If you actively look for a hint about someone else’s desires, it’s shockingly easy to find. That’s because almost no one ever picks up on hints naturally. If you try to drop a hint about something you want, exactly zero people will get it. You have to just be direct.
Which means if you want to be a completely beloved superhero to someone, all you have to do is observe them intentionally for a little bit, pick out one thing they expressed that they want, and then deliver it to them along with the phrase, “I noticed you said you wished you had [X] the other day, so here you go.”
You see why it works? It’s not because of [X]. Whatever [X] is, it doesn’t matter at all. The only thing that matters is that for one tiny, brief moment, this person will understand what it’s like to be truly paid attention to. Someone actually cared about them enough to do something unbidden and listened to them enough to figure out a thing they’d want done.
It’s incredibly easy. No one ever does it, but it’s not because it’s hard. It’s just because people’s brains are tuned to their own needs, and they don’t bother to look. The only tricky part is that it actually requires you to “activate” that part of your brain intentionally, because it will virtually never pick up on those things automatically.
But if you ever want someone to like you, there you go.
The Opportunity Machine 