STEVE JOBS - 9 GUIDELINES OF LIFE

Steve Jobs was a genius. He was also an entrepreneur, an innovator, a philanthropist and much more besides.

His life was cut short by a rare form of pancreatic cancer but there can be few of us on the planet who haven't been touched in some way by his inventions. I'm writing this on a Mac, I have two ipods and an ipad2. Suzanne has an iphone (I'm a BlackBerry woman myself).

His ideas are all around us. At one time, they were just that - ideas. Consider this - every single thing you see around you began as an idea inside someone's head. That person's drive and persistence is what made them into reality.

Steve had no shortage of drive and persistence and he also had a great philosophy. He crystallised this philosophy into what he called his 9 guidelines of life. I'd read these before and loved them. I was reminded of them recently by a friend who mentioned them in his business coaching newsletter.

So whether you've seen them before or whether they are new to you, it's well worth taking a minute to read through and think about these.


9 Guidelines of Life


1) Do what you love
2) Develop a beginner's mind (be open to new possibilities)
3) Never fear failure
4) Break free from routine
5) Say no 1000 times
6) Believe in yourself
7) Persist
8) Give back
9) Live with purpose

I have these on the wall of my surgery - somewhere only I can see them.
I love reminders like this, reminders from one who achieved so much in such a short time.
Thank you Steve.
Michelle

NLP SKILLS FOR THE CONSULTATION

Our fifth video -  NLP Skills for the Consultation, is launched toady. You can view it here.

I often get asked about this when we are training. People want to know which NLP skills are most useful in real-life situations with patients. The video refers to some skills that we'll be learning more about later on - like matching and mirroring. It also talks about the fact that when you become better at using NLP you'll use the skills without knowing that you are doing it - remember Unconscious Competence from an earlier blog?

NLP is all about choice. It's about sharpening you awareness and observation skills, becoming more tuned in to what's going on around you and then using appropriate tools to optimise your communications. I talk about using the skills in the setting of a medical consultation because as a GP that's what I know, what I do everyday. They are equally applicable for use in many other settings. Whether you work in an office, manage a team, are involved in sales or in looking after teenagers, there is something in there to help you do it even better.

The essence of great communication is being in rapport and the basic premise of rapport is that people like people like them. When you are in rapport with someone your unconscious minds are picking up the signal that there is something about the other person that is like yourself. This gives you that comfortable feeling, that sense of "have I met them before?" I'm sure you know what I mean. There are some people who you've not known for long and it feels like you've known them for ages. Something just seems to "click"between you.

Of course this often happens naturally. Many times things will just seem to flow. What we are talking about here is what to do when that doesn't happen and how to make what's happening already even better, easier and more enjoyable. I'm all for making life easier and more enjoyable!

So enjoy this video and let us know what you think. Either leave us a comment below or on our You Tube channel. While you're there why not subscribe? You'll never miss another video again. We've got some great stuff coming up for you - including a real "high-flying" treat. Watch this space!

ON LEARNING FROM SUGGS

On Saturday I went to see "Suggs - My Life in Words and Music" in Aylesbury. It was wonderful and if you haven't seen it yet I'd suggest you try and catch it as it tours around the country.

Now I'm old enough to have grown up loving Madness, The Specials and all the other Two Tone bands. Ska revival music was a big part of my teens so for me this was a real treat. But it was about so much more than just the music.

For almost two hours Suggs held the audience in the palm of his hand. The stage contained just an armchair and another guy who played piano/guitar. As he walked and talked he interwove excerpts from his songs and other music of the time. He skillfully moved backwards and forwards in time, always carrying us along with him. He painted vivid pictures and wove rich tapestries of sound. We were taken on a rollercoaster of emotions - sadness, loneliness, excitement, frustration. We felt it all. It was a show that you could enjoy on so many levels. Whether you loved the music, loved the great stories or loved the sensitivity of the man behind them both - there was plenty to hold you spellbound.

He told of his quest to find out about his father who he thought had died when he was very young. How his hopes were built up and dashed. He told how he came to understand the importance of those around him and to appreciate them for all that they are. He realised that his fellow band members - although irritating and chaotic in many ways were really the family he'd never had. "Our House" was not how his life was in reality. "Always something happening and it's usually quite loud". No - he was an only child brought up by a working mum and spent lots of his early life alone.

From an NLP perspective the show was a fascinating demonstration of several techniques. He made extensive use of anchoring - both using the music of course and his physical positioning on the stage. He told the stories in nested loops, carefully interweaving and overlapping them, breaking them off before the end...........before picking them up later and closing the loop.

