There are many amazing NLP techniques which are all useless, unless you understand the framework of thinking into which to apply them.
NLP Techniques are totally useless unless applied into the thinking framework of your client. NLP techniques are useful as part of a large global strategy of understanding the problem and transforming the problem.
By themselves, they are not powerful.
I know this is not the popular view, nor the one most seekers of quick and easy solutions want to hear.
Let me illustrate how that is true.
I had a client once who told me he suffered from phobia of small spaces. When asked how he knew that, he told me he couldn’t sleep because he felt this “oppressive” feeling around his neck and felt as if the walls were “closing on him”. He felt like he was going be suffocated, and panicked.
On the surface it looked like he had such a phobia, which manifested in sweaty palms and heart racing, and thoughts wrecking a havoc in his internal universe. He was a wreck most nights. On the surface it looked like he had a phobia of small spaces.
I decided to investigate this case further. I asked him what car he drove to work. When he told me, “Toyota Corolla,” I said “it must be a massive version of such a small car.” He laughed and told me he felt perfectly fine inside it. In fact he enjoyed driving his car. “It cannot be a phobia of small spaces then” I said to myself and decided to examine this belief further.
“Imagine yourself getting into an elevator in a tall building. How are you feeling?” “Great”, he said. “Okay, now you are going up and it stops on the fifth floor. Two people enter the elevator. How are you feeling?” “Good”, he said (not great, I noticed). “Okay now, the door closes and the elevator climbs to the tenth floor. Five people enter at once. How do you feel?” “Bad”, he tells me.
As we went through the line of strategic questioning, I discovered he was in Liverpool soccer stands during the riots in the 90 s. He was one of the fans crushed under the stands, where he almost died. His fear was not of small spaces but of being crushed by people. Had I not known the principle governing his fear and applied a standard phobia cure, I would have failed.
A totally different method was needed to help him get rid of that problem. We had to change his internal dialogue, get rid of images that kept on creeping into his mind when he was asleep (this is when your other than conscious is very active), get him to create different representations of spaces and shift the direction his fear was coming from. Interestingly, fear comes from somewhere and has direction.
Knowing this, you can change its direction and send it wherever you want, even into its own death.
If you are mean you can give it to someone too, like a nasty mother in law. She will always be afraid to visit you. Wouldn’t that be a great strategy?
Depending on what you are dealing with, you can apply NLP techniques strategically and experience massive transformation
Recognizing what you are dealing with is where the art is hidden and where a true NLP Master is able to do his (her) magic. Before you even consider using NLP techniques, you must apply a strategic thinking approach. You have to know what to ask before even attempting to intervene. Here is the analogy.
Imagine yourself being employed in area 51 – the secret camp in the mountains of Nevada where all that alien research is taking place. An object of unknown origins was found in the desert. Your boss gives you 30 days and tells you to make it better.
Faced with such a task you need to answer some questions for yourself; what is this object? What was it made of? How was it made (the process)? What was the intent of the designer? What function does it perform? How is it flawed (or isn’t)?
You have to assess what you know, what you don’t know and what you want to know, and why?
Once you have satisfied these questions, you are in a position to apply NLP techniques. If you have not been able to formulate the right questions for yourself, you will fail, no matter how promising a technique may be.
I met NLP practitioners who told me phobia cure did not work. “How did you know he had it?” I asked. “He told me” was the standard answer. “Why did you believe him?”
Human thinking, no matter how seemingly illogical makes sense to the one that is thinking. Before we can help them with NLP techniques, we must understand what they are thinking, how they are thinking and why they are thinking the way they are thinking. Only then can we apply NLP techniques and achieve a massive transformation – strategically.
If you are seeking to learn Neurolinguistic programming, find a place where you will learn strategic and systemic approach. Your investment in yourself will be well rewarded. Have fun.
If you have a need for a breakthrough, give us a call and book a FREE 30 minute breakthrough consultation.