Welcome to the 100th episode of the Super Smart Guy Podcast! Today I am kicking off a mini-series of episodes on the art of NLP. Some may be skeptical about what NLP is and what it can do, others are totally sold on the amazing powers of the human language and brain. Wherever you stand, I guarantee you will learn something from this odyssey. I am starting an NLP Mastermind group and these podcasts and blog posts will be used for training purposes. Also I pull together a lot of sources of information, not all are exclusively NLP based. Imagine it like a fusion bistro, but food for thought.

Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is an approach to communication, personal development, and psychotherapy created by Richard Bandler and John Grinder in California, USA in the 1970s. (Wikipedia) Bandler has a Masters degree in Psychology. Grinder worked with the US intelligence agency and has a Ph.D in linguistics. Both studied theory and techniques from great psychology and psychiatry contemporaries. Some of these are Fritz Perls, Milton Erickson, Virginia Satir, and others.

Neuro – neurology, how we think and feel.

Linguistic – human language and how we use it.

Programming – methodologies and strategies used to perform a task. Similar to a computer program, the neuro-linguistic program is the kind that uses thoughts and ideas to communicate and interpret language and events.

I feel that NLP is most effective if used as a form of cognitive therapy and leadership/influence. NLP can also be used as a form of hypno-therapy or speaking to the subconscious. I wouldn’t go as far as to say it is hypnosis although there is a branch of it that is used as such. What I like to think of NLP being used for in this way is for regular people to communicate more effectively with their (and others) subconscious. There are some who have taken techniques into the realm of mentalism (and entertainment) such as Derren Brown.

Presuppositions

The meaning of the communication is the response it elicits. This is similar to the Machiavellian method of the ends justify the means in the sense that your intentions are not guaranteed in the end result. You can say something meaning one thing, and your audience can interpret as meaning something totally different. What matters here, what you meant or what the audience perceives? From your perspective what matters is the result, the audience perception. Since you can’t change your audience, but you can change yourself, NLP teaches methods that will help with your perception and communication. Maybe to god your intentions matter, but in the here and now what matters is your effectiveness.

The map is not the territory.

The map is your interpretation of reality. It is your representation of what you think reality is, held in your mind. Reality exists outside your mind so it must be downloaded into your mind via senses, perceptions, and interpretations.

The territory is reality. Reality can be the universe, world, city, your job, or anything you interact with.

Your model of reality is not perfect. It is subjected to filters which translate reality to a perception in your mind.

The body and the mind is systemic and connected. If you smile you will feel a little better. Likewise if you think of a happy thought you tend to smile.

Law of requisite variety – when independent variables change, the dependent ones do not. (causation vs. correlation)

Behavior is geared towards adaptation.

Every behavior has a positive intent.

People do the best they can given their choices.

Choice is better than no choice. Flexibility is a major way to get choice.

Context matters in the way people behave.

People don’t have a shortage of resources, they have a shortage of resourcefulness.

In the spirit of NLP being a positive thing, there is a saying: There is no failure, only feedback. NLP wants to encourage people to try to achieve great things. So rather than use the concept “failure”, instead