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ChangingMinds Blog! > Blog Archive > 02-Feb-07

Friday 02-February-07

MAAP Publishing and Training

You know I think I'll start a new company and call it 'MAAP Publishing and Training'. MAAP will stand for Motherhood And Apple Pie, though I won't tell my clients that.

Let's design a MAAP course now. How about calling it, say, 7 Secrets for Success in Sports. Based on deep research, it will tell you the seven inner secrets that top sportspeople know. Hooked already? Good. Notice how the specific number makes it seem more factual. Seven is a good number here as it matches short-term memory size and is neither too small (got to give value for money) nor too big (don't want to cause overwhelm). Being secret makes it more desirable and coming from top sportspeople makes it credible.

Now, for the rest of the apple pie, let's find seven tasty servings.

1. Relentless, regulated, whole-body exercise.

2. A balanced set of food supplements

3. A committed, challenging support team

4. A burning desire to win

5. Practicing down to the details

6. Getting 'into the zone' for the big event.

7. Total, razor-sharp focus on the day

I just made these up, but don't they sound lovely? What makes such lists sound so sexy is not just what is said, but the power that is transmitted and the intrigue that pulls you into the next level of detail.

There is probably no point starting MAAP as there is a whole industry out there, writing books, training, coaching and so on. Some are researched, many are plagiarized and many too are just plain common sense.

In the end it doesn't matter too much really if it's mostly MAAP. The real success is whether the people on the receiving end gain any real benefit. The funny thing is that the MAAP doesn't even have to be true. Like the lost walkers who found their way out of the mountains by accidentally using a map of another area, sometimes the hokum medicine works just through subconscious effects.

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