Alright, gather ’round, you merry band of weirdos and word-wranglers, because we’re diving deep into the mind’s muck and mire.
Picture this: your brain is a sprawling, chaotic map of the universe. A madcap collage of memories, beliefs, and wild-ass guesses, all stitched together into a shoddy patchwork quilt of reality.
This, dear silly goose cultists, is your mental model—a cracked, creaky simulation of the world you stumble through.
Now, we ride this rickety rollercoaster of a model to navigate life. We make plans. We strategise.
We predict. All in the hopes of wrangling our way to those glittering goals we set for ourselves.
But here’s the kicker: if your mental map is a half-baked, janky mess, you’re gonna make choices that are just as busted. You might think you’re on the golden path, but really, you’re about to cannonball into a pit of despair.
Why? Because the map is not the territory, folks. So, what’s our role in this carnival of chaos?
When we set out to sway someone, to nudge them into action, we’re playing the role of the map-maker. Depending on the gig, we might be tweaking their existing map, nudging it to fit our ends.
Other times, we’re handing them a fresh map, a guide to uncharted lands they’ve never ventured into.
Here’s the juicy part: you can spin this metaphor into gold.
Craft informational products that folks will scramble to buy. These maps—your maps—can guide people from their current mess to a sunlit meadow of desirability. Strip down the complex territory to the bare bones, the key landmarks and choices that lead to the promised land.
But wait, there’s more…
Craft a map to your map. Your sales pitch? It’s a map that paves the way from problem to solution, from agony to ecstasy, from empty hands to the Holy Grail. What are the waypoints on this journey? How do you lead someone from clueless to clued-in, from indifferent to raving fan?
And then, because we’re never just satisfied with one layer of madness, create a map to the map that leads to your map. Build content that drags people from the quagmire of their dull, settled lives to a state of restless agitation.
Light a fire under their complacent asses. Propel them from the land of “meh” to the land of “must-have.
Between where your mark is now and where you want them to be, there’s a wild, untamed wilderness. So, sharpen your pencils, ink your quills, and get to work on your cartography.
Metaphorically speaking, of course.
Stephen Walker