Hi,
This is Section 3 of the article series, NLP is about Thinking. This section only composes of 1 article. If NLP is about Thinking, then what is Thinking?
Thinking is the mental activities which allows beings to model the world, and so to deal with the world effectively according to their own goals, plans, ends and desires. Thinking is manipulating information, as when we form concepts, engage in problem solving, reason and make decisions. A thought may be an idea, an image, a sound or even an emotional feeling that arises from the brain. (The about description is from Wikipedia)
NLP is about Modeling the World while Thinking is also about the same thing. NLP is about how we mentally Handle Information while Thinking is also about the same thing.
One of the objective of learning NLP is to enhance our quality of thinking. There are lots of qualities of thinking and here are some for us to consider:
1. Accuracy (準確): Accuracy is the degree of conformity of a measured or calculated quantity to its actual value. That is, if you think that something is a dog, and it is actually a dog, then the thinking is of high accuracy.
2. Precision (精確): Precision is repeatability, the degree to which further measurements or calculations will show the same or similar results. For example, a clock always hit 12 o'clock the same time everyday, then the clock is precise but it can be inaccurate because when it hit 12, it is actually 11. If we always think something is the same thing, then we have a precise thinking. (But it can be inaccurate!)
3. Logical (邏輯): If you have reasons which can show your conclusion is true and the reasons are true themselves, then you have a logical thinking.
4. Effectiveness (效益): Effectiveness is the capability to produce an Effect you want. An ordinary way of describing Effectiveness can be thinking the right thing and doing the right thing.
5. Efficiency (效率): Efficiency is the extent to which resources are used for the intended purpose. If you use more than needed, you are not efficient. If you think or consider more than needed to achieve the purpose, your thinking is of low Efficiency.
6. Speed (速度): Speed is the amount of time used for thinking.
7. Efficacy (功效): Efficacy is the ability to produce a desired amount of a desired effect. That is, you don't over or under do or think something.
8. Realness (真實): Realness is whether something you think is currently or had been existing. Some real must be actual things which have objective existence. There is no degree of realness. It is either real or not real!
Our Filters affect all of the above qualities! Enhancing thinking quality is enhancing quality of our Filters! The number and realness of our filters governs these 8 qualities. We need less and real filters to be an accurate, precise, logical, effective, efficient, fast, efficacious and real thinker!
Keith
Explore, Exceed & Excel
Keith To's Ideas & Thoughts on NLP, Hypnosis, Coaching, Facilitation, Personal and Business Development. These seem to be nothing related. But from a Systemic Thinking perspective, they share similar nature and processes. 陶兆輝對身心語言程序學、催眠治療學、教練學、輔引學、個人發展及商業發展的純個人看法；它們看似毫不相關，但當你從合整式思維角度來看，它們卻擁有相近的性質及過程；我將每隔數天不斷加入新的文章, 內容絕不敢認為是肯定正確, 旨在拋磚引玉而矣。 (All articles copyrighted by Keith To)
Showing posts with label NLP is about Thinking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NLP is about Thinking. Show all posts
2007/04/19
2007/03/26
NLP: NLP is about Thinking Part 9 - Why Modeling?
Hi,
This is Section 2 of our article series, NLP is about Thinking.
Someone asked me recently why we model. So, I decided to write this article (just one article) as Section 2 of the series - Why Modeling?
The co-originators of NLP, Richard Bandler & John Grinder started to model the greatest therapists to identify their models of effective and efficient therapy during 70's. This was the birth of NLP. Years after years, Bandler, Grinder and many other NLP co-developers, trainers and practitioners continued to model. The co-originators even declared that NLP is Modeling rather than the thousands of NLP models as the results of the modeling process. Why?
Because this unique NLP Modeling Process can help people finding out the "how" of the great techniques of great performers of any kind! Then we and all others people can follow the steps of these great people to excellence. (If you want to know more about the uniqueness of the NLP Modeling Process, have a look at my other article, 4 Key Elements of NLP Modeling)
But why should we learn the Modeling Process? Why can't we just learn from the existing models?
There can be hundreds of good reasons to model, here are 8 to consider:
1. Modeling Someone's Excellence. When you come across someone performing great in something you want to learn, you can model them by yourself! You learn faster!
2. Modeling Organizations and Cultures. You can also understand better how other (or yours) organizations and cultures functioning. We can benchmark them to get their strategies and we can also get along with them easier.
3. Modeling Others' Failures. You don't need to fail first to become successful in something. We can always model others' failures. We are not good at learning from failures so we fail again and again. Why? Because we do not have a systematic and effective method to learn. Modeling can be one of the answers. Modeling failures can also help us to help others to improve themselves.
4. Modeling Problems. One thing is quite sure for yesterday, today and in the future - Problems always exist. Many even believe that we are employed to solve the problems for our employers. We, ourselves have problems, at home, in the workplace, etc. If we can know how a problem works, problem solving is much easier.
5. Modeling Opportunities. Interesting? Yes, we can model opportunities! It is frustrating not to get hold of opportunities and let them pass by us. One of the reasons is that we do not know how they look so we can't recognize them. Even we can manage not to miss them, we might not be able to utilize them because we do not know how they work. Modeling helps us to notice them and use them.
6. Modeling Others' Thinking. Then we can communicate and persuade them according to their way of thinking! The problem why we can't persuade is that we are doing that according to our own thinking, not theirs. When we are proficient at modeling, we can Simultaneously Model others and get simultaneous feedback at the same time. Speed is everything, when persuading!
7. Modeling from History, Books and any other form of Information. Even we can't meet someone in person (we don't know them or they had already passed-away), we can still model them. It opens up a vast pool (or sea!) of knowledge to us! Learning from information is always difficult since we tend to analyze or memorize, rather than seeing how something happened.
8. Modeling Yourself. The last but not the least, modeling oneself is most important! We are aware of the importance of Self-Awareness, but we might not be aware of how to get it! We can model ourselves! We model our own successes, failures, problems, thinking and our history! We can then duplicate our achievements. We can stop repeating our problems and failures. We can adjust our own insane thinking. We understanding more about the most important person in the world - Yourself!
Learn Modeling and teach them to all others around you. Today, we are facing Information-Overflow, but we are always Knowledge-Deficient. Knowledge is the Understood and Usable Information. What can make it understood and what can make it usable? Modeling!
When more people are doing Modeling, we are adding knowledge to our world. This is my wish and this is my goal!
See you all again in Section 3 of the articles series.
Keith
Explore, Exceed & Excel
This is Section 2 of our article series, NLP is about Thinking.
Someone asked me recently why we model. So, I decided to write this article (just one article) as Section 2 of the series - Why Modeling?
The co-originators of NLP, Richard Bandler & John Grinder started to model the greatest therapists to identify their models of effective and efficient therapy during 70's. This was the birth of NLP. Years after years, Bandler, Grinder and many other NLP co-developers, trainers and practitioners continued to model. The co-originators even declared that NLP is Modeling rather than the thousands of NLP models as the results of the modeling process. Why?
