didn't really change much when it comes to the amount of energy is available for absorbing and digesting and deciding what to do with that information . And so the brain gets more and more stingy and choosy , and you know there is this term picky eater . So your brain becomes more and more like a picky eater that only would pay attention to certain things . So what are those certain things that it's going to pay attention to ? Well , it reminds me of this moment in my day after my workout , when I don't care about anything else but the food that I'm about to eat and you can be pitching me the most brilliant idea . Like at that point after my workout , the only thing that I care about that my brain cares about is when am I going to get my food , and that's about it . At that point , you can pitch me some healthy meal and bring it to me and sit me down at the table and then probably I might have some attention for whatever else you have to offer , but don't stand between me and my meal after workout . And if you try to pitch to me some five-course food journey at some Michelin restaurant with these different foods from around the world , guess what ? I wouldn't care . I'm like , will I eat my protein and everything to make me full or not ? That's pretty much all I care about then .
Speaker 1So how do you make people pay attention to what you have to say , and what does cognitive budgeting and allocation of your cognitive resources
has to do with that ? Well , as our world gets noisier and noisier , our brain has to really kind of budget the energy to absorb any of that and use any of that , and so the brain your brain , guys becomes very choosy again , like a picker eater . Should I pay attention to this or not ? Is it relevant in my life or not ? And is it something I , as the person with this identity , care about at all ? Like to give you an example when I open my email , I don't really care anymore about what smart thing you have to say . All I care about is A . Is it relevant to what I'm trying to solve right now growing my business , growing my consulting , figuring out how to get better at behavior , change at scale , other things like maybe some updates from Team Ferris or what else , some courses on change leadership , change management .
Speaker 1There are very few things that I truly care about right now . Things that I truly care about right now . And when I see some fluffy email title or you know new thing to I don't know , live better life , you know I don't care , like I don't care who you are , what you have to say about living a better life . My life is pretty awesome right now and all I care about is building my business . So do you have anything smart and exact that I need at that moment to say ? If not , get out of my email or out of sight , out of mind , and I believe this is going to be the era of the end of fluffy email titles . Don't be clever , be clear , because if I don't understand it , in marketing and sales they actually say that confused customer always says no . So a lot of people are just confused with all the stuff that's going on . So if you are not clear , you've already lost . But that brings me back to another idea of this cognitive budgeting that I learned in the book by Matt Wallert . I think that's how you pronounce his last name .
Speaker 1The book is Start at the End , and he is a behavioral scientist . He does spend a lot of time helping people to change behavior , usually at scale in different organizations , and in the last chapters of his book , start at the End , let me actually read you the full subtitle . Yeah , trying to open up my website right now , which isn't opening up , okay , it's just open . Start at the End how to Build Products that Create Change . So at the end , in the last few chapters , matt talks about cognitive load , cognitive resources and how , if people aren't interested , not ready to spend their brain energy on what you have to offer at that exact moment , because at different moments people are interested in different things , just like me , after my workout , interested in really nutritious , filling meal , and that's pretty much all I care about at that moment . Or when somebody is trying to finish off their weekend , you like bringing them this new idea of the project that you want them to consider taking on . They're like well , maybe next week . You know , hit me up then . Right now I'm focused on getting my weekend ready and going . So Matt in his book Start at the End , introduces this idea that unless people have what you have to say in their cognitive budgeting list , like they are ready and willing to spend their cognitive attention on this at that precise moment . It's like doesn't matter what you have to say . You might have the best meal , the best brand , the best , whatever thing you have to offer , it doesn't matter . So to give you another idea to help you understand , it's more and better .
Speaker 1I don't care about a lot of things in this life , no
matter how good they get . I don't care about politics . I don't care about celebrity gossip . I don't care what's the next thing on Netflix or Spotify , unless it's a niche podcast , maybe my favorite , tim Ferriss or Peter Atiyah MD or Andrew Huberman or Finding Mustry . I don't care about much stuff . I don't care about makeup . I don't care about five course dinners . I don't care about nightclubs . I don't care about new shopping mall opening up . I don't care about new shopping mall opening up . I don't care about high fashion and no matter what you offer to me in those categories , I don't care about that any time of the day , and you might be the best copywriter unless you link it to I care about Like if you wear our brand , you're gonna attract the best companies for change leadership and change management . Maybe then I will care . I would care , but until you do that , don't care .
