---
title: "Bend their reality"
description: "Six moves with anchors, ranges and odd numbers."
canonical: https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/never-split-the-difference/bend-their-reality/
updated: 2026-11-03
---

# Bend their reality

> Six moves with anchors, ranges and odd numbers.

Chris Voss's framework, from Never Split the Difference, pp. 95 to 116.

Framework 4 of 9 from [Never Split the Difference](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/never-split-the-difference/index.md) by Chris Voss. Category: Life and thinking.

## The steps

1. **Anchor emotions.** Accusation audit first.
2. **Let them go first.** Mostly.
3. **Range.** Low end is your real number.
4. **Nonmonetary terms.** Pivot.
5. **Odd numbers.** Precise figures.
6. **Gift.** Surprise reciprocity.

## Where it comes from

From chapter: CHAPTER 6 | BEND THEIR REALITY, pp. 95–116

Opening on a $150,000 Haitian kidnapping demand, Voss says never to compromise, because splitting the difference is wearing one black and one brown shoe. He reframes deadlines as mostly imaginary and shows that hiding your own deadline makes an impasse more likely. The Ultimatum Game proves people are emotional about fairness, so 'fair' is a powerful word with three uses, two of them manipulative. The rest of the chapter lists six ways to bend a counterpart's reality: emotional anchors, letting them go first, ranges, nonmonetary terms, odd numbers and a surprise gift, with a ransom paid at $4,751 and a salary raised to $134,500 as proof.

## The animation

24 seconds, 4:5, no sound.

- MP4: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/never-split-the-difference/bend-their-reality.mp4
- MP4, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/never-split-the-difference/bend-their-reality-dark.mp4
- Still: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/never-split-the-difference/bend-their-reality.png
- Still, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/never-split-the-difference/bend-their-reality-dark.png