NLP 101

We had our monthly Community Café on Wednesday and reflecting on this afterwards, I realised that I was not using my NLP skills as well as I could have done…especially state management! I was feeling a bit stressed due to our impending house move, that hasn’t been moving and solicitors who seem to work in a different time universe to the rest of us! I didn’t properly pause to breath and mange my state before the meeting started.

This reminded me that, despite the amazing tools and techniques I have at my fingertips, I sometimes forget to use them…especially when it matters most.

There are so many rich skills in NLP that I access quickly and easily…and then forget all about when I am under pressure, or a bit stressed or overwhelmed. And all the anchors or deep breaths in the world aren’t going to work if I forget to trigger them.

So now, I am exploring strategies to help me remember. Could I pin a list up next to my computer, reminding me of such valuable resources such as

• Visual anchors for pausing…to breathe so I can access all the resources I have available to me!
• Presuppositions, especially…all of them!
• Pacing and Leading…myself back to a more useful state
• Strategies…my strategies for when I am feeling overwhelmed by my task list
• Follow the 3 L’s of stress model, shared by Emma McNally at the conference (and in the Autumn issue of Rapport)
• If in doubt, turn it off…and on again. In other words, take a break because sometimes, stepping away is enough to resolve the challenge.

So, I apologise to those on the community café who may have seen a less composed version of me than usual on Wednesday (!). And thank you, too, because the silver lining is that I have been able to reflect and explore tangible options for the future, just in case I ever find myself feeling less than resourceful in future…and lets face it, those times will arise because we’re all human!