What is a part? If I say, a part of me wants this and a part of me wants that, what am I talking about? What are those things? Well, for one thing, it’s a way of talking about our experience.

What I want you to realize, however, is that the words we speak are real, tangible things. They are as real as the pen I’m using to write, the chair I’m sitting on, and the cup of tea I’m drinking.

When someone says, ‘A part of me. . .’, they are fractionalizing themselves into subsections. They are turning over the responsibility of their action to this particular part. If this part of them says ‘no’ to your product or service, it’s as if this isn’t actually them saying no, but a part of them.

Fear not, however, because this fractionalization can most definitely work to your advantage. I love it when I hear a person say they have a ‘part’. When I know they are fractionalized inside, I can seize control of one or more of those parts and maneuver them with ease.

When I hear ‘part’ or a reference to someplace else within the person (such as the psyche, ego, id, unconscious), I know I need to make contact with that part and turn it into a good friend.

Parts are, for the most part, very outside of people’s awareness. They may surface and as they do, you can add or extend the parts, elaborating to give them more power, or you can minimize the part if it’s not working to your advantage.

In order to protect yourself in the process of this and in life in general, me careful. not to split yourself into pieces.

A part is a frame, a frame that lives autonomously for the individual who calls it. You can create a part within someone else by naming it and identifying it. Naming and identifying is key here. If we name a part, we give that part power. And if we frame that part through the way in which we talk about it, we’re in control of that part to a large extent.

Parts give us leverage. We can assign an objection to a part and then we can assign another part to overcome it. We can assign a part that overcomes an objection with a part that objects, and we can blend the parts, watering down the part that has the objection.

When we pit their parts against each other, there are parts that can be superior, inferior, all knowing, or directly related to God. We can have problem resolving parts, negation parts, pessimistic parts and persuasive parts.

I have a part of me that really kicks butt in persuasion. I hope you will too soon if you don’t already.