; Cultivate an air of unpredictability.
Humans are creatures of habit with an insatiable need to see familiarity in other people’s actions. Your predictability gives them a sense of control. Turn the table; be deliberately unpredictable. Behavior that seems to have no consistency or purpose will keep them off-balance, and they will wear themselves out trying to figure out or even explain your moves. Taken to an extreme, this strategy can intimidate and terrorize.
Nothing is more terrifying than the sudden and unpredictable; That is why we are so frightened by earth quakes and tornadoes. We do not know when they will strike .After one has occurred we wait in terror for the next one. To a lesser degree, this is the effect that unpredictable human behavior has on us. In previous elections between Npp and Ndc, thus from 1992, Npp had an uncanny ability to read their opponents strategy and use it against them. Adaptable and patient, they appeared to have surrended, waited for Ndc’s power to wane. Kuffour and his team never say anything attacking or insultive but he will say something that would win the trust of the electorate, he was a brilliant psychologist who never lost control. One lecturer in Legon said, he will never attack but will say something or promise what his opponent have failed on, without mentioning whether his opponent have failed there or not .He looks for the move that will disturb the man he is playing with but cannot counter it. After defeating late prof. Atta J.E Mills, with the “ yetoaso mantra” thus (positive change) which yielded nothing for the country . Prof Atta mills , however, finally understood that this was one of the keys to J A kuffour’s success. Prof Atta mills played on their predictability, defeated them in their own game, I mean while on power. Every strategy Prof adopted in the then election was an attempt to put the initiative on his side and to keep NPP off-balance.
Clearly the positive change did not work, Ghanaians did not see anything positive except HIPIC toiletes and bath which few people benefited and it did not make any difference.
Most powerful of all ,prof’s deliberate appearance to have no clear strategy, in fact, he did all he could to scrumble his old patterns, even if it meant preventing his opponent from hitting the 51% and forfeit the second round. Nana Addo was known for his sangfroid and levelheadedness but for the first time in his life he could not figure out his opponent; he slowly melted down and till the end of the court petition he was the one that seemed insane. As we can see, NPP did not have choice but to accept defeat,realizing that, appearing to have surrended would make NDc arrogant and will therefore go beyond their mark and they NPP can use it against them.
One good thing for the Ndc now is that, NPP did not know how to play the surrender tactic right, they want to act to have surrended yet they try to infuriate and intimidate them which will keep NDc on their heels and that will prevent NDc from committing blunders . It is even glaring that , Ghana’s economy is not too bad as NPP are trying to make Ghanaians believe; simply because, they could not predict the movement of NDc and that has led them into saying anything thereby revealing their weakneses.
Animals behave in set patterns, which is why we are able to hunt and kill them; only man has the capacity to consciously alter his behavior, to improvise and overcome the weight of routine and habit, yet most men do not realize this power, they prefer the comfort of routine, of giving into an animal nature that has them repeating the same compulsive actions time and time again. They do this because it requires no effort .
This law is not only applicable to sports or war but to everyday situations; people are always trying to read the motive behind your actions and use your predictability against you. Throw in a complete inexplicable move and you put them on the defensive; Because they do not understand you, they are unnerved and in such a situation you can easily intimidate them.
NDC do remain unpredictable but work hard, you have little time to tell Ghanaians you must be allowed to continue and your unpredictability must go with determination , hard work and you can boast of taking Ghana there.