On Limiting Beliefs

On Limiting Beliefs - quotes from Douglas Bader - double amputee WW2 fighter pilot:

Consultant ..."Mr Bader, I think you ought to face it, you’ll never walk again without a stick"

Bader "Damn that I’ll never walk with one"

Consultant "My dear chap no one with your disability has ever walked without one"

Bader "Whats that gotta do with it?"

The rest as they say is history...

What bullsh*t are you believing or telling yourself that prevents you from achieving what you are really capable of?

Don't Think of A Blue Tree

I have a challenge for you..try really hard ....whatever you do...

Don't think of a Blue Tree

So what are you thinking about now? That's right a blue tree...so how does that work when I asked you not to think about one? Here is how; in order to process negatives the unconscious mind has to create an internal representation of the thing you don't want to do. The other thing about the unconscious mind is that it is unable to distinguish between simulation and reality (this is how visualisation works). The Recticular Activating System in the brain just kicks in and takes action to get you what you are focussing on.

So what?  I hear you ask. The thing is that whenever you hear an advert, or your partner telling you 'don't forget to' in order to process this you have to make an internal representation of forgetting, and funny old thing you tend to...forget that is. 'Don't look down' is another classic.

This is also why goals which you set as "I'm not going to", or "I don't want to do x", (known as away from in NLP terms) are rarely successful. You try so hard not to do something, and because you are constantly focusing on the thing that you don't want to do your unconscious goes and gets if for you. So if it can do that for thing you don't want, surely it can do it for the things you do? Yes of course, that is the key.

Lets reframe it.

Instead of using away from language; say "Remember", "Look Up" etc all towards....and decide what behaviour you want to do instead of the thing you want to stop.

Be positive, think about it, are you using clean positive language and taking action to achieve your goals?

Have a go, you will notice a difference.

So why would you choose to use NLP in coaching and training?

If we consider the Dilts model of Neuro Logical Levels we can understand why using NLP gets  better results than conventional training.

Imagine for a moment that you want to become a better manager because you don't believe that are a good at managing people - you book onto a managerial skills course, get some new skills and abilities and you head back to the office and...that's right you still don't believe that you are a good manager. So what change do we see at a surface level? Very little.

Now just suppose you came on one of my NLP coaching programmes, http://thetransformationalchangesteam.com/ which works at aligning beliefs and values. Not only do you leave with more skills and abilities, you also leave knowing that you really are a great manager. Now what results (behaviours) will you notice!!?

To get lasting results in personal change work you have to work with beliefs and values systems, they are our motivational drivers and our evaluation benchmark.