Truth 8. Develop your reservation price

A few years ago, I was selling my house. I tried to practice what I preach in my classes: Develop an attractive BATNA, set a feasible target (aspiration point), and so on. But none of it changed the hard truth that I didn’t have an offer on my house!

To make matters worse, I made the grave mistake of telling friends about my lack of success. From that point, they took daily delight in grilling me about the house: “Hey, what’s your BATNA?” As the days dragged on and I still didn’t have an offer, I’d hear things like, “I can loan you a good book!”

One day I arrived at work with a picture of drunken fraternity guys on my laptop screen. They were surrounded by empty bottles and other party paraphernalia. A ...

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