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

CHRIMBO LIMBO?

Whilst listening Radio 5 a few days ago I heard a discussion about what should the period between Christmas and New Year be called. Maybe it doesn't need a name you're thinking - and maybe you are right, but the one that listeners of that particular show seemed to favour was Chrimbo Limbo.

Maybe that's because that show's audience were more likely to be chilling at home than back at work on those inbetween days, I don't know. For myself it made me think about the very different ways in which people choose to use these few days. Personally I've been busy with online networking and social media stuff and we've already been contacted twice so far today with offers of training work in the spring. I'm not immune to the sales thing though - I confess that I bowed to pressure yesterday and took my teenage sons to Brent Cross to spend some of their Christmas money. OK I bought something for myself but three new shirts for work and a pair of cufflinks doesn't really make me a big spender or an impulse buyer. Believe me I'm not one of life's shoppers.

As for my GP work, I'll be back in surgery tomorrow. We re-opened today but mercifully I don't work there on a Wednesday........It'll be a 5:30am alarm for me tomorrow though as commuter surgery will be calling......

Before then, I thought I'd use the time wisely and begin to put my goals for next year down on paper. I'll do what I normally do when doing this - I'll take the dog for a walk with my notebook in my pocket. I get a few funny looks when I just stop suddenly to scribble something down but that way I've captured the thought for ever. Nothing beats writing down what you are going to achieve (note the positive language). Once it's down it's real - all you've got to do is take the first step towards getting there.

So come on, what would you love to be, have or do in 2012?
Write it down now.
How good will it feel when you have it?
What one small step can you take today that will move you closer to achieving it?

So take it............ what's stopping you?

OUR NEWSLETTER CURIOUS OUT TODAY!

Well what a journey it's been!
Our first ever NLP4MEDICS newsletter, entitled CURIOUS is out today.
There's a lot more to this newsletter writing business than we thought, but then that's what learning is all about. There are four stages of learning and thinking about how our newsletter CURIOUS was born will help to illustrate this nicely.

When we started out we didn't know what we didn't know. It looked easy - just put a few thoughts down on the laptop and away you go. Wrong!
(Stage one - UNCONSCIOUS INCOMPETENCE)

As we progressed we realised that we needed to know how to build a mailing list, learn to manage it, create a template, link our database to it..........aaaaaah!
(Stage two - CONSCIOUS INCOMPETENCE)

As time passed we got better. We can now both upload database entries into Capsule and do a reasonable job of navigating around MailChimp, but it takes time and a lot of concentration and effort.
(Stage three - CONSCIOUS COMPETENCE)

One day soon we'll have mastered all the technology. It'll be effortless and easy.
(Stage four - UNCONSCIOUS COMPETENCE).

The point is it's a journey and a really fun one at that.
We could have viewed the steps that we needed to get over as obstacles but we chose to see them as stepping stones. A big thanks to those who have helped us get this far - you know who you are.

So, are you CURIOUS to see what we came up with?
Go to our website and sign up for the free newsletter - now that you know how we got there.......

NLP WITH INTEGRITY

So many people have the wrong idea about NLP......

If you watch certain TV programmes or pick up certain books you could be left with completely the wrong impression of NLP. You might think it's all about manipulating people or reading their minds. You might think it's all about making other people go out with you, buy your product or somehow obey you against their will. You couldn't be further from the truth.

NLP is all about choice. It's about choosing to understand people better and choosing to communicate with them more effectively. We wholeheartedly believe that NLP is a force for good, a tool that has so much to offer. Sadly it is so often portrayed wrongly in the name of entertainment. It might be "funny" to see someone up on stage acting as if they are a headless chicken - I say might as I'm not too convinced myself, but what if that becomes that audience's lasting impression of NLP and of hypnosis? That would be awful, a real missed opportunity.

We see NLP as a powerful tool, but just that, a tool. It does nothing until you use it and what matters is how you use it. What matters is your intention when you use it. We spend our time teaching NLP techniques to medical professionals so that they can use them for good - the good of their patients, their colleagues, their friends and themselves for their own personal growth. We do that with the utmost integrity. Yes there are people out there using NLP for the wrong reasons and bringing it into disrepute but we don't think that that's a reason to deny others the opportunity of finding out just how much of a positive difference it can make to their own lives and those of others around them.

So if you're interested in finding out more (and you're reading this blog so we're guessing you might be) then go for it. Read a book, contact a reputable course provider and talk to people that know. There's a whole community of great NLPers out there who would love to share their experiences with you.

So put your reservations aside and explore. What have you got to lose?