Speaker 1Weirdly enough , I do care a lot about chocolate . I once even tried making it in chocolate business . And did you know , for example , that there is a cocoa bean called Criollo which is considered to be an elite cocoa bean called Criollo , which is considered to be an elite cocoa bean , which means that only 0.01 percentage of all cacao or cocoa made out of this bean the rest is made of ? Well , majority of our chocolate is made of another bean , less elite , for a stir . So I know things like that .
Speaker 1So I love reading about chocolate , even if it has nothing to do with change leadership . At some point I'm going to make my chocolate business happen . But the point is , I also love watching Star Trek , and if there is something about Jean-Luc Picard you know the guy who actually played it I might read something about that . The point is , there are things that I'm willing and love spending my attention on , or book launches , like a new book coming out about efficiency , change , personal growth or self-improvement , self-optimization . If it's a good book by the good author , I'll probably read it , but I'll also read some news about what are new books on Harvard Business Review that recently came out right , I'm going to read about that . Or AI adoption and rollout when it comes to human-centric factor , I might read about that also , but that might change , whereas is my love for chocolate ? Probably one .
Speaker 1So the point is , guys , ask yourself , just out of curiosity , what are you spending your cognitive energy on ? Like you love reading about it , you love geeking out about that . If there is a rabbit hole , you're going to take it . What are those things ? And that's where marketers would have the biggest chance with you to send their message , to perk up your curiosity , and you might consider it . But also , there are times when you're more likely to pay attention to something Like if you're planning your vacation , then all the offers about all the beautiful destinations and all the different I don't know trends about travel might reach your cognitive awareness and you might pay attention , pay attention enough to actually explore it . But will you be interested enough to learn about some course on the latest travel trends ? Might not be some course on the latest travel trends , might not be .
Speaker 1The point again , is we , whether we are aware or not , have our areas of curiosities where we will spend a lot of our cognitive budget . That brings energy at our attention and we all have different things and again at different times of the day , like my meal after my workout . We might care about different things when it becomes urgent , when it becomes something that we need to solve right , freaking now . Right , I need to have that meal , and so before trying to persuade people , okay , open your email or care about your course , or care about your workshop or this new AI thing you got to ask yourself not if this is the right message , or if this is the right copy , or is your marketing skill level good enough ? No , you actually got to ask yourself a few other questions .
Speaker 1Is this the right message for the right audience ? Does my audience actually care about this ? Or just eating enough veg and protein would be enough , instead of describing me this five-course dinner that I couldn't care less about , even if you said it was free , like , I just don't need it . My time
and my cognitive resources are not going to be spent there , right ? So is this message right for this type of the audience ? Am I clear enough to tell them that this is what I'm delivering ? If you are the kind of person who cares about that . Is this the right time ? Or am I finding you on Monday morning when people are just trying to get through some stuff to start their week right ? Is it the right moment for this kind of person to care about that and am I giving them the right kind of detail ?
Speaker 1Like , again , I can read a lot of detail about chocolate . I cannot read a lot of detail about , I don't know , my wardrobe . I don't really care about brands , I just like to look pretty well and you know when I go out and do my workshops or classes or just meet people that I have pretty good impression , like approachable impression . That's all I care about . I don't really need to know all the latest brands and fashions and I don't care , and that's why I don't read fashion magazines . No matter what great , amazing stuff is there , like I don't care . And so for me , little detail in fashion is better than a lot of detail .