Because this unique NLP Modeling Process can help people finding out the "how" of the great techniques of great performers of any kind! Then we and all others people can follow the steps of these great people to excellence. (If you want to know more about the uniqueness of the NLP Modeling Process, have a look at my other article, 4 Key Elements of NLP Modeling)
But why should we learn the Modeling Process? Why can't we just learn from the existing models?
There can be hundreds of good reasons to model, here are 8 to consider:
1. Modeling Someone's Excellence. When you come across someone performing great in something you want to learn, you can model them by yourself! You learn faster!
2. Modeling Organizations and Cultures. You can also understand better how other (or yours) organizations and cultures functioning. We can benchmark them to get their strategies and we can also get along with them easier.
3. Modeling Others' Failures. You don't need to fail first to become successful in something. We can always model others' failures. We are not good at learning from failures so we fail again and again. Why? Because we do not have a systematic and effective method to learn. Modeling can be one of the answers. Modeling failures can also help us to help others to improve themselves.
4. Modeling Problems. One thing is quite sure for yesterday, today and in the future - Problems always exist. Many even believe that we are employed to solve the problems for our employers. We, ourselves have problems, at home, in the workplace, etc. If we can know how a problem works, problem solving is much easier.
5. Modeling Opportunities. Interesting? Yes, we can model opportunities! It is frustrating not to get hold of opportunities and let them pass by us. One of the reasons is that we do not know how they look so we can't recognize them. Even we can manage not to miss them, we might not be able to utilize them because we do not know how they work. Modeling helps us to notice them and use them.
6. Modeling Others' Thinking. Then we can communicate and persuade them according to their way of thinking! The problem why we can't persuade is that we are doing that according to our own thinking, not theirs. When we are proficient at modeling, we can Simultaneously Model others and get simultaneous feedback at the same time. Speed is everything, when persuading!
7. Modeling from History, Books and any other form of Information. Even we can't meet someone in person (we don't know them or they had already passed-away), we can still model them. It opens up a vast pool (or sea!) of knowledge to us! Learning from information is always difficult since we tend to analyze or memorize, rather than seeing how something happened.
8. Modeling Yourself. The last but not the least, modeling oneself is most important! We are aware of the importance of Self-Awareness, but we might not be aware of how to get it! We can model ourselves! We model our own successes, failures, problems, thinking and our history! We can then duplicate our achievements. We can stop repeating our problems and failures. We can adjust our own insane thinking. We understanding more about the most important person in the world - Yourself!
Learn Modeling and teach them to all others around you. Today, we are facing Information-Overflow, but we are always Knowledge-Deficient. Knowledge is the Understood and Usable Information. What can make it understood and what can make it usable? Modeling!
When more people are doing Modeling, we are adding knowledge to our world. This is my wish and this is my goal!
See you all again in Section 3 of the articles series.
Keith
Explore, Exceed & Excel
2007/03/12
NLP: NLP is about Thinking Part 8 - Language
Hi,
This is Part 8 of our series of NLP is about Thinking and this is also the last part of our Section 1 - The Map is not the Territory of our article series.
The Map is not the Territory. Our Internal Reality is not exactly the External Reality. Einstein had once said that we could never know the true reality. he is absolutely right as we always delete, distort and/or generalize our outside world.
In our last 4 parts, we have already discussed the first 4 Factors which make "The Map is not the Territory". Today, we will proceed to the last factor, Language.
How does language creates the discrepancies between our map and the territory?
1. Language Has Limitations. Language is used to represent and communicate what we perceive & think. However, the information of what we perceive and think is in form of Sensory Data, i.e what we see, hear, feel, smell and taste. Language itself has limitations. Language might not be accurately used to represent and communicate them fully and exactly. This creates the discrepancies.
2. People Chooses Different Words. When we communicate, different people use different words to represent the same experience due to the difference of their filters. Even we hear the same words from someone, different people will have a different map about what he is talking about and it is quite sure that all these maps are not the same as the map of the speaker.
3. Words Used Imply Meanings to the Experience. As mentioned above, different people use different words to represent the same experience. Once the words are chosen, the experience is then influenced and limited by those words. He is not just him any more, he become a "bad guy" if we choose such words to describe him.
To reduce such discrepancies, we can
1. Become Multi-Lingual. Each language has her own limitations. The more languages that we can use to represent and communicate our experience, the less discrepancy will be created.
2. Be Good at Language. My primary teacher had once told me that if someone was good at language, he/she could be good at anything if he/she chose to learn it. She was right. If we can have more vocabularies to describe our perceptions and thinking, we can choose the more appropraite words.
3. Extend the Duration of Observation before we start to choose words to describe it. We form the First Access (FA) or the initial perception when we perceive something. The process is so fast that we tend to miss important information. Intentionally extending the duration allows us picking up as much information as possible. There is a paradox here. If we get more information, it becomes even more difficult to choose the right words to represent it.
4. Use Multiple Descriptions for the same experience. One single word or phrase might not be able to represent the experience close enough. We can use several different descriptions in our thinking and communication. This also promotes the use of different frames and perceptual positions, both for yourself and for the people you are communicating with.
5. Apply Meta-Model if Appropriate. In NLP, the Deep Structure is all the sensory information of the experience while the Surface Structure is the language we used to represent all those information in the Deep Structure. To communicate efficiently, the Surface Structure is a much deleted, distorted and generalized version of the Deep Structure. It is efficient but might not be effective. It can cause misunderstandings. Meta-Model is a special kind of language pattern use to reveal the Deep Structure during communication. You can find it in most of those good NLP books or we will discuss them in our NLP Practitioner Program.
Our maps are just the deleted, distorted, and generalized Perceptions and Linguistic Representations of the outside world. They are never the outside world.
This concludes our Section 1 of the article series. Starting next posting, we will continue to Section 2 - the NLP Modeling Process.
Keith
Explore, Exceed & Excel
This is Part 8 of our series of NLP is about Thinking and this is also the last part of our Section 1 - The Map is not the Territory of our article series.
The Map is not the Territory. Our Internal Reality is not exactly the External Reality. Einstein had once said that we could never know the true reality. he is absolutely right as we always delete, distort and/or generalize our outside world.
In our last 4 parts, we have already discussed the first 4 Factors which make "The Map is not the Territory". Today, we will proceed to the last factor, Language.
How does language creates the discrepancies between our map and the territory?
1. Language Has Limitations. Language is used to represent and communicate what we perceive & think. However, the information of what we perceive and think is in form of Sensory Data, i.e what we see, hear, feel, smell and taste. Language itself has limitations. Language might not be accurately used to represent and communicate them fully and exactly. This creates the discrepancies.
2. People Chooses Different Words. When we communicate, different people use different words to represent the same experience due to the difference of their filters. Even we hear the same words from someone, different people will have a different map about what he is talking about and it is quite sure that all these maps are not the same as the map of the speaker.
3. Words Used Imply Meanings to the Experience. As mentioned above, different people use different words to represent the same experience. Once the words are chosen, the experience is then influenced and limited by those words. He is not just him any more, he become a "bad guy" if we choose such words to describe him.
