02 August 2010 ~ 0 Comments

Jason Fladlien: Making Fundamental Attribution Error Work for You?



Portrait of Sigmund Freud
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I enjoyed reading Jason’s email so much, and learned from it too, that I am postingĀ  it to my blog so you can see it too:

I’m a two time college drop out. Both times I dropped out with a 3.4 grade point average.

Weird, huh?

The reason I left is because I felt it was a waste of time. I didn’t learn much there…

The most valuable thing I learned was in my Sociology 130 class.

That’s why I discovered something sociologists call the fundamental attribution error.

Let me show you with an example. Say I shuffle a deck of 52 cards up real nice and good. Then I cut it and tell you that if you call the right color on top – you will win a prize.

Then I give you 1 of 2 options. You can either call the color yourself, or you can have a stranger in the room call it for you.

The result – almost every single person chooses the “predict” the color themselves.

Make sense, right? Why put your fate in a stranger’s hands? But that’s an error. Because… it simply doesn’t matter… who call “predicts” the color.

The chances are the same – 1 out 2.

The ramification is that in individualistic societies (meaning western societies), the average person tends to over-estimate their own abilities. Somehow they think if they call the color it is better than a random stranger. Or flipping a coin.

Here’s some other neat stuff related to this. If you stopped 100 random people on the street, and asked them to estimate how well they drive… and give them three options – (1)Below Average (2) Average or

(3) Above Average…

Usually 80 out of 100 will say “above average”. Hmmm!?

How is it possible that 80% are above average? It’s not.

Again – the fundamental attribution is at work. The average, normal person tends to over-estimate their abilities.

And that’s actually good. From a clinical point, doctors have found that people who are most accurate about their ACTUAL abilities are FAR more likely to be depressed. So it’s actually good that you tend to think you’re better than you are actually are :)

Now let’s relate that to you. Understanding the fundamental attribution error, I think, is critical to your success.

Here’s why – when I was 23 I had failed at pretty much everything I had tried to accomplish. I tried to become a famous rapper. Failed. Tried to run a music company. Failed. Tried to become a monk and find inner peace. Failed. Tried to live on my own twice. Failed.

So here I am in this tiny little 2 room apartment moved back in with my dad and I get exposed to this internet marketing thing.

All logic says I will fail. If I was being a SANE PERSON, and accurately assessed my abilities, I wouldn’t have even given it a go.

But I did. Much to the chagrin of my father. (Hey, others can estimate your abilities far better than you can – because they don’t suffer from “personal

bias”)

Much to the dismay of my friends and relatives.

I did it any way. I started with affiliate marketing.

Failed. Then I tried to do SEO stuff. Failed. Google adwords was next. Failed!

I should’ve quit write? There is no logical reason or indicator that I would make this work.

But the fundamental attribution error pushed on. And I kept going.

Then I started getting little successes here and there.

Then bigger ones. Then bigger ones stills. And here I am before you today.

I own a home… it was custom built for me… and it’s less than 3 months old! It’s beautiful and in most places in the U.S. it go for half a mil easily.

Mine – all because I continually overestimated my abilities to make things work. And I never gave up.

Sometimes you might get your emotion hot buttons tweaked by a sales letter… and when you combine that with the fundamental attribution error… you might make a quick buying decision and just KNOW this one product will be the one that turns it around for you.

Then three days later, in a moment of sobriety and clarity, you realize you made a mistake. Right?

Wrong! Even if this product wasn’t the one… it could be the one before the one. It could make you that much more fed up… meaning that much more BOUND and Determined to find something that works.

And I promise you if you keep at it – keep over-estimating your own abilities to achieve… you will get it. I would bet everything I know to be holy on it.

Regardless of what’s happened to you in the past. Regardless of your current skill and situation. Just keep at it. The next one could be the one… and eventually WILL be the one.

Thanks for reading. I have a personal stake in seeing you succeed, and I’d like to one of my best training programs to be “the one” for you. And you can see it at http://mst20.com

Please check it out and give it a shot.

Jason Fladlien

Fladlien Productions

(563) 571-2131

jmflad[at]gmail.com

Fladlien Productions

2169 Glen Oaks Drive

Coralville, IA 52241

(309) 517-0655

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