People who don’t know themselves are easy to sell to. Know what you want before the pitch starts.

Selling works by supplying a want, and it works best when the want was not there five minutes earlier. Turn up without a clear sense of what you are after and somebody else’s description of a good life fills the space, feeling like your own idea within minutes. It happens with shoes, with schools, with entire career paths. Not knowing is the opening.

Before the next thing you are tempted to buy or sign up for, write down in one line what you wanted before you saw it. Then check whether the thing matches the line. If it only matches the version of you in the ad, wait a week.