To reduce such discrepancies, we can
1. Become Multi-Lingual. Each language has her own limitations. The more languages that we can use to represent and communicate our experience, the less discrepancy will be created.
2. Be Good at Language. My primary teacher had once told me that if someone was good at language, he/she could be good at anything if he/she chose to learn it. She was right. If we can have more vocabularies to describe our perceptions and thinking, we can choose the more appropraite words.
3. Extend the Duration of Observation before we start to choose words to describe it. We form the First Access (FA) or the initial perception when we perceive something. The process is so fast that we tend to miss important information. Intentionally extending the duration allows us picking up as much information as possible. There is a paradox here. If we get more information, it becomes even more difficult to choose the right words to represent it.
4. Use Multiple Descriptions for the same experience. One single word or phrase might not be able to represent the experience close enough. We can use several different descriptions in our thinking and communication. This also promotes the use of different frames and perceptual positions, both for yourself and for the people you are communicating with.
5. Apply Meta-Model if Appropriate. In NLP, the Deep Structure is all the sensory information of the experience while the Surface Structure is the language we used to represent all those information in the Deep Structure. To communicate efficiently, the Surface Structure is a much deleted, distorted and generalized version of the Deep Structure. It is efficient but might not be effective. It can cause misunderstandings. Meta-Model is a special kind of language pattern use to reveal the Deep Structure during communication. You can find it in most of those good NLP books or we will discuss them in our NLP Practitioner Program.
Our maps are just the deleted, distorted, and generalized Perceptions and Linguistic Representations of the outside world. They are never the outside world.
This concludes our Section 1 of the article series. Starting next posting, we will continue to Section 2 - the NLP Modeling Process.
Keith
Explore, Exceed & Excel
2007/03/10
NLP: NLP is about Thinking Part 7 - Filters
Hi,
This is Part 7 of our series of NLP is about Thinking.
I am speeding up myself in writing so as to at least finish the first major section of this articles series before the start of the NLP Practitioner Program this year.
We are continuing to discuss the 5 Factors that make "Our Maps are not the Territory". Filters is the 3rd factor. Filter is the single most core concepts of NLP. You can say that all other 4 factors are Filters-related.
The Physical Barriers, Missing Perspectives, Time and Language Factors create the discrepancies between our Map (Internal Reality) and the Territory (External Reality) and at the same time they add and/or alter the related Filters, which continue to generate the discrepancies in a long run, with or without those original factors existing.
For example, you saw one of your friends not caring your feelings as he was shouting loudly to you when you had make a mistake. However this might not be the reality as it is his habit to talk loudly when he is worrying. This is a typical Physical Barriers example. However, this individual incident might not affect your perception just once. It might also create a Belief (one of the Filters) of "He is not a caring person". This belief affects how you perceive and interact with your friend in the future.
We formed most of our Filters during our grown-up. During our earlier years of our lives, we do not have many filters. So, it is too easy for us to take in so many filters from people and situations around us, your parents, brothers and sisters, relatives, teachers, classmates, church, your school life, TV programs, etc. As we grow up, it becomes more difficult to add and alter filters as our existing filters "filter" off most of them.
There are basically 3 types of Filters: Value, Belief & Rule.
1. Values are what you think that are important. They are the qualities that are intrinsically desirable to us. When our values being met, we feel satisfied and harmonious. Our values influence the goals and choices that we make. Our values direct our Perceptions and thus our actions. If someone values "stability", he/she will constantly evaluate a situation whether it causes stability or instability.
2. Beliefs are what you think that are real. This guides our Meaning-Making System. It gives meaning to what is perceived. One can find something interesting, but another one can perceive it as annoying. Thus it affects our Reactions and Expectations.
3. Rules are what you think that are right or wrong. Rules connect some of our values to our actions. If we think something is important, we will non-consciously set some rules to make the value being valued by us and by others. Our rules make our actions and behaviours consistent, but they might also limit us to change or choosing other options of action.
All our Filters (Beliefs, Values & Rules) are just what we think. It can be real or far from reality.
Our filters can be conscious or non-conscious to us. Most of our filters are non-conscious. We do not know their existence but they affect us. So discovering your filters are one of the most important kinds of Self-Awareness.
Our Filters create discrepancies between our maps and the reality through 3 fundamental mechanisms, Deletion, Distortion and Generalization.
1. Deletion is the process of we selectively focus on part(s) of the experience and excluding others. The world is too complicated. Deletion reduces the world to make us capable of handling.
We might delete part of the outside information Content, e.g. we focus only on someone's out of style dressing, while ignoring what he is talking. We might also delete part of the Context, e.g. we focus only on someone's tone of speech. Furthermore, we can even delete most of the Outside World, e.g. you sink into your inside world to think of something important while forgetting everything outside.
We usually delete something we think which is not important to us (i.e. Non-Values), or which is not real (i.e. Non-Belief), or which is right or wrong (i.e. Rule & Non-Rule).
2. Distortion is the process of shifting our experience of outside world's information. It alters the information so as to match our original Preconceptions and/or Perceptions. For example, when one of your staff is late to work, you immediately think that he is lazy without asking for when happened to him.
We use Filters to distort the Outside World to fit our Filters. Great arts and breakthrough in science can be resulted from a distortion from the present reality of the world.
3. Generalization is the process of detaching one element of the experience and taking that element representing the whole category of which the experience is an example. Through generalization, we draw global conclusions based on one, two or more experiences.
Generalization can be Useful or Limiting. We can generalize that rejecting an opinion from our superior is not polite. This makes you having good relationship with your superiors, but it can also limit your performance if the opinion is not appropriate.
Generalization is also Context-Related. The above generalization can be very suitable in Chinese culture, but might not be useful in other countries.
Keith
Explore, Exceed & Excel
This is Part 7 of our series of NLP is about Thinking.
I am speeding up myself in writing so as to at least finish the first major section of this articles series before the start of the NLP Practitioner Program this year.
We are continuing to discuss the 5 Factors that make "Our Maps are not the Territory". Filters is the 3rd factor. Filter is the single most core concepts of NLP. You can say that all other 4 factors are Filters-related.
The Physical Barriers, Missing Perspectives, Time and Language Factors create the discrepancies between our Map (Internal Reality) and the Territory (External Reality) and at the same time they add and/or alter the related Filters, which continue to generate the discrepancies in a long run, with or without those original factors existing.
For example, you saw one of your friends not caring your feelings as he was shouting loudly to you when you had make a mistake. However this might not be the reality as it is his habit to talk loudly when he is worrying. This is a typical Physical Barriers example. However, this individual incident might not affect your perception just once. It might also create a Belief (one of the Filters) of "He is not a caring person". This belief affects how you perceive and interact with your friend in the future.
We formed most of our Filters during our grown-up. During our earlier years of our lives, we do not have many filters. So, it is too easy for us to take in so many filters from people and situations around us, your parents, brothers and sisters, relatives, teachers, classmates, church, your school life, TV programs, etc. As we grow up, it becomes more difficult to add and alter filters as our existing filters "filter" off most of them.
