NLP? What is it? Do I Even Want IT?

I can remember the first time I heard about NLP. I was speaking to the person, who I would eventually hire as a coach, tell me about this thing he used when coaching. This tool, this strategy is called NLP. Not wanting to appear to be unintelligent, I nodded and went home to Google NLP.

My first search sent me on a wild goose chase where I learned about natural language programming. This was all techie stuff that I was sure wasn’t the right topic. So, I continued my search for NLP landing on Neurolinguistic Programming.

Score. That is what he had been talking about. And I read on. I read reviews and comments about mind manipulation, cults, and how it doesn’t work.

Cults! That made me a little worried. Was I being led into a cult? A bit more digging uncovered that people who had some great, lasting results with NLP absolutely weren’t involved in a cult. They weren’t being held hostage and the NLP head mucky-mucks were not holding them hostage.

In fact, there is no head mucky-muck. There are many NLP practitioners who have had great results, who share their success with others, and some have even gone on to learn about NLP at more in-depth levels.

When I read about manipulation and mind manipulation, I was a little surprised. Was this like brainwashing? Would I be getting involved with something that would make me think crazy stuff?

What I found was most of the people talking about manipulation and NLP were the people who had witnessed others make some significant life changes in a short amount of time. These others were able to define what they wanted in life, use language that supported them becoming more empowered versions of themselves, and make different choices. Often these choices were different than they would have made in the past.

As others witnessed these transformations, it was difficult to understand how the change could happen so quickly. Often, the person using NLP began to expand the learning they were doing and developed relationships with people who could support them in their journey.

As I was researching NLP, what I came up with, and was able to verify, is that NLP is a tool that can be used to lead a person to a higher level of excellence. A tool such as a hammer.

Think about it. Perhaps you are going to build a house. When you build a house, a hammer is a tool that will help you build the house quickly. A lot more quickly than if you just used a rock to drive the nails into the wood.

You know you have this tool, but you decide that you don’t want to use it because it could be used to destroy things, break things, and bust things up pretty well. So, you say “screw the hammer”. Because of this reasoning, you choose to leave a very valuable tool, that when used correctly, could be a huge bonus to you building your house.

With that analogy, can you see how NLP can be used for some good ends? It can be used to catapult you or anyone, into action towards your goals and dreams. It can allow you to understand how your unconscious mind works for you. It allows you to understand how people think so you can support, team with, and motivate them to achieve goals and dreams.

Is NLP for you? Of course, it is. It is for everyone. Are you ready to learn about NLP? That’s up to you. Reach out. I’m happy to tell you more.

And when you do learn more, be prepared to launch your life into realms of greatness you never, ever dreamed of. Buckle up!