But you don't need to know any NLP to love it. You just need to have a heart.

Look out for our next video. It's being released on You Tube on 25th January. 
Why not subscribe to NLP4MEDICS's You Tube channel and never miss another episode?

Michelle

ENJOY THE JOURNEY NOT JUST THE DESTINATION

We've looked at some issues around goal setting in the last couple of blogs. This time I'm going to encourage you to really enjoy the journey to your goal, not simply focus on getting there.

For many of us, exercising more is part of what we want to achieve this year. For me one of the main the keys to continuing with any exercise programme is to really enjoy it while you are doing it. Now some of you will be reading this thinking "how can anyone enjoy going on the treadmill?" Am I right? If you fall into this category and the sheer joy of exercising for it's own sake doesn't do it for you, then take this simple step......combine it with something that you do enjoy. That way you can create great habits, habits that will help and support you to reach your goals.

I've got to be honest here. I love going to the gym, I particularly love doing weights. My least favourite part of my routine is the cardio - at least the start of the cardio. Once I'm into it it's great, it's just those first few minutes. I've learned to get around this by distracting myself by doing something else at the same time. Sunday afternoon was a great example. During the week I do either 30 or 40 minutes on the treadmill or cross trainer but had more time available on the Sunday so promised myself I would do an hour. I have to confess here that I'm a bit of an Eastenders fan. Yes I know but sadly I have watched it since it started.......Now you may laugh at that but I'll tell you, the hour I spent on the cross-trainer whilst watching the omnibus edition went by in a flash. I watched the TV whilst I trained and suddenly 63 minutes had gone by and so had 625 calories! Shame about the ending though........ surely David and Carol are destined to be together!

So not only did I get that wonderful endorphin rush that comes after exercise but I really got to enjoy it whilst it was happening too. And it felt easy and as if I could do it again. Sounds like it's becoming a habit to me........
Michelle

SETBACKS ARE A LEARNING OPPORTUNITY

So we're now into the third week of the New Year, said to be the time when many people give up on their resolutions. Why does this happen and how can you stop yourself from falling into that trap?

Say for example you've resolved to stop eating chocolate. What if one day temptation gets the better of you and you eat a few squares? Does that mean you need to give up on the whole thing and go back to being the way you were before? It doesn't have to........ it depends on how you view what happened, in NLP terms, it depends on how you frame it.

You could regard eating the chocolate as a failure - label yourself as having failed, give up and start eating it again full-time. But what would that achieve? You'd feel awful and you'd be back on the chocolate. Not a great outcome!

How about if you were to redefine what just happened. OK you ate a bit of chocolate. In the grand scheme of things that's not such a dreadful thing. Think about why you did it. Maybe you were bored? Maybe you were with others who were doing the same? Why not think about replacing the chocolate habit with something more useful and keeping different company for a bit? It's all about being kind to yourself and making it easier. Why beat yourself up about it?

One of the presuppostions of NLP is that There is no Failure, only Feedback. It's about redefining what happens to you in a more positive sense and using situations when things don't go your way as learning opportunities. It's more than this though. It's also about the fact that if you adopt this belief, if you adopt the mindset that There is no Failure only Feedback - you will not be afraid to try anything. You will just know that if the worst happens and you don't succeed the first time, you will learn something to better inform your next attempt. How liberating is that? NLP is all about attitude. I discuss this more in today's new video on our You Tube channel - come and watch it here now.

TAKING ACTION FEELS GREAT!

Goal setting is a big part of what I do, in all three of my jobs. As a GP, as a success coach and and as an NLP trainer, working with others to realise their goals is a really satisfying part of my work. But what about when things don't go so well, when things slip a bit? How can you get yourself back on track? I thought I'd share a personal example to illustrate the importance of just taking action.

Towards the end of last year I lost a stone in weight. No rocket science involved - I just ate less, ate more sensibly and exercised regularly. Last autumn I was in the gym about 6 days a week and playing tennis once or twice a week on top of that. But then I hurt my knee, nothing major but a niggling thing that stopped me working out and threw me off track. Then with Christmas and all that entails, I managed to regain about 6lbs of the weight loss.

Last year I started to learn welsh. I love learning stuff, pushing myself to find out new things and I am particularly keen on languages - I'm also a reasonable french-speaker. I found a fantastic website called www.saysomethinginwelsh.com and followed their programme. I completed the beginner's course and got about two-thirds of the way through the intermediate course - and then I stopped. For no better reason than I lost my headphones. Not having the headphones to hand meant I didn't just listen when I had a few minutes free and next thing I was out of the habit. About two months passed and I learned no new welsh.

