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The other day at my daytime job, I put a few coins into the soda machine, made my choice of options, pressed the appropriate button, and… got two canned drinks! Wow! Somebody alert the media!

OK, OK, so maybe getting two sodas for the price of one isn’t that big a deal to you. But allow me to ask you this: how often do you unexpectedly get ‘way more than you paid for? Serendipity, it’s called, and for one example you might want to check out this post about an unexpected and all-expense-paid 3-day vacation in Aruba that happened to me once. ‘Course, immediately afterwards I had to endure three months in Cardón, Venezuela (a thoroughly difficult assignment), but hey, sometimes sugar makes the castor oil more tolerable, you know?

Well, just a few days ago I was musing (hey, it’s what I do here) about comfort zones, and mentioned my friends Robyn and Ellen over at the MITA Brain Center (more-or-less baiting them a bit, I admit, but I meant it for good, honest!) I was hoping they would respond with some additional (and much more knowledgeable) information on the phenomenon.

Boy, talk about serendipity; I got it with both barrels! Their responses (links posted below) are filled with unexpectedly wonderful information, and I encourage you to go on over and read both:

Messenger Post Newspapers Leave Comfort Zones in the Dust
Naked as a Jaybird – or Avoiding Ruts?

The key element I picked up is the concept of two-footed questions. Now, I’ve been reading both of their blogs for a long time now, and the concept isn’t new to me. But for some reason, it’s been difficult for me to wrap my mind around it.

Nevertheless (what does that word mean, anyway? Is it the opposite of “alwaysthemore”?), if I understand it correctly, the power of a two-footed question is that one part hooks to the right brain and the other to the left brain. Thus the entire brain becomes engaged in its response. (Uh, am I close, or did I just fall off a cliff and splat on the ground like a melon?)

For instance, I recently started a new business, and as most of you know, one of the challenges for any new business is marketing (which is basically engaging potential customers without causing them to run screaming away into the night - seriously, that’s some people’s response).

So here’s my theory. The use of two-footed questions may help engage potential customers in such a way that their automatic flight reflex becomes momentarily short-circuited. This may provide just enough time for them to finally hear and understand the fact that we can actually save them money. Sheesh, who wouldn’t want that? (Although truthfully, you could probably hand out $100 bills on the street corner and there’s bound to be some folks who won’t take ‘em. Oh, well.)

At least, that’s my theory. Any thoughts out there about this? (sound of crickets) Am I onto something, or is this line of reasoning destined for the rubbish bin?

(Hey, this was fun, ladies; let’s do it again sometime! Now this is what I call a Conversation!)

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