NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming):

A science, approach, attitude and methodology behind communication, personal development and success. 

To put it most simply, have you ever been at university and thinking, OMG this is so theoretical, when do we get to actually do stuff?

Well one psychology student back in the 70’s had the same question. He was working for a world-famous therapist, Fritz Pearls. While he was transcribing the work of Fritz Pearls, he learned a lot and began teaching other therapist at his university. These new therapist were getting results and the Student approached one of the new professors, a Linguist to join him. The Professor was a linguist. He had learned multiple languages and had previously served in the military on very very special top secret operations. The Professor and the student combined efforts. They put linguistic frameworks around what this world-famous therapist was doing. They continued to study and make models on other famous therapists such as Virginia Satir and Milton Erickson. Together, they decoded the magic and went on to teach thousands of people around the world the magic. In fact, their first books were called The Structure of Magic I & II.  

Another recollection of the events, which I personally enjoy, highlighted how the Student, had a second question. 

In psychology, we are always studying what goes wrong in people. Why don’t we study what makes people great instead?

And this question is how I like to see NLP. Not as a tool for therapy, which it is great for, but as a tool, methodology to help people be great. A way of learning and clarifying, whats the difference between what makes someone good, and someone else great!

Fast forward to 1990’s and there I was, a young teenager studying wealth creation books. I had no idea of NLP yet I was doing my own process of learning whats the difference that makes the difference between poor and rich. Rich and super rich. 

What if you could learn what they learned? What if you could, and you could, couldn’t you, be open to learning more,  now. 

This process I was doing as a teenager is a less disciplined approach of what the creators of NLP did.  They had a far more rigorous and structured approached. 

Their approach became known as NLP Modelling. Modelling was the process that the student used to ‘be like’ or ‘act as if’ he was Fritz Pearls. This process evolved far more with the professor and further studies.

Through Modelling a trail of techniques, strategies, beliefs were formed. Some even say NLP is an attitude. An attitude towards learning and sharing excellence. Some say NLP is the study of Excellence. 

Now the student, Richard Bandler, and the professor, John Grinder, are still alive and well today. They went on, bringing more people into the studies. The original group became known as the ‘Meta Kids’ They studied many of the best coaches, psychotherapist, family counsellors, healer and more. One student, Robert Dilts, later went on to study people like Mozart and Leonardo Da Vinci. A student of a student, perhaps of a student, was a business consultant. The business consultant saw the power of NLP and created his own version, shorter, easier to sell, less complex, taught by slides over a couple of days with a ‘one size fits all’ approach. This student trademarked some of the original work from Fritz Pearls as ‘Time Line Therapy’. This was my first experience learning NLP in a class room environment. It was very much like a classroom only the content was fantastic! I realised as I exceeded and continued learning that this ‘Time Line Therapy’ was ….. Not wrong, but largely fluffed up with long unnecessary scripts. Anyhow this is probably the most common form of NLP in Australia. Richard Bandler is still teaching in the USA and UK. His may be the most common there. And John Grinder, the Professor is the one who I hope to study under next! I look forward to sharing when that happens. 

So NLP studied the greats and created formulas that you and I can learn. 

Fast forward to 2010-2020 NLP is a key skill for Coaches, Therapists, Communicators, Public Speakers. 

NLP Coaching is used by high-level executives, business people, and athletes to give them a major competitive advantage. NLP Coaching is for normal to smart people wanting to get more out of life, better results, or win. (Not to be confused with Psychology which is roughly focused on labelling what goes wrong and helping people be more normal). I learned this, loved it, helped hundreds of people experience exponential growth steps, and YOU CAN TOO. 

Some more definitions and attributes:

• NLP is a discipline that studies the connections between an individual’s ways of receiving information through the nervous system (Neuro = visual, auditory, touch, smell, taste), its ways of communication (Linguistic = pictures, sounds, feelings, smells, tastes, words) and its patterns of behavior or emotions (Programming = neurological pathways / maps of thought / outcomes).
• NLP is an efficient approach in changing the way an individual thinks or acts toward someone or something and this can be utilized to achieve success in almost all aspects of life (personal, professional, family, business and finances, and almost everything). For example, we could look at the NLP strategies behind Bill Gates, Michael Jordan, Dali Lama (in fact this has already been done) and then we can utilize some of their strategies or tactics in our life. Everyone has a map inside their head.
• NLP is also a system of discovering, modelling and installing those maps and models in others so they achieve the same or better results.
• NLP is for the mind is like a mechanic for your car. As the mechanic has expertise and passion for the car system, a NLP practitioner has expertise and passion for the mind.

Does it sound that we can have interesting chat? Click on the link below ti schedule your free session

https://www.calendly.com/adriancahill/virtualcoffee

Sometimes, a picture says much more

Interested in what I do with it? 

UPDATE: June 2019

I just came back from NLP Trainers Training with John Grinder, the Professor who became the Co-Creator of NLP. WOWWWWWW!!!!!

Such a pleasure to experience his training first hand. I was blessed to have a few brief conversations with him. It has given me amazing insights and he has certainly continued developing NLP. His latest work is called ‘New Code NLP’. I’m certified at Master Prac Level in New Code and I can now offer Practitioner Level Certificates in NLP. My coaching business and life is pretty full yet I look forward to co-training or delivering my own fully credentialed training later in 2019. You’re going to love it!!