New Year is often a time that we stop and take stock. We look ahead to what we want to achieve. I thought about how well I had done with my weight loss and my welsh in the latter part of 2011 but at first getting back to where I had been seemed a very long way to go.

Until I did one simple thing -  I decided to take action! 

I could have sat around feeling sorry for myself remembering that I used to be fitter and a better linguist but the moment arrived when I simply decided enough is enough! Armed with new headphones and renewed enthusiasm I simply took the action that was needed to start me back on the path again. There's still some way to go of course - I'm not quite back where I was yet with either the weight loss or the welsh. But do you know what? I'm really happy because now I am on my way!

Michelle

ELEMENTARY MY DEAR WATSON

Those of you who watched Sherlock Holmes last night would have seen him use a memory technique that is closely linked with NLP. Whilst trying to remember the significance of two clues he put himself into a trance and went to what he called his "mind palace". Whilst he wrestled with a string of seemingly random associations, his partner Dr.Watson explained to another character what he was up to.

Essentially what he did was to return to a place in his memory - somewhere that he had deliberately visited before. When there in his mind previously he had deposited certain memories. As he returned there, he associated that place with the memories and they returned to him. What he had done was to set up what in NLP terms is called an anchor. This is an association between two things and can occur naturally or as in this case be set up deliberately. All he had to do was remember how to journey to the place and the memories stored along the way would return to him as associations as he passed them.

Many of he world's memory experts use this technique for things such as remembering a pack of cards in order. They follow a familiar journey in their mind and as they do so mentally place the cards along the route. The cards then become associated with something about the route at that point and an anchor is set up. When they mentally return to that same point, the same association occurs and they remember the card.

It's a great technique to teach kids to help them remember things like vocabulary lists. They are often surprisingly good at it and making it into a game makes it more fun too.

The female character in Sherlock Holmes seemed more intrigued by the name Holmes gave to the technique. She asked Watson, "why does he call it his mind palace." The answer - "he would, wouldn't he!"

VIDEOS NOW RELEASED - SEE US IN ACTION!

Well we've been promising these to you for a little while now and here they are at last.
Today we are releasing the first three in our new series of blog videos.

Now everyone is different, everyone likes to learn about things and experience things in a different way.
Some people like to read about something, other prefer to hear about it, some like to see it for themselves or join it and learn by doing.

With this in mind we've put ourselves in front (and at times behind) the camera to bring this short series of videos to you. Each one is very short, under 90 seconds and will give you a taste of what we are about.
We'll be talking about many aspects of NLP, how it is used in medicine and sharing some tips and inside secrets with you........

They will all be available on You Tube and here are the links to the first three:

Introduction to NLP4MEDICS blog

Using NLP with integrity

Models of the world using NLP

Enjoy them and let us know what you think.
Watch this space, there are plenty more to come.

ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

Today will have been the first day back at work for many of you, the first day back into the normal routine after the Christmas break. Before you know it you'll be back on the treadmill.......or will you?

There will be pressure from all around. Pressure to do this, do that, speed up, do it now - am I right?
What I am urging you to do is to slow down, yes slow down and take the time to be grateful for all the wonderful things and people in your life and most importantly to say thank you for them.

Now you're probably thinking, how am I going to find the time to do this? The truth is, it hardly takes any time at all and if we're really honest with ourselves, we know that this is true. I've already started to do this in my own small way, with companies or individuals who have given me good service. We are trying to expand our use of social media so what better way to thank others than using this. I've so far done this more on my personal account than our business one to be honest but I've been making a point to actively thank those on Twitter who have served me well.
For example:

@TMLewin1898 - great shirts and great customer service (sorted out lost password query very quickly)
@Two_Fresh - really helpful with advice about our blog videos even on Christmas eve.
@collectivedairy - great new Christmas pudding flavour yoghurt
@jamieoliver - excellent recipe for chestnut pumpkin soup

You see I'm not talking about huge stuff here. None of this is going to change the world, but you know what, that doesn't matter. It's an attitude. Take a few seconds out of your day to say thank you for a job well done. I'll tell you this, if they reply and say thank you for your comments you'll feel like a million dollars. Maybe that's a lesson for your business too?

"A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all other virtues."  Cicero

So take a little time out to develop an attitude of gratitude. There's not much in this life that is certain - just look at this week's Premiership results - but time taken appreciating others will come back to you many times over.
Michelle