Reality Reconstruction

You Can Use This For Massive Success

The Milton Model set of language patterns and communication strategies is a fantastic way to easily and naturally persuade and influence others. Many find that these are also great party tricks, as they can spin somebody’s mind in all kinds of fun and different directions.

Today’s pattern is the “Unspecified Verb” pattern. It is based on the principle that whenever you leave something vague or unspecified, the listener will need to fill in the blanks (usually unconsciously) with their own experience and imaginations in order to make sense of your statement.

By using unspecified verbs, this is very powerful. An unspecified verb is whenever you use a verb, in any tense, where anything about the verb is left out, or left to be filled in the listener. The doer, or agent, how the action was performed, etc.

For example, if I say:

“Many people have used the Milton Model language patterns with great success,” there is a lot left out. Which people? How did they use these patterns? What kind of success? How long did it take to achieve success?

Because the sentence itself sounds true enough, you will need to fill in the blanks with your own experience, or your own guesses. And these guesses will naturally be congruent with our experience, and what you want to achieve in life.

Somebody that wants to become the greatest salesman the world has ever seen will naturally imagine somebody using these skills for sales. Somebody that wants to be known as an irresistible lady-killer will naturally imagine using these language patterns for seduction. Somebody that has a private counseling practice will imagine people using these skills to help others overcome emotional problems and limitations.

You can even construct even more vague sentences, leaving your listener with more freedom on how they fill in the blanks.

For example:

Many people have found that they already have the resources inside them, and simply by discovering them, they can achieve all they want in life.

How have they found the resources?
What are these resources?
How did they discover them?
How did they achieve what they wanted in life?
Who are these people?

All of these questions will be quickly and unconsciously filled in by the listener, who will find all kinds of examples of how they can make this true in their own life.

When you drop a statement like this in a broader, more general discussion of self-improvement, they will use whatever information you give them to imagine themselves achieving the results that you want.

Consider the following:

The Milton model is a great set of language tools that have helped many people achieve the success they dream about in life. Many have discovered that they already have all the resources they need, and can go on to achieve all they want in life. Financial success, emotional and relationship success, as well as spiritual and personal enlightenment are just some ways people have found this to be true.

So I started off talking about the Milton Model, the I alluded to finding your own resources and successfully applying then I mentioned a few vague examples in case the listener or reader was having trouble coming up with which areas of life they’d like success in.

The underlying, or implied idea, is that by studying and learning the Milton Model, you will unlock your potential and create success in all areas of your life. How you actually do that, and get there, is up to you.

Not bad, huh?

Another way people use these patterns is for some sly marketing. Talk about a vague result many people have received, and then talk about your product without actually mentioning it in a cause-effect relationship. The listener will link two in his or her mind in a way that makes sense to them.

For example:

Many people have discovered that with the right method, they can easily lose the weight they want, and keep it off. We here at ACME diet produce several products that can help you along in your weight loss goals.

I never said that those “many people” used ACME products, nor that ACME products ever produced successful weight loss. But that is certainly implied in the statement above.

Be careful, though. In my personal opinion, that is a bit overdone in today’s marketing, which means that people are accustomed to it, so it may not be as effective as it used to be. But that might be my own personal bias.

If you are a marketer of any sort, it pays to try everything, and simply use what works best.

Another good way to use this pattern is to use yourself as the cause to the implied effect. Politicians are great at doing this.

Talk to any person at length and get them thinking in positive terms by using a lot of unspecified verbs, and they will start to associated the “how” with you, since you’ve been standing there talking to them for a few minutes.

Pretty slick, eh?

Since you’ve read this far, you’re likely aware how you can apply this in your daily life to the benefit of yourself and others. I’m sure you can understand that, right?

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