There are basically 3 types of Filters: Value, Belief & Rule.
1. Values are what you think that are important. They are the qualities that are intrinsically desirable to us. When our values being met, we feel satisfied and harmonious. Our values influence the goals and choices that we make. Our values direct our Perceptions and thus our actions. If someone values "stability", he/she will constantly evaluate a situation whether it causes stability or instability.
2. Beliefs are what you think that are real. This guides our Meaning-Making System. It gives meaning to what is perceived. One can find something interesting, but another one can perceive it as annoying. Thus it affects our Reactions and Expectations.
3. Rules are what you think that are right or wrong. Rules connect some of our values to our actions. If we think something is important, we will non-consciously set some rules to make the value being valued by us and by others. Our rules make our actions and behaviours consistent, but they might also limit us to change or choosing other options of action.
All our Filters (Beliefs, Values & Rules) are just what we think. It can be real or far from reality.
Our filters can be conscious or non-conscious to us. Most of our filters are non-conscious. We do not know their existence but they affect us. So discovering your filters are one of the most important kinds of Self-Awareness.
Our Filters create discrepancies between our maps and the reality through 3 fundamental mechanisms, Deletion, Distortion and Generalization.
1. Deletion is the process of we selectively focus on part(s) of the experience and excluding others. The world is too complicated. Deletion reduces the world to make us capable of handling.
We might delete part of the outside information Content, e.g. we focus only on someone's out of style dressing, while ignoring what he is talking. We might also delete part of the Context, e.g. we focus only on someone's tone of speech. Furthermore, we can even delete most of the Outside World, e.g. you sink into your inside world to think of something important while forgetting everything outside.
We usually delete something we think which is not important to us (i.e. Non-Values), or which is not real (i.e. Non-Belief), or which is right or wrong (i.e. Rule & Non-Rule).
2. Distortion is the process of shifting our experience of outside world's information. It alters the information so as to match our original Preconceptions and/or Perceptions. For example, when one of your staff is late to work, you immediately think that he is lazy without asking for when happened to him.
We use Filters to distort the Outside World to fit our Filters. Great arts and breakthrough in science can be resulted from a distortion from the present reality of the world.
3. Generalization is the process of detaching one element of the experience and taking that element representing the whole category of which the experience is an example. Through generalization, we draw global conclusions based on one, two or more experiences.
Generalization can be Useful or Limiting. We can generalize that rejecting an opinion from our superior is not polite. This makes you having good relationship with your superiors, but it can also limit your performance if the opinion is not appropriate.
Generalization is also Context-Related. The above generalization can be very suitable in Chinese culture, but might not be useful in other countries.
Keith
Explore, Exceed & Excel
2007/03/09
NLP: NLP is about Thinking Part 6 - Time
Hi,
This is Part 6 of our series of NLP is about Thinking.
There are 5 factors making "Our Maps are not the Territory". Time is the 3rd factor.
There are some "old" maps inside our minds formed years ago. They can be valid at the time of their formation, but can be "outdated" at the present moment. However, we can still non-consciously use these maps in our lives.
Our maps are Static in nature. They are the snapshots of what we perceived at the moments of our perception. Unless we consciously update our maps, most of them will remain as they are forever.
Our maps can also be Passively Dynamic. They change as time goes by. They change not because of our intentional effort and will but they are updated automatically. How does this happen?
When something happens in our lives and the results do not match our original maps, we feel uneasy. For example, you believe that all bosses are bad, but now your boss is treating you really good. 2 things can happen:
1. Changing Filter. Your filter (in this case, your belief of "all bosses are bad") might be adjusted to "some bosses are bad". You feel more comfortable as your map is now matching the territory you perceived.
2. Distortion, Deletion, Generalization. Your filter does not change. You perceive the good acts of your boss is a kind of manipulation to make you working harder for him! You can then feel comfortable as your perceived territory matches your map. Our filters work for us to make us felling comfortable by distorting, deleting and/or generalizing the external reality.
If our maps are either Static or Passively Dynamic, we must Intentionally Update our maps or our Internal Reality is too far away from the External Reality. Then, we perceive, think, and act unrealistically. It is just like operating a 64-Bits Pentium PC with an age-old Windows 3.0 Operating System. We can't function at our best.
We can Intentionally Update our maps by Verifying and Backtracking our filters. This is a life-long process as we are continuous adding new filters to our minds. Our brain is already the best CPU in the world. It is already fastest and it is estimated to work at 10 Quadrillions/Second. It is faster than the fastest computer by 141 times.
We do not need to upgrade our brain, but we need to upgrade our Operating System.
Keith
Explore, Exceed & Excel
This is Part 6 of our series of NLP is about Thinking.
There are 5 factors making "Our Maps are not the Territory". Time is the 3rd factor.
There are some "old" maps inside our minds formed years ago. They can be valid at the time of their formation, but can be "outdated" at the present moment. However, we can still non-consciously use these maps in our lives.
Our maps are Static in nature. They are the snapshots of what we perceived at the moments of our perception. Unless we consciously update our maps, most of them will remain as they are forever.
Our maps can also be Passively Dynamic. They change as time goes by. They change not because of our intentional effort and will but they are updated automatically. How does this happen?
When something happens in our lives and the results do not match our original maps, we feel uneasy. For example, you believe that all bosses are bad, but now your boss is treating you really good. 2 things can happen:
1. Changing Filter. Your filter (in this case, your belief of "all bosses are bad") might be adjusted to "some bosses are bad". You feel more comfortable as your map is now matching the territory you perceived.
2. Distortion, Deletion, Generalization. Your filter does not change. You perceive the good acts of your boss is a kind of manipulation to make you working harder for him! You can then feel comfortable as your perceived territory matches your map. Our filters work for us to make us felling comfortable by distorting, deleting and/or generalizing the external reality.
If our maps are either Static or Passively Dynamic, we must Intentionally Update our maps or our Internal Reality is too far away from the External Reality. Then, we perceive, think, and act unrealistically. It is just like operating a 64-Bits Pentium PC with an age-old Windows 3.0 Operating System. We can't function at our best.
We can Intentionally Update our maps by Verifying and Backtracking our filters. This is a life-long process as we are continuous adding new filters to our minds. Our brain is already the best CPU in the world. It is already fastest and it is estimated to work at 10 Quadrillions/Second. It is faster than the fastest computer by 141 times.
We do not need to upgrade our brain, but we need to upgrade our Operating System.
Keith
Explore, Exceed & Excel
2007/02/18
NLP: NLP is about Thinking Part 5 - Missing Perspectives
Hi,
This is Part 5 of our series of NLP is about Thinking.
There are 5 factors making "the Map is not the Territory". The first one we talked about in our last part is Sensory Channels. Here is our 2nd factor: Missing Perspectives.
You see what you see, but not what others see!
