Listen now (13 min) | A few weeks ago I recorded a podcast about the Power of Trust to Succeed and many people wrote and asked why it is that you can do something with the very best intentions but find that it backfires.It seems that it is very easy to lose someone's trust but oh so difficult to gain it back. Think of trust as a wallet full of cash. I know that it's rare to have such a thing, but imagine, OK? Say I have a couple of thousand bucks in various bills in my trust wallet. Every time I do or say something that causes you to lose faith in me, to lose your trust, for whatever reason, is like asking you to take whatever amount of cash out of my wallet. Of course, being a normal human being, you'll take the 100 dollar bills first. If, foolishly I hurt you in some way again, you'll take another chunk from my wallet. A third time and you'll probably take the wallet and empty it. Now I have no trust with you. Is there any way I can influence you if you don’t trust me? Of course not. [player] If you do not trust me, the only way I can get you to do what I want would be to manipulate you, or coerce you. That is, I would resort to lies, half-truths, twisted words, force, threats or bullying. Instead, slowly and steadily and patiently, I work hard and begin to earn your trust back. Little by little, you begin to trust me again. So you give me a two dollar bill from the hundreds you took when I lost your trust. I'm consistent, and build trust with you again. And perhaps you'll give me back a five dollar bill or even, if I've been especially good, 10 bucks. This goes on and on, because you'll be very reticent to give me back your trust. It's normal. It's the way your brain works. You hold a very vivid, pain filled memory of the times I broke your trust and a distant, slightly happy memory of when I build it in the first place. [popup type="youtube" link_text="Click to open my video on your Brain on Stress and Anxiety" href="