If you want to learn real NLP stuff, you gotta learn from the guys who are the most creative in developing [...]]]> I get rather fed up people thinking that NLP is about motivation and success and stuff. If you want to learn about that, you can go to Anthony Robbins and The Law Of Attraction stuff.

If you want to learn real NLP stuff, you gotta learn from the guys who are the most creative in developing new NLP models like Bandler, La Valle, Dilts, Grinder, Steve and Connierae Andreas among others.

If you have jumped to conclusions about what NLP is without even having learn anything in detail about NLP, please get it in your mental dictionary that NLP is none of those things.

I keep emphasizing that NLP is about modeling. Anthony Robbins modeled the process of motivation, creating his own application called neuro-associative conditioning. Even the founders utilized the core of NLP to create therapeutic techniques. Persuasion is NOT NLP. It’s just an application.

photo credit: lrargerich

Calling NLP persuasion is like calling a piano R&B. It just doesn’t make sense. One is the instrument. The other is the genre. It’s like calling a brick a house. One is the building block, the other is the structure, based on a blueprint.

Personally, I believe that NLP is the essential DNA for studying human behavior. You can study human mediocrity, or you can study human excellence. Sometimes, you may have to do both.

NLP has a nice framework of understanding people’s behaviors. It has a theory to understanding how human beings communicate and think. I believe that communication is a representation of thought, and being able to understand communication opens up the understanding of thought processes.

Once I can gain access to thought processes, I can learn then, repeat them, discover new possible pathways, and then teach those processes to people who can help me to reach my goals.

Representational Systems

We first understand that structures within the human system include the way we represent information. If I can find someone who is, say, great at persuading, I can find out how they do it.

It will follow a process that begins with an element in the surrounding environment that triggers off a sequence of thought patterns, emotional reactions and actual behaviors. We call those the operations.

Questions

But it’s the kinds of questions you ask that lead you to the direction you need. Most people start off with the wrong question (usually – “how the heck did you do that”). Instead, you should be asking about how that strategy works. You don’t open up a watch and ask “how the heck does it do that”. You find out the mechanism and structure that corresponds with a certain result that it achieves.

Likewise, look at people and figure out patterns and processes. Most people who do not have the right questions or understanding of representational processes will not be able to this fast enough.

The questions come from the core model of NLP known as the Meta Model. It has evolved quite a fair bit since it first was developed, but the core principle is about understanding the deep structure of human experience.

My advice is to look at models. Consider who could be your role models. No they don’t have to be perfect, but must have some kind of skill or result you want to develop in yourself. Learn the Meta Model and the strategy modeling process.