2 min read

How to Hack Someone’s Mind

In 2008, I used Delicious Bookmarks to research my favorite authors, so I could pitch the idea of working with them… and it worked. Here’s how I did it.
How to Hack Someone’s Mind
Photo by Hal Gatewood / Unsplash

Note from Charlie: This video is incredibly uncomfortable for me to watch now, many years after I originally recorded it. Please bear with the awkward, nervous, unpolished version of my former self as I explain this technique.


1:00 – The two conditions for hacking someone’s mind.

1:28 – Explanation of Delicious.

3:00 – The importance of the ‘Notes’ section.

4:06 – How to get hired through using Delicious.

5:36 – Find smart people and do what I did.

6:00 – How to find smart people.

7:36 – Contact the people who are influential.

To join Delicious bookmarks, click here.  

To download the Delicious extension for Firefox, click here.


Now that you know how to hack someone’s mind, you should learn the next step: the art of the pitch.

Check out my free e-book “Recession-Proof Graduate” where I’ll show you exactly what I said to get hired by guys like Tim Ferriss, Ramit Sethi, and Tucker Max.

8/3/11 UPDATE: Chuck Rylant put together a written explanation of this method. Enter Chuck:

Charlie’s premise is that by paying very close attention to an expert’s actions on Delicious.com, you can understand their thinking on a much deeper level. Since I had never used Delicious, the site was not very intuitive for me. I followed Charlie’s instructions, then proceeded to beat my head against the computer for a couple of hours. The instructions were great for the experienced Delicious user, but if you’ve never used the site, you were bound to be confused.
Charlie used Ramit Sethi as his example in the video, which ended up being the cause for confusion due to the fact that Ramit has no open network that you can view (which was one of Charlie’s major points). [NOTE: Chuck’s video above shows how he was able to work out this issue.]
A second part of Charlie’s premise is that what you discover through Delicious can help you infer ways to add value to the expert, and possibly begin the mentor/mentee relationship. Charlie discussed this point at length in his video interview with Lewis Howes on how he has connected and worked with several bestselling authors. In this hour-long interview, Charlie suggests getting to know them from their online presence and then finding a small way to provide value. And the key was, instead of merely offering to do it, just do it. That idea is magic.
To sum up, this part of the post serves two purposes. First, I hope the content provides a little value to the reader. Secondly, it serves as proof that this concept can work. I used Charlie’s blog and Delicious to find a very small place to provide him a little value. I didn’t wait and ask permission, I just created the video and article, sent it to him, and now you’re reading it. So if you want to connect with someone or do a guest post, what are you waiting for? The formula is here.