Take a deep breath...

To those of you who unsubscribe after reading this, I bid you adieu.

No hard feelings. I don’t blame you.

What I’m about to ask of you is dangerous.

Irresponsible.

Socially unacceptable.

But the thing I’m going to ask of you…

The thing I’m going to gently guide you through…

It’s the most powerful thing you could ever learn to do.

But this is going to get weird.

Maybe you aren’t ready.

Not yet.

Maybe you should close this email and delete it from your inbox.

We can stay friends.

You’ll avoid the dissonance from the string I’m about to pluck…

Fair warning.

You choose to stay?

Cool.

But remember, this was your choice.

What’s about to happen is on you, not me.

“Carbon dioxide. CO2”

What did you just feel?

Did you place a judgement on this simple little molecule?

The molecule that all plant life requires to survive?

In case you don’t remember high school science, plants use energy from the sun to convert CO2 into sugar:

Plants turn CO2 into sugar. Sugars get combined to form starches.

Some animals eat plants for food.

Other animals eat those animals for food.

Make sense?

Can you see that ALL “food” consumed by every animal on earth, including us, first required CO2 to exist?

And you’re not going to believe this but…

Plants really like CO2.

The more CO2 you give a plant, the bigger it grows.

The more sugar it makes.

Some growers pump CO2 into their greenhouses to boost the yield.

Yeah, plants really like CO2.

But we don’t like CO2, do we?

It’s pollution.

But wait…

Where did the CO2 come from?

You know, the stuff that’s our fault?

The stuff we burned in our cars, in our jets, in our Bics…

“Fossil Fuels”

Shudder.

The name implies the origin…

Liquefied dinosaurs.

(TBH most fossil fuels are actually derived from prehistoric plants, not dinosaurs, but that doesn’t sound as cool.)

But we dig it up and burn it and the carbon that has been trapped as hydrocarbon becomes CO2 and a tear rolls down young Greta’s cheek…

But wait.

It has not been created.

Instead, it has been released from it’s multi-million-year subterranean prison…

It was here before.

In the atmosphere.

Before the dinosaur plants turned it into sugar, then got buried.

All the fossil fuel carbon used to be in the atmosphere. All of it.

In fact, today we have the lowest average atmospheric CO2 in the last 600 million years.

What did the earth look like back in the Dinosaur Days?

Tropical.

Huge plants. Lots of them.

Plenty of food to support animal life.

HUGE animal life.

Lots of them.

More food to feed more, larger animals.

A Golden Age of Life.

Biodiversity galore.

Biodiversity is good, right?

And higher CO2 is correlated with higher biodiversity…

But wait! What about the sea levels?

Yes.

They will rise.

We lose CA and FL, but isn’t it a noble sacrifice for the good of the planet?

So you see…

CO2 is plant food.

And the more there is, the healthier the global environment.

Biodiversity, biomass, etc.

Better by every measure.

So tell me.

Did this make you think?

Are you confused? Uncertain?

Do you believe me?

Or distrust me?

Trying to spot the lie…

Let me explain the gift I have given you.

It’s called critical thinking.

The ability to consider a new belief you do not hold.

Then, choosing whether to accept or reject the new belief.

This is hard work, which is why we usually don’t do it.

Instead, we use shortcuts.

Social proof. Group think. Experts.

Faster and easier than thinking.

But if you want to influence and persuade people, which is what we do here, you need to understand how the real game is played.

You need to critically think at a higher level than the masses.

Otherwise, you stay one of them.

So, can you accept this?

Can you stomach the discomfort of questioning ALL of your beliefs?

…in order to learn how beliefs work, how they can be created and destroyed in others…

Like I said at the beginning, this is dangerous.

Irresponsible.

Socially unacceptable.

But for a select few, irresistible.

Later this month, I’m going to host a multi-day workshop on thinking.

And creating.

In order to persuade.

It’s called Idea Alchemy, and I’ll share more details later.

For now, can you let me know if you’re interested?

This will serve as a first-in-line wait list, because spots will be strictly limited.

Keep breathing,

Greg

P.S. Did you see the cool software tool I shared yesterday? Built on cutting-edge brain science and AI, Neurons lets you test and optimize ad creative before your campaigns go live.

Save and/ or make a ton of money if you run ads. Check out deets below:

How to tell if your ads will perform before you spend any budget

Instead of crossing your fingers the next time you run ads, what if you would know your ad performance before you even go live?

With Neurons AI, you can.

It gives you quick, actionable recommendations to improve your creatives and maximize your ad impact. Run A/B tests before launch and tweak your visuals for maximum brand impact.

Global brands like Google, Facebook, and Coca-Cola are already using Neurons to boost their campaigns.

We're talking 73% increases in CTR and 20% jumps in brand awareness.

Book a Neurons Session Today