Will Smith is standing in a luxury box at the Super Bowl.
Next to him, a wealthy gambler named Liyuan is about to agree to the most expensive bet of his life. The stakes have been rising throughout the game. Hundreds of thousands. Then millions.
Now it's winner-take-all: Liyuan will pick any player on the field. If Smith's character Nicky can guess the jersey number, they win everything. Miss it, and they lose it all.
Over 100 players on the field. Pure chance. Impossible odds.
Liyuan scans the field, makes his choice, writes it down, and Nicky breaks his silence.
It's correct. Jess nearly collapses. How could he possibly know?
The beautiful reveal, which he knows perfectly well: The choice was clear.
All day long, Nicky had been seeding 55 everywhere. The hotel room number. Taxi license plates. Billboard ads in the background. Even the lyrics drifting from a radio.
A thousand tiny exposures the gambler never consciously registered.
By the time the decision was made, his mind was already set. The choice felt random. The outcome was inevitable.
While this may be Hollywood, the movie is Focus, but the psychology behind the inspiration is very real indeed. And critical to your success.
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