When I can’t sleep, I turn around and sleep “upside down” - moving my pillows to where my feet were beforehand, and my feet to where my head was beforehand - and I stick with that for a week or so. It gives me a week or so without insomnia and then wears off, so I have to turn myself back around for the next 7-12 day period.
Admittedly this could just be a me thing, but let’s put our faith in this method and let the power of placebo effect take hold. Boom, minor bouts of sleeplessness are cured.
What are your own examples of this?
In a financial negotiation, avoid saying a number first, even if it seems like you’re being rude, just say stuff like “what’s your budget” instead. This trick sounds really stupid but somehow it is extremely effective.
I took a community college class on business negotiations. I learned about BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement) and it’s been extremely helpful as a tool for negotiations. It’s setting a baseline and reduces any emotional toll.
Tl;Dr: define your BATNA before any negotiation. For example: say you know your salary industry standard is at $80k. You receive an offer for $70k, politely see if they have wiggle room for more, based on industry standard. If they come back with $75k, your plan is clear. In this negotiation, your BATNA is to walk away - no hard feelings.
When I sold my car, I set my BATNA to $9k, and put it for sale at $11k. The guy immediately tried to haggle and offered $10k. I shook his hand immediately and sold it.
It doesn’t have to be a hard number either. Like comparing benefits or perks.
I guess that could make sense if there is such a narrow range of possible outcomes and everyone has some clear objective idea of a baseline, but I’ve gotten freelance gigs where I would have been willing to do it for say $X, but was offered like $3X and was very happy to have kept my mouth shut and not talked numbers at all before that point. If I hadn’t I think I might not have gotten the job at all because the price being lower than the expectation would have made the client worried about the quality of the work, and even if I did get it that would have made them less satisfied with the deal.
As for your other comment, it’s not always true that combativeness will make people less satisfied with a transaction. I remember a particular situation where I was negotiating with another freelancer who was obviously also purposely avoiding saying a number, and I ended up caving when it got truly absurd and cited some past payments to use as a reference point. I was personally more satisfied with the deal because he did that, because it increased my respect for him; we were going to be working together and it was nice to feel that I could trust him to not be a pushover in general.
The most annoying response when trying to get a price from someone
This is why I have doubts about Macklemore’s business acumen:
(Macklemore - Downtown)
I suppose at least he doesn’t immediately answer about the budget, but it still seems like a less than stellar negotiating technique.
Absolutely. And in a more general sense, whenever negotiating with businessmen, tell yourself they’re nasty rotten pirates beforehand and throughout the process. Visualise them having peglegs, hooks, eyepatches and battered old sea hats. Do NOT give in, do NOT name that number before they do.
I prefer to think of it like a competitive game; you’re trying to win and you aren’t going to go easy on anyone, but you still treat your adversaries with as much empathy and respect as that allows.
That’s great until the other person is also doing it haha
A good negotiation is about making sure both parties feel satisfied by the end of the transaction!
If the other side was already combative, then that’s a negotiation you should walk away from.