The human mind is the most fantastic bio-computer ever created.  We just don’t always understand our coding because it’s not user friendly.  The application of NLP is to our bio-computer what Windows is to the PC.  It gives us access to all the programmes and installs software updates.

When you understand the principles of Neuro Linquistic Programmings (NLP) you:

• get it that each person will react differently when experiencing the same event

• can change how you feel and act, and therefore what you get done.

What we see and hear affects what we then think about…

How we think about what we see and hear then becomes what we feel…

Our feelings influence our reactions and behaviour – our actions…

Actions become habits…

Our habits, or consistent behaviour, determines our destiny!

Spooky, Woo Woo New-Fangled Stuff?

Fraid not.  It’s been around for eons, it’s just been called a bundle of other things.  We can find it lurking in parables, fables and the autobiographies of our great leaders and corporate magicians.

Read just about anything by Richard Branson and I bet you’ll find umpteen examples of where his vision of success meant that an event which would have floored someone else, gave him the information he needed to succeed.

Go and have a read of the Bible to find lots of stuff like ‘Seek And Yee Shall Find.’  Pure NLP.

NLP is the acronym for Neuro-linguistic-programming.  It may sound like high-tech but it’s only a description, just like Labradoodle or Basketball Trainers.

Neuro

The neuro refers to our nervous system, the pathway for our five senses so which lets us see, hear, taste, feel and smell.

If you need convincing this stuff is real, then think about this.  Have you ever got a rush of aroma from your childhood – granny’s lavender water scent or the smell of cookies from the kitchen? Or how about a long forgotten tune?  Suddenly, you shoot back in time with all the old feelings flowing through you.  That’s it working.

Linguistic

This is about our ability to use language and the understanding of how specific words and phrases mirror our mental worlds.  It can also be the silent world of gestures, postures and habits which can reveal our thinking styles, beliefs, and more.  So sit up straight and put your shoulders back.  Paying attention…Well here it is in action…

I’m going to tell you NOT to think about Freddy Crouger.  By now you should have a picture or be thinking about a bloke in a strange hat and stripey top with a wicked manicure.  Now lets make it real… I’m going to tell you NOT to think about f..king up that crucial meeting next week.

Our brains can’t do negatives and so they have to think about whatever it is we want to blott out.

Some people repeatedly talk about how shattered they are; they are exhausted and can’t shake it off. Hardly surprising when ’shattered’ sounds and feels so final. An irreparable condition. On the other hand, others, who may be equally knackered, say they need to get more energy or have to get liven up.  This sounds doable and has a forward momentum towards increased vibrancy.

Here’s a little story about how I tried this out on my son Elliot.  Elliot had taken his laptop round to his mates for a New Years Eve party (yep really!).  The laptop got broken (wow) because someone stood on it – but that person didn’t own up.  The insurance agreed a replacement but Elliot was incandescent with rage that one of his mates could break something and not come clean.

Over the next 3 days he was ringing me up and shouting things like “I’m so furious,” “I’m f..king livid,” and he was.  Trust me you could tell and each time he called up it was worse.  I’m a patient Mum, but crikey.  Eventually I got him to switch to saying “I’m really miffed.” Perhaps those of you with older teenage boys can hear the monotone grunting.

Clearly this is a testement to my extraordinary parenting skills, power over teenagers and ability to screech very loudly when provoked beyond reason.  “Say it again,” I told him, and on it went until finally he laughed and asked when his new laptop would be delivered.  “Bye Mum.”  Job done.

But what had really changed? The programme started reacting to being miffed instead of livid. Can you jump up, do red in the face and pounding fists while yelling about being miffed; or sustain miffiness for longer than a nano-second?

Programming

Sinister?

It’s more about awareness and change.  Instead of saying what we don’t want, say what we do want.  It’s about understanding that not everyone, and that includes our clients, prospects, business partners and kids think and feel the same as we do.

Lets get real commercial here.  If you want to flog something, you need to do it within your prospects model of the world.

How Can I Use It?

The principles of NLP are affecting you every single day, so you might as well use them and you can pick up enough from the better references to start seeing significant changes. Even a few tweeks to your everyday language and thinking can make a difference.

NLP practitioners work with personal and business clients to help with a range of issues from weight loss to strategic visioning and corporate values.

There will be more bite size information chunks coming soon on this site to help you incorporate NLP into your business marketing and development.

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