reframinglisted

# Reframing — change the meaning, not the substance The cheapest thing you can change is what something *means*. Same atoms, different frame, completely different behaviour. Reach for this before anyone proposes rebuilding the product or cutting the price — those are the expensive answers. ## The principle A thing has no fixed value; value is assigned by context and comparison. Move the frame and you move the value, at near-zero cost. Three reframing moves: - **Rename / recategorise.** The name is the frame. Change the category a thing competes in and you change what "good" and "expensive" mean for it. - **Re-anchor the comparison.** Value is relative. What you put next to a thing decides how it's judged. - **Reframe the cost or the context.** The same money, time, or effort feels different depending on the mental account it lands in. ## Canonical examples (steal these patterns) - **Diamond Shreddies.** A square cereal was rotated 45° and relaunched as "new Diamond Shreddies" (with the old "Squares" kept on shelf as a contrast). Identical product. Sales rose, and people in taste tests said the diamonds tasted better. The product didn't change — its meaning did. - **Frederick the Great's potato.** Peasants refused to eat potatoes, so he declared them a royal vegetable, planted a royal field, and posted (deliberately lax) guards. Villagers concluded anything guarded must be valuable, stole the plants, and started growing them. Scarcity and status, manufactured purely by f