This is a very simple little technique, with a surprising amount of uses, and a startling amount of power.
I learned it from a very beautiful, very charismatic, very sociable girlfriend of mine who tended to get crowds of people clustered around her pestering her with all kinds of questions or requests.
It revolves around a single, magical word:
“Later.”
Someone asks you to do something you don’t want to do?
“Maybe later!”
Someone asks you about something you don’t want to discuss?
“I’ll tell you later!”
Someone tries to get you to go somewhere you don’t want to go?
“I’ll go with you later!”
The power in the word ‘later’ lies in it being a rejection that’s not a rejection. It keeps the other party in a state of limbo, robbed of the ability to either push for more or take offense at the rejection.
And, as a bonus, it clearly frames YOU – to the party you tell “later” to and to all other observers – as the one who is being chased, and very much in demand.
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