‘It tells me that you might very well be a psychopath.’ He stuck his fingers in his hair and crossed his jam-jar eyes to accentuate the point and then saw the reaction on my face. (Location 164)
anything. One of the things about psychopaths is that the light switches of their brains aren’t wired up in quite the same way as the rest of the planet. One area that’s particularly affected is the amygdala. (Location 167)
How do you think these great defence lawyers can annihilate an alleged rape victim under cross-questioning, sometimes causing the witness to break down to the extent she’s affected for the rest of her life – yet still the guy goes home, cuddles his kids, and goes out for dinner with his wife? (Location 179)
The financial centres of the world and our leaders are filled with psychopaths – totally focused, totally ruthless. (Location 182)
In fact, in any kind of crisis, the most effective individuals are those who stay calm, who are able to respond to the demands of that moment, while at the same time remaining detached. I would say that’s you, Andy.’ (Location 187)
‘Mate, think about it. You came here not even asking if there was any risk. Not even asking what would happen if something went wrong. Not asking anything. Do you think that’s normal? I’ve known people break down in that chair, throw the towel in, try to remove the electrodes themselves.’ (Location 211)
Fuck it, I’d get away with it. I always had, even as a kid. I never thought of anything as dangerous. I thought of it as fun – like going through the levels on a video game. (Location 231)
Whatever kind of success it is that you’re after, we are going to show you how to get it. But we’re going to do more than that. We’re also going to offer you a PHILOSOPHY FOR LIFE. (Location 290)
Flipnosis: The Art of Split Second Persuasion tells the story of how I hung out with some of the world’s top con artists, both here and in the US, to see who knew more about getting people to do things: me or them? (Location 387)
‘Calmness under pressure. Stress management,’ he drawled. ‘The more the heat goes up, the cooler Dexter gets.’ (Location 473)
Whenever most of us hear the word ‘psychopath’ it’s images of Ted Bundy and Hannibal Lecter that flash across our minds. Not scalpel-wielding surgical geniuses, silver-tongued secret agents or super-cool Special Forces soldiers. (Location 481)
when psychologists like myself use the word ‘psychopath’, we’re actually referring to a specific subgroup of individuals with a distinct subset of personality characteristics. (Location 484)
These characteristics include: Ruthlessness Fearlessness Impulsivity Self-confidence Focus Coolness under pressure Mental toughness Charm Charisma Reduced empathy Lack of conscience (Location 486)
In order to succeed in any profession you need two things: TALENT – the requisite skill set necessary to do the job. AN OPTIMAL PERSONALITY FIT – the unique constellation of personality traits that will enable you to operationalize your professional skill set to maximum effect. (Location 510)
Imagine you’ve got the strategic and financial smarts to be a top CEO – the motivational mojo, the visionary thinking, and an intuitive feel for the market – but lack the RUTHLESSNESS to fire people who aren’t pulling their weight. (Location 527)
fearlessness and ruthlessness for business; (Location 550)
Basically, there are three main differences between the GOOD and the BAD psychopath – differences that revolve around a number of the key components that make up our social environment: other people social context (the interpersonal dynamic that exists between people in different social situations), and society at large (Location 562)
The dividing line between being a GOOD psychopath and a BAD psychopath can at times be a vanishingly thin one. (Location 642)
But what I think is much more interesting, and might well come as a surprise to a lot of people, is that, if you do have the necessary skill set to do your job, certain psychopathic characteristics can actually make you better at it – as we saw a little earlier in medicine, law and business. (Location 657)
1. Psychopathic traits can get you up the ladder – in other words, can make you SUCCESSFUL 2. Psychopathic traits can help you capitalize on your natural abilities – in other words, can make you FUNCTIONAL (Location 661)
In practically any line of work you can think of, a cunning, determined psychopath can bully, blackmail, backstab and schmooze their way to the top of their chosen profession using precisely such qualities to camouflage their lack of job smarts. (Location 665)
Wall Street presented Gordon Gekko (whom we’ll be seeing more of) as the archetypal 1980s capitalist psychopath, and as he once put it: ‘You had what it took to GET INTO my office; the real question is whether you got what it takes to STAY.’ (Location 671)
