20 MINUTES TO MASTER ... NLP

5 The History of NLP (#litres_trial_promo)

6 Frameworks, Models and Techniques (#litres_trial_promo)

7 The Future of NLP (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (#uc065add1-485a-5376-bfd8-72ab8afa3893)

This book is dedicated to David Gordon. On the final Practitioner course run by UKTC, David suggested that participants take on the role of ‘experiential explorers’, part of our brief being to think of what could possibly prevent us from continuing our interest and activity in NLP. My response was to say that what could put me off would be if I were unable to find new ways in which to explore the subject. I think it is fair to say that I have found new things to do with NLP ever since.

I would also like to thank the following people, whose assistance in producing this book has been invaluable: Paul Harris, for much of the research and support, Martin Roberts, for being a mine of information on NLP’s chequered history, and Katrina Patterson, for her ongoing encouragement and assistance.

My thanks also go to my two NLP ‘role models’: Roy Johnson, who ran the very first NLP course I ever attended, and Douglas Pride, whose unique blend of humour, concern and entertainment is a real inspiration.

Note: Throughout this book I have credited sources wherever possible; if anyone has been left out this was entirely unintentional and any additional sources received will be noted for future editions.

PREFACE (#uc065add1-485a-5376-bfd8-72ab8afa3893)

My first encounter with NLP was reading the book which many other people had also acquired as their primer – Frogs into Princes. This book was both fascinating and confusing; it left many questions unanswered, as it was as a transcript of training rather than a stand-alone publication. However, for me, it was the impetus to further study and led to my professional life having a major focus on NLP.

If this book adds to the store of available knowledge on the subject of NLP, I hope it does so utilizing two concepts which have been important to me personally: structure and simplicity. I have aimed to make the book as straightforward as is possible; I have also aimed to use a structure which is easy to follow and where specific items can be pursued without having to wade through irrelevancies and jargon.

I would like to suggest a key in reading this book – and that is curiosity. Curiosity has long been a cornerstone of NLP. Attitudes of curiosity and exploration have led to the major developments which established NLP as a field in its own right and it is those same attitudes which continue to inform its progress. I would encourage you to approach each section of the book with these attitudes. Once you have read the book, it would be excellent if you could take the attitudes of curiosity and exploration forward into your life, extending your own personal search for knowledge, experience and creativity.

FINDING YOUR WAY AROUND THIS BOOK (#uc065add1-485a-5376-bfd8-72ab8afa3893)

Welcome to NLP Made Easy. There are many books on NLP, but what I have aimed at here is to provide a structured guide to the various elements of the topic. For the first time, there is a history of NLP in the UK; most published material has been based on the early origins of NLP in the United States, but it has a sound base in the UK, which deserves to be recorded. For this part of the book I am indebted to the writers who have submitted articles to Rapport (the magazine of the Association for Neuro-Linguistic Programming, of which I was the editor), giving their thoughts on the early days of NLP in the UK. I have also aimed to give a rather more detailed explanation of some of the NLP terms than is generally found in book glossaries. NLP can be very jargon-filled, which is perhaps understandable, given its history, but it can easily be practised without the use of complex terminology. However, given that that terminology is part of the inheritance of NLP, in the last section of the book I have provided some simple examples which I hope flesh out the basic terms in an understandable way.

The book is in three main parts:

Section One is about the origins and development of NLP and contains information on its history, notable people involved in its early development, and models, frameworks and techniques associated with it.

Section Two is about how you can apply NLP in your own life. This section includes three broad areas: personal growth, social relationships and business situations.

The appendices outline practical steps you can take if you wish to find out more about NLP, make use of the services of NLP-trained practitioners or pursue professional training in NLP yourself.

Each section has a brief introduction, outlining what is included and giving an overview of the topics covered. A more detailed explanation then follows.

The book can be read in a variety of ways, as each part has been designed to stand alone as well as to integrate with the rest of the book. You can choose to read it from start to finish, or you can select those sections which interest you most. If you prefer, you can look at the applications chapters first and then go back to read about the origins. A few topics are mentioned in more than one part of the book; this is intended to make the various sections as self-contained as possible.

NLP is very grounded in experience and I recommend that you take the time to do some of the exercises and activities. This will make the subject more real for you and give you a feel for how NLP actually works in practice. You might find it helpful to work through some of the exercises with another person and might also like to create a personal action plan, which will help you bring what you learn into everyday use.

I hope you enjoy finding out about this fascinating subject which has made a tremendous impact on so many people’s lives.