Einstein once said that nobody can really know the reality. It might be because everyone is just seeing from his/her own perspective. The more perspectives we have, the more reality we can see. But we can't have any additional perspectives if we are seeing things in our own position. We must shift position in order to see from different perspectives.
In NLP, there are at least 6 different Perceptual Positions that we can shift ourselves to get more perspectives. There are 3 most important ones, the First, Second and Meta Position.
1. The First Position, or the Self-Position is seeing things from our own position. Most of us get used to this position as we perceive everything from this dominating position at most of the time. Any additional thing, which can only been seen from other positions becomes our blind-spots.
This position is still very useful because the information we get from it forms part of the whole picture. But if you are too stuck in this position, it will cause you troubles. One of them is being too subjective. Another one is Phobia, the unrealistic fear. If you can see the same thing from other positions, phobia might simply go away.
When you are in this position, you see the situation and others who are involved. But you can't see yourself.
2. The Second Position, or the Others-Position is seeing from other people's positions. There can be a lot of Second Positions as there are a lot of other people, who can see the same situation. The more Second Positions you can gain access of, the more objective you are. Some people can get stuck in the Second Position. They think and feel like others think and feel. They lost their own self and sometimes co-dependency is resulted.
When you are in this position, you see the situation and yourself, might be some others who are also involved. But you can't see that person.
3. The Meta-Position, or the Observer-Position is seeing from a totally unrelated, imaginary person's position, just doing the observation of the situation, yourself and others involved. You see everything, everyone in this position. You are in a mindset of "this is nothing about anyone, anything".
How can we access the Others-Position and the Observer-Position? You must consciously and intentionally detach from yourself and move to these positions in your mind. Or if the situation is already over, you can physically move to different positions. After many times of consciously and intentionally moving to different positions, you will be able to do it non-consciously and automatically.
One of the key factors that makes people be able to move into different positions is that you must go into the Observer-Position first before you can go into Others-Positions. How can you jump from one position to another? You must go through the transition position of the Observer-Position first!
That means, when you are detaching from any positions, you tell yourself "this is nothing about anyone, anything".
BTW, if you want to know more about our NLP Practitioner Training, which is done only once a year, go to our website at www.excelcentre.net/nlppractitioner.html.
See you again in our next part of this series.
Keith
Explore, Exceed & Excel
This is Part 5 of our series of NLP is about Thinking.
There are 5 factors making "the Map is not the Territory". The first one we talked about in our last part is Sensory Channels. Here is our 2nd factor: Missing Perspectives.
You see what you see, but not what others see!
Einstein once said that nobody can really know the reality. It might be because everyone is just seeing from his/her own perspective. The more perspectives we have, the more reality we can see. But we can't have any additional perspectives if we are seeing things in our own position. We must shift position in order to see from different perspectives.
In NLP, there are at least 6 different Perceptual Positions that we can shift ourselves to get more perspectives. There are 3 most important ones, the First, Second and Meta Position.
1. The First Position, or the Self-Position is seeing things from our own position. Most of us get used to this position as we perceive everything from this dominating position at most of the time. Any additional thing, which can only been seen from other positions becomes our blind-spots.
This position is still very useful because the information we get from it forms part of the whole picture. But if you are too stuck in this position, it will cause you troubles. One of them is being too subjective. Another one is Phobia, the unrealistic fear. If you can see the same thing from other positions, phobia might simply go away.
When you are in this position, you see the situation and others who are involved. But you can't see yourself.
2. The Second Position, or the Others-Position is seeing from other people's positions. There can be a lot of Second Positions as there are a lot of other people, who can see the same situation. The more Second Positions you can gain access of, the more objective you are. Some people can get stuck in the Second Position. They think and feel like others think and feel. They lost their own self and sometimes co-dependency is resulted.
When you are in this position, you see the situation and yourself, might be some others who are also involved. But you can't see that person.
3. The Meta-Position, or the Observer-Position is seeing from a totally unrelated, imaginary person's position, just doing the observation of the situation, yourself and others involved. You see everything, everyone in this position. You are in a mindset of "this is nothing about anyone, anything".
How can we access the Others-Position and the Observer-Position? You must consciously and intentionally detach from yourself and move to these positions in your mind. Or if the situation is already over, you can physically move to different positions. After many times of consciously and intentionally moving to different positions, you will be able to do it non-consciously and automatically.
One of the key factors that makes people be able to move into different positions is that you must go into the Observer-Position first before you can go into Others-Positions. How can you jump from one position to another? You must go through the transition position of the Observer-Position first!
That means, when you are detaching from any positions, you tell yourself "this is nothing about anyone, anything".
BTW, if you want to know more about our NLP Practitioner Training, which is done only once a year, go to our website at www.excelcentre.net/nlppractitioner.html.
See you again in our next part of this series.
Keith
Explore, Exceed & Excel
NLP: NLP is about Thinking Part 4 - Physical Barriers & Sensory Channels.
Hi,
This is Part 4 of our series of NLP is about Thinking.
Let's me recap a bit. NLP is about Modeling and Modeling is about Thinking.
There are 5 factors making "the Map is not the Territory". We are going to discuss each of them in our coming articles.
The first factor is Physical Barriers & Sensory Channels.
We see, hear and feel to get the outside information into our minds. There are always barriers blocking our sensory inputs. It is always desirable to reduce these barriers, though this is quite outside the scope of NLP.
Expanding our Sensory Channels, Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic is a great way to enhance both the quality and quantity of information feed-in, even under the above mentioned constrain of Physical Barrier.
Expanding our Sensory Channels is of 2 folds. Both expansions can be done by intentionally using our Sensory Channels. Our sensory inputs are quite "passive" and we can expand them by actively using them.
1. Maximize our Sensory Inputs. We intentionally see, hear and feel more. We do not just focus on one single part. We consciously be aware of our Attention and consciously put our Attention to different parts of what we are observing. We can also consciously alter our Levels of Scope during observation to see, hear and feel more.
2. Using All our Channels. We habitually rely on a single channel, either Visual, Auditory or Kinesthetic (we call it the Primary Representational System in NLP). More channels means more information. We consciously use our "less-used" channels to force them to serve us. For example, I am heavily relied on Auditory in the past, so I consciously do more "seeing" and "feeling" during interactions with people and things.
Both the above takes time to see the results. Knowing something is different from have the knowledge. You need to practise it. There are so many people know NLP but not all have the knowledge to use it to enhance their lives.
Keith
Explore, Exceed & Excel
This is Part 4 of our series of NLP is about Thinking.
Let's me recap a bit. NLP is about Modeling and Modeling is about Thinking.
There are 5 factors making "the Map is not the Territory". We are going to discuss each of them in our coming articles.
The first factor is Physical Barriers & Sensory Channels.
We see, hear and feel to get the outside information into our minds. There are always barriers blocking our sensory inputs. It is always desirable to reduce these barriers, though this is quite outside the scope of NLP.
Expanding our Sensory Channels, Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic is a great way to enhance both the quality and quantity of information feed-in, even under the above mentioned constrain of Physical Barrier.
