Hi, my name is Lewis Howes and welcome to the Daily Motivation Show.

What happens if we don't use our hand gestures at all in a conversation and a pitch?

Two things. One is it's harder for you to process. They've literally found...

The person's speaking, it's harder to process. It's going to be harder for you to get your confidence because gestures are a way that we underline or highlight our words. And so if you are inhibiting your own gestures, you will have a hard time explaining things. They actually did a study where they had people explain two versions of a story.

One, they could use their hands and one they couldn't. The one where they could use their hands, they had less pauses, they spoke more quickly, they used bigger words. The one where they just couldn't, just their hands were just underneath their legs. You know what's interesting? I was just reading some intros for the podcast right before you came in. And I use my hands in order to do it because I feel like it's coming across as like I'm really engaging.

Yes, yes. And I remember when I was reading my first audiobook, School of Greatness, I tried to read it like just kind of like with my hands down for a while and I was like, I can't read. I've forgotten how to read my own words. But when I started be like, okay, I just need to get in this with my body, my hands. I felt more confident. I felt like it could flow. I wasn't messing up as much. I wasn't having to stop and restart as much. It was powerful. Yes. Okay, that's an incredible story about gesture because if you watch the best cartoon voiceover folks, they are using their... Animated, right? Yes, they are using their whole bodies. I'm using my hands right now, not only from people watching, but also for my folks who are listening. Because I know that the more I use my gestures, the more charisma I have vocally. So that helps me, but it also helps you. So anyone who's watching, you're getting so much information. They say 12.5 times more information from our gestures. Come on. Yes. Okay. What are a few other things that you notice?

Okay, yes. Okay, so we love gestures. And by the way, this is super easy on a video call in person. Hey, nice to see you. Good morning. The biggest mistake we make. Someone walks in and we go, hey, we give him a nod, right? Give them a hand. You like them enough to give them a hand, right? So that's really easy. It's like every YouTube video, I'm like, hey friends, that's literally how I start every video. Okay, that's the first thing. So the second thing is where things get more interesting. So remember that these sharks were in pitch after pitch after pitch. They're tired. They are so tired. I've been on set there. It's a lot. It's a grind. So the most successful pitchers, the next thing we found this was very, very clear is that the more that the pitchers could spark dopamine, the more likely they were to get a deal. Now, dopamine is a very complicated chemical. So just for our purposes,

food, eating something, no, giving them like, I'll try my. Yes, yes, yes. I was like food. Yes. And they're really eating like taste testing, like trying opening something. Try it. Taste it, smell it, lick it, touch it, feel it, wear it, play it. So when we are doing something that's different, that's tactile. That was going to wake the sharks up. Dopamine,

it's a very complicated chemical, but it does feel good, right? So if they were to say that it's sharks, sharks, today I have a gift for you. The brain goes, ooh, a gift, gift, gift, gift. So what they found is that when people have a lot of dopamine, they are more motivated to do things.

They are more motivated to figure out a deal. They are more motivated to ask questions.

So when a pitcher went in and not only had some kind of an interactivity, some kind of a surprise for them,

and sometimes it was a surprise. And they would literally say, and guess what, sharks?

Why? What? Right? We want to know what that is. Sometimes it was a surprise. And they would literally say, and guess what, sharks?

Why?

What?

Right? We want to know what that is because we're like dopamine, dopamine, dopamine, dopamine. You don't have to walk in every meeting and throw out Snickers bars. Right. Love a Snickers bar and that will work really well. That will work. It will work every time. But it's also verbal surprise. So it's also saying today has something really special to share.

Anticipation.

Anticipation.

It doesn't even special to share.

Anticipation.

Anticipation. It doesn't even have to be something major. It can be throwing in those little elements of surprise that people can look forward to.

And here's the biggest one. You write a lot of emails. This study is for you.

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