Sure, many GOOD psychopaths will be SUCCESSFUL. But so will many BAD psychopaths. That’s something we need to remember. (Location 678)
But recently scientists have come to view the condition in a slightly different ‘light’. Rather than psychopathy being ON or OFF, it’s now more a case of whether it’s UP or DOWN. (Location 780)
‘Psychopathicity’, in other words, is now hooked up to a dimmer switch. (Location 782)
In fact, within the framework of clinical psychology, a psychopath is someone with a distinct cluster of personality traits, including ruthlessness, fearlessness, self-confidence, charm, charisma, impulsivity, persuasiveness, mental toughness, and a lack of conscience and empathy. (Location 828)
There’s nothing wrong with getting what you want. But running an old lady over in your car? That’s not ruthless. It’s malicious, boneheaded stupidity. (Location 910)
The first time I met Andy he told me something that has stuck in my mind ever since. ‘You can get away with anything,’ he said, ‘so long as you can get away with it.’ (Location 938)
Everything is impossible until someone comes along and does it. And then, all of a sudden, it becomes possible. (Location 945)
Whether something is possible or impossible very much depends on what WE are going to do about it. It’s an incredibly empowering thought. (Location 948)
In the third century BC, Epicurus put forward a notion that most of us now take for granted. As we make our way through life, we have two primary motivations: The attainment of PLEASURE The avoidance of PAIN (Location 963)
Epicurus called this preference for pleasure over pain hedonism (from the Greek word hedonismus, meaning delight) – and even the most masochistic of us are hedonists at heart. (Location 972)
Epicurus’s observation that we are all motivated by self-interest, by the attainment of pleasure and the avoidance of pain (Location 996)
wrote. Like their equally ruthless counterparts. And also, like psychopaths, engage in uncomfortable periods of prolonged, unblinking eye contact – a reliable indicator of social disinhibition. (Location 1011)
Psychopathy, I argued at the time, is our natural state. We are born that way. At the precise moment that we come into this world, natural selection has already kitted us out for the hazardous mission ahead (Location 1012)
But as we get older things begin to change. Our ruthlessness mellows and our psychopathic fearlessness subsides. (Location 1017)
The first kind is the fear of falling (which is fair enough). (Location 1034)
The second kind is the fear of throwing yourself off – the terrifying realization that whether or not you plunge into the abyss below is COMPLETELY UP TO YOU. (Location 1035)
You have total FREEDOM OF CHOICE. (Location 1036)
‘Anxiety,’ he wrote, ‘is the dizziness of freedom.’ (Location 1039)
kind of dizziness all the time – when we teeter on the edges of personal or moral or financial cliff tops (to name but a few) during the course of our everyday lives. (Location 1043)
Because the main thing we notice, alongside the element of RISK, is that success is completely RELATIVE. It is not absolute. (Location 1090)
‘I think that getting your head around this simple, basic truth is key to how you see success. And key to how you achieve it. That Danish bloke you were on about is right. It’s true that a lot of people don’t get what they want because they’re scared of taking the plunge. (Location 1096)
It’s purely and simply because they have unrealistic expectations of what is actually possible. They set themselves goals which, given where they are on the starting grid, are impossible to reach. (Location 1099)
‘Except that they haven’t failed at all. They’ve failed Selection, yes. But they haven’t failed themselves. They’ve given the very last drop of what they’ve got to give. But it just wasn’t good enough. It never was going to be good enough. There’s no shame in that. (Location 1109)
‘“The way I see it,” said the Training Officer, “it’s Nature’s way of telling them they’ve failed Selection!” (Location 1114)
In contrast there may be times in your life when, like One-Talent Man, you simply have to do the best you can with it. Which does not translate to burying it in the ground! A one-talent return on one talent is just as good as a five-talent return on five. (Location 1122)
It’s all about the ability to learn, not what you already know. That means there is no way you can judge your progress by comparing yourself with others. The only person you are competing against is YOU. Pass him– and you’re in. (Location 1128)
There are two sides to success: SUBJECTIVE and OBJECTIVE. When the two coincide it’s brilliant. But when you get one without the other, the results, for the most part, are usually less than optimal. (Location 1150)
