Andre the Giant sucked.
The other actors, all pros, were exchanging looks behind his back. This wasn’t going to work.
The time was 1986. The place was London. The movie was the Princess Bride, and this was the initial script reading.
Andre was supposed to play Fezzik. But he was terrible. Slow… and monotone… and rote. There was no way way this could work on film.
“Read faster.”
Mandy Patinkin, playing Inigo, kept telling Andre to go faster. Without effect.
“Read faster!”
Still no effect. Instructions just couldn’t penetrate Andre’s 90-lb skull.
“Faster Fezzik!” yelled Mandy at the top of his voice. But Andre still kept reading in his slow voice and then—
SLAP!
Mandy slapped the giant across the face. Hard.
Andre’s eyes went wide. There was a pause. And dead silence.
Andre, the 550-lb professional wrestler, who could manhandle seven grown men at once, was thinking. And something finally clicked. He started speaking faster and putting more energy into the role.
The rest as they say, is marketing. So let’s talk about marketing prospects who can’t or won’t follow instructions.
In my email a couple days ago, I offered people a bribe in exchange for writing me and doing two simple things.
Lots of people responded, doing just what I’d asked.
But a few of the people who responded wouldn’t follow my simple instructions.
I get it. I’m reactive like that too.
I start burning inside when anyone tells me what to do. And I start looking for ways to reassert my independence and sovereignty.
But I can tell you this:
The few things I’ve achieved in life all came from finding somebody else’s successful system. And then following it blindly.
Following it, even when I could see a better way. Even when I felt I could skip a step. Even when I was sure some part of it wouldn’t work for me.
Like I said, this is how I achieved the things I have achieved in life.
I probably would have achieved more, or much faster, had I been less stubborn… less reactive… or had I had an Inigo reach out to me and slap me across the face.
That’s not to say there is no place for creativity, uniqueness, or growth in the world.
For example, I started writing these emails following somebody else’s system. Over time, with enough practice, this warped and grew into something new and different. A new system of my own, which I’m calling Influential Emails.
I can tell you this:
Influential Emails will not work for anyone who is too smart, experienced, or reactive to follow instructions. Well, it might work after a slap, but that’s something I can’t do from where I’m sitting.
But say you are ready to follow instructions. Will Influential Emails help you achieve success?
Only you can discover that. But if you need some extra info to help you decide whether to give it a twy, then take a wook at the fowowing page: