Throughout history; men and women have sought the answer to the question: what is NLP? who is NLP? when is NLP? is NLP better than sex?
In these next few posts, I shall reveal the ancient secrets as they were exclusively given to me in a top secret location by a Very NLP Person (VNLPP). While you’ll notice my slightly flippant take on the subject, you’ll also hopefully find some useful gems along the way.
I’ve been an NLP junkie for 10 years now, becoming a practitioner at the tender age of 16 to a master practitioner a couple of years ago. Inbetween I’ve devoured whatever NLP books, audio programs and videos I could get my greedy hands on.
What is NLP & Why Should You Care?
What made me so gaga over three letters?
So what is Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)? First, it’s a mouthful (tee hee :P). Here are a few definitions:
1) NLP in a nutshell
A pragmatic self-help method that focuses on what works, and has lots of useful exercises and philosophies that help you become a better person, increase your influence and achieve your life goals.
2) NLP according to its’ co-founder Richard Bandler
Neuro-Linguistic Programming is an attitude and a methodology which leaves behind a trail of techniques.
The most accurate description in my opinion, but which is a real mindbender and took me a few years of research and experience to get the ‘Aha!’ experience.
3) NLP for the people-workers
A powerful bag of tricks that allows you to help people change themselves through its mental models, patterns of influence and techniques of change.
Instead of giving you generals, NLP has many step-by-step specifics, which is great when practitioners recognize the principles so they know how not to go step-by-step, and terrible when practitioners don’t know the principles and follow the steps to the letter or bend it all out of shape.
4) NLP for the hardcore
An excellent meta-tool that allows you to study the genius of people with precision and create models based on those studies for anyone else to re-create that genius (before the NLP trolls come along, I don’t mean that literally).
A meta-tool is something that allows you to look above and beyond what it’s looking at, take it apart and put it back together again.
A meta-tool, and nothing more, a fantastic meta-tool, that has left behind miles of techniques and models (and books, CDs and videos) along the way.
5) NLP for Everybody
Want to become a more effective influencer of people? Build connection and closeness faster and easier? Be really good at presentations? Know how to select your words to avoid the deadly ones and pick the seductive ones?
Want to crawl inside people’s heads and understand what makes them tick? What are their hot buttons and hot ooh la la hoooot buttons? Maybe you want to understand what makes you tick and where your hooooot hot hot buttons are?
Want to know why you haven’t been achieving your goals? Why that one change hasn’t stuck? And why others have? Want to know how to make changes stick easier? Want to know what are the ingredients of a goal that works?
Want to know what’s important to you? Want to clear internal obstacles? Remove emotional blocks? Want to align your whole being so you’re a walking talking sexy force to contend with? Want to become the person you’ve always known you wanted to be but didn’t know how?
Disclaimer 1: But there’s no guarantee. With all the massive NLP and non-NLP resources out there, you can learn, do and be a lot. A lot. But it doesn’t promise to be easy, and you do need to put in either time, effort or research (or all) to gain the knowledge, experience and skills to make you a Super Duper NLPer.
Disclaimer 2: Unlike what many practitioners would like you to believe with their talk, swagger, or swarmy hairstyles, NLP is not the be-all and end-all answer to life, the universe and everything. It won’t make you absolutely invincible, irresistable to all humans and animals, and swing the lottery in your favor. Too bad for all of us. But it will give you a useful set of tools to help you get along better in life.
More on what is Neuro-Linguistic Programming in What is NLP? Part 2, including the answer to ‘what the hell do those big words mean anyway?’.
NLP 101 Series:
NLP 101: What is NLP? Part 1
NLP 101: What is NLP Special for The Super NLP Hardcore
NLP 101: What is NLP? Part 2
NLP 101: So Dark The Con Of NLP
NLP 101: How NLP Changed My Life
NLP 101: The Map Is Not The Territory
NLP 101: There Is No Failure Only Learning Experience
NLP 101: Every Behaviour Has A Positive Intention
NLP 101: The Meaning of Your Communication is The Response You Get
NLP 101: You Cannot Not Communicate
NLP 101 Thoughts: You Cannot Not Change The World
NLP 101: People Are Always Making The Best Choices They Have
NLP 101: People Are Not Broken
NLP 101: You Cannot Not Communicate: The Pygmalion Effect
NLP 101: Everyone Already Has All The Resources They Need
NLP 101: There Are No Resistant Listeners, Only Inflexible Speakers
NLP 101: Life Is A Series of Systems
Recommended Reading for NLP Starters
Great Reads for the NLP Hardcore