In spite of your best efforts it is hard to get people to change their minds. The ways that you try often don't work and sometimes they push people to dig their heels in harder. Jonah Barger, Ph. D, has discussed how to help people make their points more successfully. He has pointed out that others sometimes feel threatened that they may lose self control. He additionally suggests that you may have more luck if you can help others to change their own minds. When people believe that change is their own idea, they may be more prepared to accept something new. The following are some suggestions for encouraging people to change more easily:
1. Offer several choices that are all acceptable to you and then ask the other person to choose from among those.
2. Warn the other person that he is being manipulated by others to hang onto their old opinions. Advertisers do this frequently. You can caution folks that industries are trying to make money to keep them loyal.
3. Instead of telling people what to do, ask questions like "Why are you here? What is your goal?
4. Quote people's own words back to them. Say things like "I think you were right when you said..." People are more likely to agree with their own previous statements."
5. Expose the hidden costs of not changing. People do not often notice the costs of doing things the way they have behaved for so long.
6. Help people to make changes in small steps. Ask for several moderate changes instead of an enormous, gigantic way to change a lifestyle.
Think of change as a good thing. "When you are finished changing, you're finished...." One of Benjamin Franklin's examples of wisdom.