Not over-confidence. Self-confidence. It is: Believing in yourself. Throwing down the gauntlet. Facing down your demons. (Location 1156)
Or, to put it more simply, we are born without purpose so we are free to become whoever we wish to become. We are at liberty to shape our own destiny. To clarify, Sartre uses the example of a paper (Location 1221)
’ Or, to put it more simply, we are born without purpose so we are free to become whoever we wish to become. We are at liberty to shape our own destiny. To clarify, Sartre uses the example of a paper knife. (Location 1221)
With its emphasis on freedom and possibility, on breaking the mould of a preordained natural order, Sartre’s philosophy is seen as profoundly liberating. (Location 1238)
Likewise, as Andy told us earlier, unless you have the innate physiological capabilities required to pass SAS selection you’re never going to pull on the famous sand-coloured beret, no matter how fit you are. (Location 1243)
Nietzsche railed against the way that Christianity devalued life as just a warm-up act for the infinitely more rewarding ‘life after death’ – how it advocated turning our backs on what seemed important in the here and now in readiness for life on an eternal, ethereal, more exalted plane of existence. (Location 1254)
By doing this, Nietzsche argued, Christianity was essentially urging us to ‘de-friend’ life itself – a pompous and universally restrictive philosophy which threatened to undermine us as a species. (Location 1256)
Research has shown that responding to nice people by being nice and to not nice people by being not nice is by far the most effective way forward. ‘So the meek don’t inherit the earth after all,’ he says. ‘They get jack shit!’ (Location 1265)
To be who we CAN be as opposed to who we SHOULD be, we have to brave the storm. (Location 1271)
For the men who pass SAS selection, the ability to: let things wash over them not take things personally not dwell on the past not overthink the present not worry unduly about the future (Location 1325)
‘I remember the RSM saying to a few of us not long after we’d first been badged: “The secret of success is this. Train like it means everything when it means nothing – so you can fight like it means nothing when it means everything.” And he was right. That just about sums up Regiment mentality. Sums up any winning mentality, in fact.’ (Location 1331)
we’d first been badged: “The secret of success is this. Train like it means everything when it means nothing – so you can fight like it means nothing when it means everything.” And he was right. That just about sums up Regiment mentality. Sums up any winning mentality, in fact.’ (Location 1332)
On the one hand, as Epicurus observed, we have an inbuilt desire for the positive over the negative. To favour pleasurable experiences over less pleasurable experiences. (Location 1349)
On the other hand, however, in order to get what we want – to attain that pleasure and to avoid that pain – we have no option but to square up to pain head on. (Location 1351)
We have to have the courage to take chances. To take a chance on ourselves. To make the most of our talents instead of burying them under a mountain of excuses. (Location 1353)
Likewise, Nietzsche’s idea that some of the classical virtues that we traditionally think of as good are in fact psychological restraining agents that prevent us from reaching our full potential suggests that we adjust our CONSCIENCE and EMPATHY dials. (Location 1360)
We get so caught up in the consequences of what we’re doing that we start not to do it very well. Things begin to MATTER. Stuff begins to MEAN SOMETHING. And before we know it we’re not just making decisions. We’re making decisions about making those bloody decisions! (Location 1370)
We get so caught up in the consequences of what we’re doing that we start not to do it very well. Things begin to MATTER. Stuff begins to MEAN SOMETHING. And before we know it we’re not (Location 1371)
Focus on what’s in front of you, not what’s on either side of you, and you’ll stand a far better chance of making it across the abyss. The abyss, as Nietzsche put it, that separates the animal from the Superman. (Location 1393)
In fact, talking of later, people chose more serious movies 63 per cent of the time for their second movie and 71 per cent of the time for their third. (Location 1558)
‘OK, OK,’ says Andy. ‘Don’t get too excited – you’ll knock yourself out. That’s the problem with you geeks. Soon as numbers get involved you start hyperventilating.’ (Location 1562)
‘Ask yourself what?’ snaps the oil-infested grease-monkey from behind a barrel of God-knows-what. ‘You tell me!’ I say. ‘OK then,’ he says. ‘SINCE WHEN DID I NEED TO FEEL LIKE DOING SOMETHING IN ORDER TO DO IT?’ (Location 1677)