Speaker 1So does your audience . Is your audience obsessed with that ? Give them all the detail , all the right detail . They care about that , and if your person just wants good enough to solve a problem , then give them the cheapest version . That's good enough , and the speed becomes the differentiator . Like if I need an adapter for electric stuff in South Africa and that's all I care about . I'm going to get the first thing that I find not like the best thing . I just don't care . If I don't care much about , let's say , cars and I need a vehicle , so what I'm going to do is going to get just good enough stuff . I don't need all the whistles and stuff and how the engine works . I'm just not that kind of person . So figure out who your person is , what they really care about , that and give them detail according to the amount of care and interest that they have . For obsessed people , give a lot of detail , but also the right kind of detail . Talk to those people . For people who just want you know good enough option , just give them a little detail and make shipping it to them as fast and easy and frictionless as possible . And so the same with you know your blogs , your workshops and I'm learning as a speaker as well .
Speaker 1Sometimes I look in my email or articles that people post and try to promote and I'm like I don't really care about all this fluff . I care about my thing , and unless you tell me why I should care about that , how this solves my problem , I don't really care how smart you are about delivering I don't know five course dinner If all I care is to not be hungry . The point is what's in it for them ? Ask this question often , guys , and lead with that . Whether you're trying to write a blog , an email , do workshop , do class , do podcast , always ask yourself and this is the question I'm asking myself , not necessarily that I'm like super masterful about that , but at least I'm asking and getting better , and I asked ChatGPT about that as well Lead with what's in it for them . But obviously , to be effective with that , you need to understand who they are and what time of the day they are opening this thing . Maybe they love reading in the morning or at night . So your message also has to be slightly different .
Speaker 1And again , know your audience . Are they obsessed with that ? Or are they using it to just satisfy the need , the thing that they gotta do , like get a blog . I don't need all the detail about that blog , right ? Or are they obsessed , like me and my chocolate , and you give them all the detail ? Know your audience and understand what's in it for them . Or are they obsessed , like me and my chocolate , and you give them all the detail like know your audience and understand what's in it for them . What are they trying to get or solve with this thing ? And then deliver that message . Be clear , not clever . Confused customer always says no , and that's about
it .
Speaker 1Guys , when you're trying to pitch something to your family member , your kid , your spouse , what's in it for them ? Ask this question first . Lead with that , hear them out before you try to quote-unquote , sell them anything . Understand them and once you get their attention , that's where you get to sparkle up your offer and have a chance to actually get the outcome you want as well . So what's in it for them ? Understand who you're writing and why , and whether your people are willing to spend their cognitive resource on what do you have to say in the first place ? Because if not , it's like never happened . You might as well say nothing . Probably would be in a better position . So cognitive budget Guys , people are .
Speaker 1Our brains are stingier than ever . With that budget , there are too many things to pay attention to . So what's in it for them is the key question . And also understand that what people are willing to pay attention to A it's going to change at different times of their day and life cycle . So try to understand the context and then B understand whether you're speaking to obsessed people or people who just need to get the thing done and speak to them in that amount of detail . Obsessed people love a lot of detail . People who just want to get the thing out of the gate , just want a little detail . Does it do the thing ? Yes , fine , can you ship it faster ? That's amazing . So I'm in and speak in that exact order and speak in that exact language and with that exact detail at that exact time . So contacts is everything . Our cognitive budgets are tighter than ever , so what's in it for them ?
Speaker 1And guys , if you got the value from this podcast , please let me know . Rate , review , deliver , help me to deliver this podcast to more ears . Let's grow , let's improve together . Let's make our world better together . Share , if you care . Share with at least one person to have an amazing , insightful chat about . Maybe your team , so your whole marketing , your whole company especially if you have a small company understands how important it is to speak to the right person with the right language and lead with the right kind of sentence or set of words . Right . So share , if you care . Thank you for your attention , now more than ever , and I'll do even better to deliver you more value , practical , applicable . So it also changes your life , your business and accelerates your personal and professional growth . So stay tuned for more . On Wednesday , we're going to talk about how to achieve multiple goals when you're super busy already . We're going to talk about the brain and its ability to automate things and some hacks to do it faster and better . So stay tuned , share if you care , and until next time , keep growing .