SECTION I (#uc065add1-485a-5376-bfd8-72ab8afa3893)

This part of the book is about the history and development of NLP. Chapter 1 begins with some definitions of NLP and then goes on to put NLP in the broader context of developmental techniques. Chapter 2 covers the history of NLP and the contribution made by some of the notable figures in the NLP world. Chapter 3 introduces some of the best-known NLP frameworks, models and techniques.

Because NLP is continuously growing and developing, this section gives only a snapshot taken at the present time; five or ten years from now there will, no doubt, be further changes and innovations. If you are seriously interested in NLP, it is worth keeping up with its development and the appendices give you some ideas on how you can do that.

CHAPTER 1

WHAT IS NEURO-LINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING? (#uc065add1-485a-5376-bfd8-72ab8afa3893)

This chapter introduces you to Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and gives an outline of where it originated, what it covers and how it works, together with some of its links with other disciplines. It also considers popular misconceptions about NLP and gives a brief guide to ongoing developments in the field.

You probably already ‘do’ NLP and are likely to know a good deal about some of its approaches. This is because NLP has its roots in real-life behaviour, rather than in theory and research. NLP is about how people become successful at things; how they achieve what they aim for and enhance their lives. NLP encompasses a wide variety of processes and techniques, and has an overriding emphasis and approach – that of curiosity, exploration and action. NLP can offer you many things, but it helps if you are willing to be adventurous, open to change and fascinated by life and all that it brings. NLP’s main aim is to help people get better at what they do. Its focus on performance has a number of principles, some of which are as follows:

Excellence in performance can be modelled (analysed) and transferred from one person to another.

High performance requires both the development of skills and development of corresponding mental and physical states.

Mental and physical states can be broken down into small measurable elements and modified to achieve desired results.

What distinguishes NLP from many other disciplines is its focus on modelling (seeChapter 3 (#litres_trial_promo)). Briefly, modelling is the elicitation of sets of patterns; in NLP, patterns which demonstrate how people achieve excellence in performance. These patterns can be copied by others in order to replicate the achievements of high performers. Characteristic features of NLP are its specific techniques for analysing the components of performance, especially how the mind processes information and installs strategies for achievement. It can do this across all areas of personal and professional performance, including motivation, learning, maintaining good health, sports performance, communication, negotiating, public speaking, teambuilding and change management.

NLP’s processes of modelling are distinct from NLP’s applications (for example techniques for enhancing sales, negotiating, teaching and so forth). Many people believe that NLP is its techniques, but the techniques are simply a minor part of a field of study which is, in essence, a holistic and systemic approach to understanding personal and organizational effectiveness.

Richard Bandler, a co-founder of NLP, has been quoted as saying that, to master NLP, it is necessary to ‘let it completely permeate your thinking and feeling’ and that it involves ‘a ferocious spirit of “going for it” – characteristics of “excitement”, “curiosity”, “high-level state management of your own moods”, “passion” and “commitment”’ (Michael L. Hall, The Spirit of NLP, The Anglo-American Book Co Ltd, 1996). John Grinder, another co-founder of NLP, says that people wanting to train or represent NLP in any way ‘need to possess qualities of personal congruity, sparkling intelligence, a deep bottomless curiosity, a driving desire to discover new patterning, a phobic class response to repeating themselves, a continuous scanning for evidence that they are mistaken in every aspect of their personal and professional beliefs, solid personal ethics, physical fitness, actual real world experience in any field in which they intend to present NLP and an excellent sense of humour’ (Internet interview – Inspirative 1996).

NLP provides ways of helping anyone become more competent at what they do, more in control of their thoughts, feelings and actions, more positive in their approach to life and better able to achieve results. If people do not have, within themselves, the knowledge or resources to achieve what they want, NLP makes it possible for them to adapt other people’s skills and ways of thinking and incorporate them within their own lives in order to be more successful. NLP is, as one definition has succinctly put it, ‘the Art and Science of Excellence’.

DEFINITIONS

Because of its nature, different people perceive different things in NLP and gain different things from it; definitions of NLP, therefore, are numerous and varied. As well as the one given above, they have included the following:

‘an attitude which is an insatiable curiosity about human beings with a methodology that leaves behind it a trail of techniques’ (Richard Bandler)

‘an owner’s guide to the mind’

‘the study of subjective experience’

‘the study of the structure of subjectivity’ (Dilts, Bandler, Grinder, DeLozier, Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Volume 1)

‘software for the brain’

‘a new Science of Achievement’

‘the study of human excellence’

‘the ability to be your best more often’

‘the science that teaches how to use the neurological and linguistic resources in order to follow the program of self preservation, health and happiness in union with other people and nature’ (Luis Jorge Gonzales)

‘a manual for the structured use of creativity’ (Roz Carroll)