Expanding our Sensory Channels is of 2 folds. Both expansions can be done by intentionally using our Sensory Channels. Our sensory inputs are quite "passive" and we can expand them by actively using them.
1. Maximize our Sensory Inputs. We intentionally see, hear and feel more. We do not just focus on one single part. We consciously be aware of our Attention and consciously put our Attention to different parts of what we are observing. We can also consciously alter our Levels of Scope during observation to see, hear and feel more.
2. Using All our Channels. We habitually rely on a single channel, either Visual, Auditory or Kinesthetic (we call it the Primary Representational System in NLP). More channels means more information. We consciously use our "less-used" channels to force them to serve us. For example, I am heavily relied on Auditory in the past, so I consciously do more "seeing" and "feeling" during interactions with people and things.
Both the above takes time to see the results. Knowing something is different from have the knowledge. You need to practise it. There are so many people know NLP but not all have the knowledge to use it to enhance their lives.
Keith
Explore, Exceed & Excel
2006/12/26
NLP: NLP is about Thinking Part 3 - The Map is not the Teritory
Hi,
Thanks for reading Part 3 of our NLP is about Thinking Series.
As we have mentioned in Part 2, NLP is the science of Modeling of behaviour. There are about 20 NLP Presuppositions, which are the guidelines for modeling. These also form the basic concepts of NLP.
The most fundamental NLP Presupposition is "The Map is not the Territory". This is adopted from Korzybsk's works of 1933. Our perception of the Reality might be quite different from the Reality itself. The actual Territory is the Reality in the outside world, while we have our own Maps of the Reality inside our mind.
For example, there are 11 books on the desk. One might say that there are several books there. Another one might tell you that there are 11 books on the desk. Even a third one might say that there are 9 books and 2 magazines on the desk. All can be right or wrong to certain degree. They are all telling you the truth, according to their perceptions, i.e. their Maps of the Reality.
In short, what you think about something/someone might not be exactly the same as the Reality. That is, what you think might not be Real! However, we often don't realize that we are using a map at all.
Then, how does this "The Map is not the Territory" Presupposition relate to NLP?
1. NLP is about Modeling. When you model someone, his/her behaviour is based on his/her Map, but not the Reality. It is meaningless and sometimes quite useless to just "copy" his/her external behaviour. We model others' internal map, too. That is, we copy what are inside others' minds., their strategies of judgement, decision and perception.
2. NLP is about Thinking. The more deviation the Map from the Territory, the more unreal is our thinking. The decision and the behaviours resulted from these unreal thinking cannot match with the Reality. Problems are then the results. Our objective is to make our maps as closed to the Reality (Territory) as possible in order to achieve accurate thinking.
Then, what makes the Map not same as the Territory?
There can be 5 different sources of this difference between the Map and the Territory:
1. Physical Barriers. These might include some physical handicaps - one can't hear, see or sense clearly. Environmental factors can be other form of physical barriers. A noisy environment, communication using the telephone, talking in a hurry are examples of environmental factors.
NLP trains us to expand the capability of every Sensory Channels so that we can get the maximum amount of information with or without physical barriers. The more information feed-in, the more accurate is our maps.
2. Missing Perspectives. If you ask 3 persons to see something, they will tell you 3 separate different stories afterward. Why? Because they all see the same thing from different perspectives.
We can never see the whole picture from one single perspective. The more perspectives you have, the fuller the picture you can see. In NLP, we learn to see things from at least 6 Perceptual Positions to give us a more realistic Map.
3. Time. There are some "old" maps inside our minds formed years ago. They can be valid at the time of formation, but being "outdated" at the present moment. However, we can still non-consciously use these maps in our lives. Our maps are static in nature. They are the snapshots of what we perceived at the moments of our perception. Unless we consciously update our maps, most of them will remain as they are forever. Intentionally Updating our maps is another key NLP lessons.
4. Filters. This is one of the core concepts of NLP. Filters refer to our Beliefs, Values and Rules. They interact with each others to form our Beliefs System. This is the interface between the Reality and our Maps. Every information going into our mind from outside can be deleted, distorted or/and generalized when passing through these filters.
For example, if you believe that we must be nice to our parents, you will think someone is bad when you see he is shouting to his mom. You might miss the fact that it is their habit to talk to each others loudly or his mom is deaf. This is Deletion.
In NLP, we train ourselves to backtrack our Filters in order to identify them. Then we can consciously study them. This is one way of achieving Self-Awareness.
5. Language. Our maps affect the language we use and our language in turn affect our (and others') maps. For example, if one sees many people are not treating him/her good, one might say to him/herself: "Everybody is bad". This "Everybody is bad" statement will in turn makes him/her truly believe that Everybody is really bad.
NLP is also the studies of how language affects our thinking. We learn how to be aware of our language, and make use of our language to identify and fine-tune our maps. Meta Model is one of our key tools to attain such awareness.
As a conclusion, a more accurate map generates less misunderstanding, better decisions and an easier life.
In Part 4 of our series, we will discuss more on Physical Barriers & Sensory Channels.
Keith
Explore, Exceed & Excel
Thanks for reading Part 3 of our NLP is about Thinking Series.
As we have mentioned in Part 2, NLP is the science of Modeling of behaviour. There are about 20 NLP Presuppositions, which are the guidelines for modeling. These also form the basic concepts of NLP.
The most fundamental NLP Presupposition is "The Map is not the Territory". This is adopted from Korzybsk's works of 1933. Our perception of the Reality might be quite different from the Reality itself. The actual Territory is the Reality in the outside world, while we have our own Maps of the Reality inside our mind.
For example, there are 11 books on the desk. One might say that there are several books there. Another one might tell you that there are 11 books on the desk. Even a third one might say that there are 9 books and 2 magazines on the desk. All can be right or wrong to certain degree. They are all telling you the truth, according to their perceptions, i.e. their Maps of the Reality.
In short, what you think about something/someone might not be exactly the same as the Reality. That is, what you think might not be Real! However, we often don't realize that we are using a map at all.
Then, how does this "The Map is not the Territory" Presupposition relate to NLP?
1. NLP is about Modeling. When you model someone, his/her behaviour is based on his/her Map, but not the Reality. It is meaningless and sometimes quite useless to just "copy" his/her external behaviour. We model others' internal map, too. That is, we copy what are inside others' minds., their strategies of judgement, decision and perception.
2. NLP is about Thinking. The more deviation the Map from the Territory, the more unreal is our thinking. The decision and the behaviours resulted from these unreal thinking cannot match with the Reality. Problems are then the results. Our objective is to make our maps as closed to the Reality (Territory) as possible in order to achieve accurate thinking.
Then, what makes the Map not same as the Territory?
There can be 5 different sources of this difference between the Map and the Territory:
1. Physical Barriers. These might include some physical handicaps - one can't hear, see or sense clearly. Environmental factors can be other form of physical barriers. A noisy environment, communication using the telephone, talking in a hurry are examples of environmental factors.
NLP trains us to expand the capability of every Sensory Channels so that we can get the maximum amount of information with or without physical barriers. The more information feed-in, the more accurate is our maps.
