MODELLING - HOW DO THEY DO THAT?

No, not the catwalk type of modelling. I think I've a bit too much meat on my bones for that........

When you were born did you know how to walk? How to ride a bike? How to speak English? Of course you didn't ........ but almost certainly you know how to do all those things now. So how has that happened? Somewhere along the line you have learned the skills involved in performing those tasks.

Can you ride a unicycle, speak Japanese or play the bagpipes? Maybe you can but for most of us it will be a no to all of these questions. For some people it'll be a yes because they have chosen to learn the skills involved. My point is this, if someone can do it, they must have learned to do it. If they can learn to do it, then you can too. Now I'm not saying you can decide to learn to sprint this week and be beating Usain Bolt the next but you could certainly get a whole lot faster if you learned to do what he does by modelling him - by studying how he does it.

In NLP terms, understanding that a skill is made up of a series of steps is one of the first steps to modelling that skill and being able to do it yourself. It's about more than just the physical movements though, it's about the attitude. What is going on in someone's head when they reach peak performance? How can you learn to get yourself into the same state?

The NLP presupposition that encompasses this best is, Possible in the world and possible for me is only a matter of how. I love this because it opens up a whole lifetime of possibilities. It lets me look at my laptop keyboard and see every book that's ever been written; or at a piano keyboard and understand that every piece of music that exists in the world could come from the notes on there.
To me that's mind-blowing. It's also hugely empowering ......... and I don't think I'm alone in that.
Michelle

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

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