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The 2+1 Writing Framework: Melt Away Reader Resistance With This LinkedIn Post

The 2+1 Writing Framework: Melt Away Reader Resistance With This LinkedIn Post

This is how you open the door to your offer

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Dickie Bush's avatar
Nicolas Cole
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Dickie Bush
Jun 11, 2025
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The harder you try to convince someone, the more they resist.

It’s human psychology 101.

But there's a way to work with this tendency instead of against it.

Most content creators lead with their solution:

  • "Here's how to grow your email list..."

  • "The best way to write subject lines is..."

  • "You should be doing X instead of Y..."

Now, this works fine when people already know they have a problem and are actively looking for solutions.

But most of the time?

Your audience isn't there yet.

The moment you jump straight to your advice, their brain starts generating objections. They're thinking of reasons why your solution won't work for them before you've even finished explaining it.

There's a much smarter approach you can use to eliminate resistance entirely.

The Psychology Of Elimination

Instead of trying to convince people your solution is right...

Show them that every other option leads to failure.

That's exactly what the 2+1 Formula does.

It systematically eliminates the alternatives until your solution becomes the only logical choice.

Here's How It Works:

There are 3 parts:

1/ The Mistake: Show them the "obvious" path everyone follows (and why it fails)

2/ The Tempting Shortcut: Reveal the "easy" alternative they turn to next (and why it backfires)

+ 1/ The Right Path: Present your solution as the only remaining option

By the time you get to your recommendation, they've already ruled out everything else.

When you use the 2+1 Formula, you're not asking people to trust your advice.

You're asking them to trust their own logic.

And once you've shown them that common wisdom doesn't work and shortcuts make things worse, your solution becomes the inevitable conclusion.

They don't feel like they're being sold to.

They feel like they've discovered the answer themselves.

Example:

Last week, my neighbor was venting to me about his 9-year-old with ADHD.

He was frustrated and venting. But as he walked through his story, these lightbulbs kept going off in my head. He was using this elimination framework without even realizing it, and it was incredibly persuasive.

After we talked, I was so curious that I fired up Claude and ran his situation through this exact framework to see how close it would come to what he’d actually said.

To my surprise, it was pretty much spot-on. (Claude listening in maybe? lol)

Here's basically what he told me, and what Claude created using this framework:

Notice how the 2+1 structure naturally eliminates every other option first.

By the time someone reads "The Right Path," it feels like the obvious choice.

5 Steps To Leverage The 2+1 Framework For Your Topic

  • Step 1: Identify the conventional wisdom in your space

  • Step 2: Show specifically why following that advice leads to failure

  • Step 3: Find the "shortcut" people try when conventional wisdom fails

  • Step 4: Demonstrate why that shortcut makes things worse

  • Step 5: Present your method as the only remaining logical option

The more specific you are about why alternatives fail, the stronger your elimination becomes.

Don't just say "this doesn't work."

Show them exactly what goes wrong and why.

Here's a prompt that creates this logical progression for any topic:

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