2. Missing Perspectives. If you ask 3 persons to see something, they will tell you 3 separate different stories afterward. Why? Because they all see the same thing from different perspectives.
We can never see the whole picture from one single perspective. The more perspectives you have, the fuller the picture you can see. In NLP, we learn to see things from at least 6 Perceptual Positions to give us a more realistic Map.
3. Time. There are some "old" maps inside our minds formed years ago. They can be valid at the time of formation, but being "outdated" at the present moment. However, we can still non-consciously use these maps in our lives. Our maps are static in nature. They are the snapshots of what we perceived at the moments of our perception. Unless we consciously update our maps, most of them will remain as they are forever. Intentionally Updating our maps is another key NLP lessons.
4. Filters. This is one of the core concepts of NLP. Filters refer to our Beliefs, Values and Rules. They interact with each others to form our Beliefs System. This is the interface between the Reality and our Maps. Every information going into our mind from outside can be deleted, distorted or/and generalized when passing through these filters.
For example, if you believe that we must be nice to our parents, you will think someone is bad when you see he is shouting to his mom. You might miss the fact that it is their habit to talk to each others loudly or his mom is deaf. This is Deletion.
In NLP, we train ourselves to backtrack our Filters in order to identify them. Then we can consciously study them. This is one way of achieving Self-Awareness.
5. Language. Our maps affect the language we use and our language in turn affect our (and others') maps. For example, if one sees many people are not treating him/her good, one might say to him/herself: "Everybody is bad". This "Everybody is bad" statement will in turn makes him/her truly believe that Everybody is really bad.
NLP is also the studies of how language affects our thinking. We learn how to be aware of our language, and make use of our language to identify and fine-tune our maps. Meta Model is one of our key tools to attain such awareness.
As a conclusion, a more accurate map generates less misunderstanding, better decisions and an easier life.
In Part 4 of our series, we will discuss more on Physical Barriers & Sensory Channels.
Keith
Explore, Exceed & Excel
2006/12/23
NLP: NLP is about Thinking Part 2 - Then, what is NLP?
Hi,
In Part 1 of this series, I explained that NLP can be applied in therapy, communication, selling, personal development, changes, management & leadership, and coaching, but NLP is not about either of them.
Then what is NLP?
1. NLP is about Modeling. NLP started in the early 70's by Richard Bandler and John Grinder, the originators of NLP. They created NLP by modeling several great therapists at that time, including Virginia Satir (Mother of Family Therapy), Fritz Perls (Founder of Gestalt Therapy) and Milton Erickson (Greatest Hypnotherapist in 20th Century).
Through their works with these therapists, Bandler and Grinder formulated these therapists' models of therapy. They discovered the therapists' patterns through observing how they did their works. They called their modeling techniques as Neuro-Linguistic Programming.
According to Grinder, only those models formulated by this NLP Modeling Process should be classified as NLP. So, NLP is about Modeling. All other models, patterns and skills of NLP are the results of this NLP Modeling Process.
These models, patterns and skills of NLP are NOT NLP. they are just the results of NLP. There are not currently over thousands of these models, patterns and skills through the modeling works of many NLP developers in the last 30 years.
2. NLP is about Thinking. NLP is the modeling of how people doing something. One of the key criteria for NLP Modeling is that the behaviour being modeled must be consistent so that it is not just out of random.
A behaviour being consistent because there is a structure of thinking behind that behaviour. This structure of thinking can be a fixed thinking process (i.e. strategy in NLP term), based on some fixed Beliefs, Values, Rules and/or Attitudes. These fixed Beliefs, Values, Rules and/or Attitudes filter off those "unrelated" elements in our mind and thus generating the same, repeated thoughts and thus the same repeated behaviour every time we do something. So, NLP called these fixed Beliefs, Values, Rules and/or Attitudes, Filters.
If one wants to change the result of a behaviour effectively, he/she needs to change his/her thoughts. To change his/her thoughts, one needs to change the Filters first.
NLP is thus also the study of this kind of "Thinking" - the relationships of Filters, Thoughts and Behaviours.
In Part 3, we are going to talk more about Filters.
Keith
Explore, Exceed & Excel
In Part 1 of this series, I explained that NLP can be applied in therapy, communication, selling, personal development, changes, management & leadership, and coaching, but NLP is not about either of them.
Then what is NLP?
1. NLP is about Modeling. NLP started in the early 70's by Richard Bandler and John Grinder, the originators of NLP. They created NLP by modeling several great therapists at that time, including Virginia Satir (Mother of Family Therapy), Fritz Perls (Founder of Gestalt Therapy) and Milton Erickson (Greatest Hypnotherapist in 20th Century).
Through their works with these therapists, Bandler and Grinder formulated these therapists' models of therapy. They discovered the therapists' patterns through observing how they did their works. They called their modeling techniques as Neuro-Linguistic Programming.
According to Grinder, only those models formulated by this NLP Modeling Process should be classified as NLP. So, NLP is about Modeling. All other models, patterns and skills of NLP are the results of this NLP Modeling Process.
These models, patterns and skills of NLP are NOT NLP. they are just the results of NLP. There are not currently over thousands of these models, patterns and skills through the modeling works of many NLP developers in the last 30 years.
2. NLP is about Thinking. NLP is the modeling of how people doing something. One of the key criteria for NLP Modeling is that the behaviour being modeled must be consistent so that it is not just out of random.
A behaviour being consistent because there is a structure of thinking behind that behaviour. This structure of thinking can be a fixed thinking process (i.e. strategy in NLP term), based on some fixed Beliefs, Values, Rules and/or Attitudes. These fixed Beliefs, Values, Rules and/or Attitudes filter off those "unrelated" elements in our mind and thus generating the same, repeated thoughts and thus the same repeated behaviour every time we do something. So, NLP called these fixed Beliefs, Values, Rules and/or Attitudes, Filters.
If one wants to change the result of a behaviour effectively, he/she needs to change his/her thoughts. To change his/her thoughts, one needs to change the Filters first.
NLP is thus also the study of this kind of "Thinking" - the relationships of Filters, Thoughts and Behaviours.
In Part 3, we are going to talk more about Filters.
Keith
Explore, Exceed & Excel
2006/12/07
NLP: NLP is about Thinking Part 1 - What NLP is Not?
Hi,
I decided to write this new series since September 2006. I still haven't started yet because I want to organize all my thoughts before writing. Months passed and I think that I will not write anything if I still want to wait.
So, I start to write whatever I see appropriate to someone who really want to know the Real NLP Underlying the Today So-Called NLP.
I will continue to write until I can't write any more on this topic. So, this series can be composed of 10, or 15 or even 20 articles. They might not be in systematic order. Upon completion, I will re-organize and edit them again in order to make them more readable.
Let's start with definition.
