How to Trick People Into Thinking You Are Important

You’ve got 10 seconds to convince your readers that you’re worth their time. Make every second count

What you’ve got to say matters, people just don’t know it yet. Your job is to convince them that you’re worth their time.

With the speed at which we consume information and scroll through pages these days, face-value has never been more important. A title, subtitle, and image determine whether a potential reader chooses your body of work over the millions of other creators on the internet. That’s a lot of pressure!

Relieving some of that pressure starts with a few simple tricks. Those tricks are what I’d like to explore here.

We live in a world where we want things now and are unashamedly quick to dismiss anything that doesn’t grab our attention. That makes those first 10 seconds vitally important. Maximising that short window of opportunity helps your readers stay curious. This can make all the difference.

Anyone can look at a photo, read a title, and subtitle and make a split-second decision whether to click on your article or not. That’s how much time you have to convince them that you are worthy of their time.

You have to convince them that you and what you have to say is important, without fail. You have to lure them in, make them curious, keep them excited, aroused, inquisitive, intrigued, and most importantly, you have to give them no excuse to leave.

Sloppy grammatical mistakes, spelling errors, and long-winded, fancy-schmancy sentences can make you lose more readers than you gain. The devil is in the detail.

Then, once your reader has settled, shitty grammar, spelling mistakes, and long-winded sentences are ironically accepted, but you have to earn that right first. You have to settle your reader in, you have to soothe their doubts, and you have to convince them that it’s a good idea to stay. Or it’s game over before you’ve even begun.

Setting yourself up for success

For others to think you are important, you have to think of yourself as important first. That starts with you. Once you’ve reached this point, you’ll spend more time and care and making yourself, and your work, better.

Everyone wins.

Eradicating grammatical errors and spelling mistakes is easy with free tools like Grammarly. It takes an extra 5 minutes but it makes a huge difference.

Studying successful writers helps to better understand what’s working and what’s not. You can then implement the things that are working and adapt them to your own style. Spend time editing properly too, or at the very least, re-read it once before you submit to a publication. This can unearth any last mistakes.

Shorter paragraphs seem to do better than long-winded ones. This is because they provide the reader with bite-sized chunks of information instead of overwhelming them with lots to read in one go. This happens subconsciously but that’s where our most impulsive actions come from. Calm your reader’s subconscious minds down by spreading your sentences over smaller paragraphs to create more space.

Take time to re-write your title and sub-title. Even swap them around. Often our sub-title is the better title because we write it under less pressure. Take the same amount of care when you’re writing your first line.

Choose a killer image. Take an extra minute or two to find one that’s unique and exciting. Your image alone can be enough to make someone step inside your world and journey with you for a brief moment. Try not to miss this opportunity.

Set yourself up with a few simple tricks. It’s not rocket science but it goes a long way to convince people that it is.

Remember — all of these things happen before anyone has even seen what you are about to say. Your job is to convince them that they want to hang around long enough to find out. You have about 10 seconds.

These few simple steps give you the best chance.

Value your own self-worth

Before anyone else can deem you worthy of their time and energy, you have to deem yourself worthy first. If you don’t believe in yourself, no one else will. That’s the harsh truth.

So, write with confidence. Be sure in what you’re saying and try to write the best piece that you’ve ever written right now.

Valuing your own self-worth comes above and beyond any outside validation. That comes later. In truth, another’s appreciation comes as a beautiful by-product of your own self-worth. Without it, others have room to doubt you more than you doubt yourself. Remove their doubt by convincing them you something of value to add to their lives.

If you write from an inspired, authentic, vulnerable, and self-worthy place then you’re bound to inspire others to listen. You’re bound to evoke deep emotion, spread joy, and even invite them to see the world from a different perspective. You might even pose an intriguing question or awaken some dormant place inside of them if you do.

If you believe that your voice is worthy of being listened to, people will listen. It’s a beautiful feedback loop, but it starts with you.

Taking care

Self-worth starts with caring for self. What we think, what we say, how we act, and how we feel about ourselves, our work and others go a long way in seeing ourselves in a happy, healthy light. Ultimately, how we feel about ourselves colours our whole life.

So, look after your mind, nourish your body, and feed your soul. Keep learning and growing as you continue to spread your message and try to enjoy the process every step of the way.

Take rejection on the chin

The fear of failure is just a missed opportunity to learn.

If we can get past our incessant fear of failure we can quickly see the beautiful opportunity it presents to grow and learn. Failing just means something hasn’t worked out the way we wanted it to and it’s often very unpersonal. With a few simple tweaks, it can be a huge success.

Thomas Edison (the light bulb dude) didn’t worry about “failing” 999 times in his attempt to make a light bulb. He took that arduous journey as a chance to learn, adapt, and ultimately grow. He used those 999 times to turn his one-thousandth attempt into a winning one. Without all of those hiccups, bumps, and bruises along the way, he would never have learned all the necessary steps that were needed to make it possible.

The lights that power these screens we are looking through might never have come to be.

“You never lose. You either win or you learn” — Miki Bennet

Closing thoughts

Ultimately, what we think about ourselves determines how the world thinks about us. A healthy, happy, committed life isn’t a by-product of success, success is a by-product of a healthy, happy, and committed life. Read that again.

Creating good habits supports a healthy environment, both internally and externally. Feeling worthy starts long before others see you as someone of worth. This is the golden trick. Then, once people do take note, you won’t need their validation, you will already know that you’re worthy of their love so you’ll simply enjoy being witnessed as you continue to do what you’ve always done.

Don’t wait for others to deem you successful, worthy, or important. See yourself as someone that is successful, worthy, and important first, and then the world will see you standing there, and want to stand with you.

Take a few simple steps to ease their doubt and then dazzle them with your words.

I can’t wait to see what you write next.