How to Cultivate Curiosity & Keep Attention ft. Leonardo DiCaprio Meme — Daily Persuasion Ep. 308

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ABOUT TODAY'S EPISODE:

What if the entire secret to persuasion could be distilled into just two sentences—so powerful they could change the way you market, sell, and even write?

Welcome to Daily Persuasion Ep. 308: How to Cultivate Curiosity & Keep Attention ft. Leonardo DiCaprio Meme with bestselling ghostwriter and persuasion expert Joshua Lisec. In this episode, Lisec unpacks one of the most viral persuasion examples of all time: the Leonardo DiCaprio Meme from Django Unchained, where DiCaprio’s character utters the now-famous words, “You had my curiosity, but now you have my attention.”

Those two lines are more than a meme—they’re a complete persuasion strategy. They represent the eternal challenge of marketers, entrepreneurs, and creators everywhere: how to cultivate curiosity and then how to keep attention.

Curiosity First, Attention Second

Lisec reveals why curiosity is the spark that makes someone stop scrolling, click an ad, or lean in when you speak. But stopping the scroll is only half the game. The real skill lies in transforming that spark into attention that lingers long enough for persuasion to take hold. You’ll discover why “curiosity alone won’t pay the bills” and how building attention ensures people actually buy, subscribe, or take action.

Drawing from Seth Godin’s Purple Cow philosophy, Lisec explains how the unexpected—the bold, the unusual, the memorable—grabs curiosity instantly. But it’s the sign next to the cow, the clear next step, that creates attention and action. That’s where the psychology of persuasion comes alive.

Persuasion Techniques That Work

This episode is packed with practical persuasion techniques and real-world persuasion examples. You’ll see how Lisec himself used attention-grabbing tactics to promote his book So Good They Call You a Fake, where he layered mystery, controversy, and humor to captivate his audience. He shares examples of persuasion in advertising, from viral memes to book launches, showing you exactly how to persuade someone to do something without pushiness or gimmicks.

You’ll also hear how Lisec leveraged critics, memes, and even “haters” to generate interest in his work. By turning curiosity into sustained attention, he achieved results that outperformed industry norms, proving the effectiveness of persuasion psychology in practice.

Why This Matters for You

If you’ve ever struggled to get people to notice your business, your product, or even your writing, this episode will resonate. Lisec doesn’t just tell you how to cultivate curiosity—he gives you techniques of persuasion in writing that you can apply today. Whether you’re crafting sales copy, an ad campaign, or even a book, these insights will help you grab attention and hold it.

The Leonardo DiCaprio Meme is more than a laugh on the internet. It’s a metaphor for the two-step process every communicator must master: grab curiosity, keep attention. And once you’ve got both, persuasion becomes not only possible but inevitable.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
• The difference between curiosity and attention, and why you need both.
• How Seth Godin’s Purple Cow principle applies to modern marketing.
• Why So Good They Call You a Fake was built on a persuasion psychology blueprint.
• Persuasion techniques you can use immediately to capture and hold audience interest.
• Examples of persuasion in advertising that show how memes, mystery, and storytelling work.
• Practical techniques of persuasion in writing to elevate your messaging.

By the end, you’ll not only understand how to keep attention but also how to design campaigns that are both persuasive and unforgettable.
Because remember: as Leonardo DiCaprio put it, “You had my curiosity. But now you have my attention.” And with Joshua Lisec, you’ll learn how to do the same for your market.