There can be hundreds of different definitions of NLP. It's difficult to tell you the best one. But there are right or wrong definitions out there. Let's analyze those wrong definitions first:
1. NLP is about Therapy.
No! The NLP founders started to model several of the most famous therapists, like Satir, Erickson in order to understand how they were so effective and efficient in the 70's. But what they found out that this was about their ways of communicating with their clients. They can easily help their clients to discover something about themselves & their problems and they can effectively persuade their clients to become "normal" again.
Amongst the major models of NLP, none of them is directly related to therapy! You can't become a therapist by learning NLP! Don't even think about being a therapist after you learn NLP. You are going to cause harms more than help. Therapy is much more complicated.
2. NLP is about Communication.
No! NLP is not just about communication. A further study of these great therapists, it is how they think makes them a great communicator.
Their thinking models behind their communication is more important. How you think affects how you communicate. Amongst the major models of NLP, only the Meta Model and the Milton Model is related directly to communication. But these 2 models is more about how our communication affects our thinking and how our thinking affects our communication.
3. NLP is about Selling.
No! In the 80's, the market of therapists for NLP training became limited. Smart NLP Trainers began to promote the NLP trainings for sales professionals. There are more salespersons than therapists in the world, a much bigger market!
NLP can be good for persuasion and thus works well in selling, but NLP is not about selling. Money can buy food but money is not about food?!
4. NLP is about Personal Development.
No! In the early 90's, there were more and more NLP Trainers. Many thought that doing the training was easy. Many people went into the profession of training NLP. So, the NLP Trainers needed a larger market.
If NLP can help and persuade people, it can also be used to improving oneself. NLP was then promoted as a tool for personal development. To be honest, it is a good idea, a much better idea than NLP is about therapy. At least, people will not think themselves as therapist and do all sorts of dangerous stuffs on others after they learned NLP!
Again, NLP can be effectively used to develop oneself, but it is not just about Personal Development.
5. NLP is about Changes.
No. Change is one of the most important concepts of NLP. If someone do not change, he/she can't get what they wish. It is one of the presuppositions of NLP that one gets what he/she currently getting if one do what one currently doing. This is logical.
One can change his/her attitude, thinking, actions, etc to get what he/she wants. This concept of changes is quite misunderstood by many NLP people. It is the output of changes matter, not the input of changes. Many NLP people tries to change others in order to get the output of changes. So, NLP is well-known for its manipulation style!
What we concern is the output of changes, not changing others!
6. NLP is about Management & Leadership.
No. In the 90's, some NLP Trainers figured out that the most profitable market for NLP training and consulting was in the business field. Companies have bigger budget than individuals. So NLP was packaged as Management and Leadership tools.
If NLP can be used to discover and influencing others, NLP can surely becoming useful in business. A good manager is the one who can discover all the available resources and influencing others to use these resources to produce results. Leaders are those people who can discover their visions and then influencing others to follow.
But NLP is not just about Business. It is just one of its applications.
7. NLP is about Coaching.
No. Coaching is the buzz word of the 21st century. Many NLP Trainers (including myself) are using this magic word to make NLP standing at the top of the trend. Coaching is about helping others discovering their problems, opportunities and solutions that they are originally unaware of.
Although I love this concept and NLP can be applied easily to coach others, NLP is still not just about Coaching.
Then, what is NLP about? We talk about this in our next article of the series.
Keith
Explore, Exceed & Excel
I decided to write this new series since September 2006. I still haven't started yet because I want to organize all my thoughts before writing. Months passed and I think that I will not write anything if I still want to wait.
So, I start to write whatever I see appropriate to someone who really want to know the Real NLP Underlying the Today So-Called NLP.
I will continue to write until I can't write any more on this topic. So, this series can be composed of 10, or 15 or even 20 articles. They might not be in systematic order. Upon completion, I will re-organize and edit them again in order to make them more readable.
Let's start with definition.
There can be hundreds of different definitions of NLP. It's difficult to tell you the best one. But there are right or wrong definitions out there. Let's analyze those wrong definitions first:
1. NLP is about Therapy.
No! The NLP founders started to model several of the most famous therapists, like Satir, Erickson in order to understand how they were so effective and efficient in the 70's. But what they found out that this was about their ways of communicating with their clients. They can easily help their clients to discover something about themselves & their problems and they can effectively persuade their clients to become "normal" again.
Amongst the major models of NLP, none of them is directly related to therapy! You can't become a therapist by learning NLP! Don't even think about being a therapist after you learn NLP. You are going to cause harms more than help. Therapy is much more complicated.
2. NLP is about Communication.
No! NLP is not just about communication. A further study of these great therapists, it is how they think makes them a great communicator.
Their thinking models behind their communication is more important. How you think affects how you communicate. Amongst the major models of NLP, only the Meta Model and the Milton Model is related directly to communication. But these 2 models is more about how our communication affects our thinking and how our thinking affects our communication.
3. NLP is about Selling.
No! In the 80's, the market of therapists for NLP training became limited. Smart NLP Trainers began to promote the NLP trainings for sales professionals. There are more salespersons than therapists in the world, a much bigger market!
NLP can be good for persuasion and thus works well in selling, but NLP is not about selling. Money can buy food but money is not about food?!
4. NLP is about Personal Development.
No! In the early 90's, there were more and more NLP Trainers. Many thought that doing the training was easy. Many people went into the profession of training NLP. So, the NLP Trainers needed a larger market.
If NLP can help and persuade people, it can also be used to improving oneself. NLP was then promoted as a tool for personal development. To be honest, it is a good idea, a much better idea than NLP is about therapy. At least, people will not think themselves as therapist and do all sorts of dangerous stuffs on others after they learned NLP!
Again, NLP can be effectively used to develop oneself, but it is not just about Personal Development.
5. NLP is about Changes.
No. Change is one of the most important concepts of NLP. If someone do not change, he/she can't get what they wish. It is one of the presuppositions of NLP that one gets what he/she currently getting if one do what one currently doing. This is logical.
One can change his/her attitude, thinking, actions, etc to get what he/she wants. This concept of changes is quite misunderstood by many NLP people. It is the output of changes matter, not the input of changes. Many NLP people tries to change others in order to get the output of changes. So, NLP is well-known for its manipulation style!
What we concern is the output of changes, not changing others!
6. NLP is about Management & Leadership.
No. In the 90's, some NLP Trainers figured out that the most profitable market for NLP training and consulting was in the business field. Companies have bigger budget than individuals. So NLP was packaged as Management and Leadership tools.
If NLP can be used to discover and influencing others, NLP can surely becoming useful in business. A good manager is the one who can discover all the available resources and influencing others to use these resources to produce results. Leaders are those people who can discover their visions and then influencing others to follow.
But NLP is not just about Business. It is just one of its applications.
7. NLP is about Coaching.
No. Coaching is the buzz word of the 21st century. Many NLP Trainers (including myself) are using this magic word to make NLP standing at the top of the trend. Coaching is about helping others discovering their problems, opportunities and solutions that they are originally unaware of.
Although I love this concept and NLP can be applied easily to coach others, NLP is still not just about Coaching.
Then, what is NLP about? We talk about this in our next article of the series.
Keith
Explore, Exceed & Excel
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