What Is NLP And Why Should You Care?

Have you ever wondered how much easier your life would be if your mind was issued with an instruction manual?

That question was posed to me at a workshop one day, and it really got me thinking.

Over the years I’ve studied countless personal development programs. If there’s a book on it, I’ve probably read it. And after all is said and done, if you’re anything like me you’ve probably discovered for yourself this fundamental truth – there are no rules only principles.

That’s why I enjoy Neuro Linguistic Programming so much.

Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) explores the inner workings of the human mind.

It has been described by Richard Bandler, one of the original founders of NLP, as an attitude and a methodology that leaves behind a trail of techniques.

These techniques allow you to change and upgrade your "mental software" through the use of specific language skills, and by tapping directly into the incredible power of the unconscious mind to literally change, adopt, or eliminate behaviours, beliefs, values, and habits, and reprogram yourself for unprecedented success.

What this means is that NLP is like that elusive "user’s manual" for the mind, and allows you to use the language of the mind to consistently achieve your specific and desired outcomes.

How you think and what you think determine the results you produce in your life. But what determines how and what you think?

The answer is your unconscious programming. It controls how you think, how you develop our desires, goals and fears and how you motivate yourself, make connections, and give meaning to your experiences.

NLP is a synthesis of a number of disciplines and offers a systematic means of achieving consistently outstanding results across a broad spectrum of human experience.

It has been successfully applied in a wide range of fields including business, health care, sport, therapy, education and the performing arts.

Now, as interesting as all of that is, I believe that NLP is largely misuderstood.

My opinion (and it’s no shallow opinion – I’m an internationally certified trainer of NLP, and I run one of Australia’s best NLP schools) is that NLP is not really anything you can truly define.

What do I mean by that?

Look at the definition from Richard Bandler above:

"An attitude and a methodology that leaves behind a trail of techniques."

Too often, people confuse the techniques left behind by the methodology of NLP with "NLP" itself.

To me, NLP is the collection of fiters that change your mindset and allow you to perceive the world in new and powerful ways, including but not limited to changing your beliefs, controlling your emotions, becoming more influential, and literally "upgrading your mindset" with the thoughts, beliefs, habits and strategies of any successful person you choose.

NLP is the How and not the What.

Let’s look at it another way.

The other founder of NLP was a linguistics professor named John Grinder.

Grinder described NLP as "The study of the structure of subjective experience."

When you combine the two definitions from the founders, what you get is something like this:

"NLP is a methodology for the study of the structure of subjective experience."

But what the hell does that mean exactly in plain English?

Here’s what it really means:

NLP is not a thing. It is not a method. It is not even a discipline.

It is a way of looking at the world that allows you to deconstruct your own subjective experience of reality and reduce it to it’s fundamental building blocks. If one "block" is not working properly (i.e. your beliefs are holding you back, or you get "stuck" in fear) you can remove that block and replace it with a more useful one using whatever methods are most appropriate and effective.

That’s it really.

So why should you care?

If you’ve ever found yourself wishing your life could be different…

If you’ve ever seen someone performing at a level that you could only dream of…

If you’ve ever felt that you’d like to be more confident…

If you’ve ever wanted to wipe out those beliefs you know are holding you back…

If you’ve ever wished you could be free of fear, anger, self-doubt, jealousy or other "negative" emotions…

If you’ve ever wondered why some people are so successful, but you "work hard and never quite make it"…

Then you should care about what I’ saying here.

Because there are proven, fast and effective techniques to change al of these things.

Most of them work in as little as 5 to 10 minutes.

Just imagine that – think of ANY problem you have right now. Choose a BIG one if you like. Confidence? Fear? Social Anxiety? Lacking Charisma? Broke?

What would happen if in 5 to 10 minutes time it was GONE for good?

How would you FEEL once you’re free of that old problem for the rest of your life?

What would you do differently?

Tags: NLP, nlp techniques, nlp training