Today I have two little stories, two little puzzles for you. I also have an offer for you based on one of these two puzzles.
First puzzle: Mike Mandel is a hypnotist. Back when Mike used to have a hypnosis therapy practice, he would often take people with very bad phobias — snakes, elevators, chocolate rabbits — and put them in a trance.
Mike then did his “change work” to remove the phobia: “The next time you see a chocolate rabbit, you will bite its head off, and you will love it.” Mike would then bring the patient out of trance.
And then, at the end of the session, Mike would say, “Try to bring those feelings of fear back. When you came in here today, you said your fear of chocolate rabbits was a 9 out of 10. Try to bring that feeling back. How would you rate your fear of chocolate rabbits right now?”
So the puzzle is, why did Mike Mandel do this little exercise at the end, after curing people of their phobias?
Second puzzle: Derren Brown, best known for his Channel 4 show Trick of the Mind, also got started as a hypnotist. He never did therapy work, but he did hypnotize his friends. He got very good at it, and he got very confident.
One time, in college, Derren talked to a friend about hypnosis. Derren snapped his fingers, and told his friend to sleep. His friend dutifully collapsed and fell asleep.
Meanwhile, Derren stood there, scratching his head, wondering what the hell had just happened.
So the puzzle is, why did Derren Brown, who had successfully hypnotized lots of his friends before, wonder at the fact that he had successful hypnotized this particular friend?
Now here’s the deal: Write in and tell me which of these two puzzles, if either, is more intriguing to you. I’ll reply and tell you the answer to the puzzle, and I will also tell you how this translates to fields such as copywriting, pickup, negotiation, and comedy.
Please pick one and only one — the puzzle you would like to know the answer to. And then write in and let me know. Thanks in advance.