How To Persuade and Motivate Without Uttering a Word

This entire blog seems like it's platitudes for motivational speakers to memorize, or perhaps for television anchors to make sure you stay tuned in.

TO BREAK BAD HABITS, BE THE LION

THE STALLING TACTIC THAT COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE

Just be a zebra[1].

[1] http://dresdencodak.com/2006/03/23/be-a-zebra/

I'm having a hard time with the line, each detail was hand-painted.

Most paintings have this feature.

Why would someone give a painting featuring a torpedo boat to a man who has never been in a rowboat? What an odd wedding gift and what an odd choice to leave it hanging for so many years.

Just please, please, do not use the standard "motivator" posters at my workplace.

Sounds a bit like the Osmosis Advertising Technique, where you pay for your products to show up as pervasive background elements in movies and TV and wherever else you can so people start to associate them with whatever's going on.

My reaction to this story about a painting of Navy torpedo boat influencing someone to join the Navy?

That very old Saturday Night Live skit:

[opening scene of Navy ships in port]

Announcer: Port of call, Bayonne, New Jersey.

[Navy men are seen doing laundry]

The Navy Adventure.

[as background music plays, scenes show Navy workers performing various activities: mopping a floor, peeling potatoes, cooking and serving cafeteria food, scrubbing toilets, chipping paint off of an old ship wall, fastening chains on a ship, mopping the ship, tarring a ship floor, and sitting in a room watching TV ]

The Navy. See your local recruiter or call toll free.

[final image shows phone number 311-555-5000 against a man with a mop and bucket - the motto is also shown:]

It's not just a job, it's $96.78 a week.