Because of their dictatorial amygdalae, procrastinators tend to fold in the face of immediate challenges, opting for short-term pleasure over long-term gain instead. (Location 1811)
Exactly like the taxi drivers working harder on SLOW days to AVERT A LOSS as opposed to putting in the hours on GOOD days to MAXIMIZE PROFIT, they were far more interested in STAYING OUT OF THE RED than they were in MAKING A KILLING. And because of that they walked away with less. (Location 1991)
When the chips are down and our necks are on the line something rather curious happens. Avoiding pain becomes way more important to us than pursuing pleasure. We work a damn sight harder to AVOID DEFEAT than we do to GAIN VICTORY. Unless, that is, you’re a psychopath. If a psychopath can ‘make’ out of a situation, if there’s any kind of reward on offer, they go for it. To hell with the ‘should haves’ and ‘what ifs’. Just bring it on! (Location 2037)
Unless, that is, you’re a psychopath. If a psychopath can ‘make’ out of a situation, if there’s any kind of reward on offer, they go for it. To hell with the ‘should haves’ and ‘what ifs’. Just bring it on! (Location 2038)
mean, I’ve done it myself. We’ve all done it. Take my (Location 2140)
In true GOOD PSYCHOPATH fashion, they focus on the prospect of GAIN rather than that of LOSS. (Location 2194)
We’re not suggesting you start waxing or wearing lycra of course (unless, like Andy, you want to). But in order to give yourself the best chance of crossing yourfinishing line in gold-medal position you need to make sure that EVERYTHING YOU DO is as aerodynamic as it can be – that it is carrying you towards your goal as directly and as speedily as possible. (Location 2221)
I learned to do that in the Regiment in the early days,’ Andy says, ‘was to get into the habit of asking myself the question: is what I am doing RIGHT NOW THIS MINUTE moving me measurably closer to my goal – to be the best soldier I can be? (Location 2224)
Andy says, ‘was to get into the habit of asking myself the question: is what I am doing RIGHT NOW THIS MINUTE moving me measurably closer to my goal – to be the best soldier I can be? (Location 2225)
course, we’re all guilty of this to some extent. It’s in our nature. Psychologists even (Location 2254)
Anyone can play well and look good when they’re two sets up and at forty–love on their opponent’s serve. But how well can you play when you’re two sets down and at break point on your own serve? (Location 2284)
Most of what happens is out of our control and we operate on a need-to-know basis – surrounded on all sides by danger, madness, grief and disappointment – as missile tracers that might well decide our future light up the skies above us. Being the best you can be is the same for anyone no matter who you are. You have to suffer, endure pain, grit your teeth, take it on the chin, smile, laugh, and press on through the shit bent double under all your baggage as the things and the people that mean most to you are captured, gunned down or go missing in action. Life doesn’t come with a safety catch. (Location 2302)
Actually, folks, it isn’t magic at all. But then you knew that, didn’t you? Instead, it’s a very clever piece of psychology called the Principle of Forced Choice. (Location 2421)
So intent are we on fitting in that most of us are prepared to bin our own opinions and recycle the viewpoints of others. So hell bent are we on not standing out that we’re prepared to side with complete strangers against ourselves. (Location 2505)
‘Exactly,’ I say. ‘And it’s all to maintain standards. Keep things ticking over. Enforce a moral code. It’s all to make sure that everyone sticks together. Because all it takes is one person to go off and start doing their own thing . . .’ (Location 2540)
Groupthink is what happens when groups – committees, task forces, think tanks, families, you name it – fail to critically evaluate the ideas they come up with because of a desire to minimize conflict. (Location 2590)
‘You wonder why fund managers can’t beat the S and P 500?’ our old friend Gordon Gekko asks in Wall Street. ‘Because they’re sheep. And sheep get slaughtered . . . Gimme guys who are poor, smart, and hungry – and no feelings. You win a few, you lose a few, but you keep on fighting. And if you need a friend, get a dog.’ (Location 2609)
stick your head above the parapet; to risk being bollocked, or barracked, or belittled by the boss, or the chairperson or the ‘acknowledged expert in the field’ takes considerable fortitude – as Ed Snowden and any number of whistleblowers and contrepreneurs before him have discovered to their cost. (Location 2620)
And, in general, we tend to equate simplicity with safety. (Location 3233)
Because – as every parent knows! – the more a person feels pressurized or bullied or coerced into making up their mind, the more resistance that you as a persuader are going to have to overcome. (Location 3553)