Following up from last week’s post on remembering things, I thought this week, I would teach you a really good memory technique called a peg list. And while I teach you the memory technique, I’m also going to tell you about 26 cool things to know about NLP.
A peg list is just a list of words associated with the letters of the alphabet (you can actually create a peg list for anything). You can remember them via their letter or the number that is associated with the sequence in the alphabet. It’s best to create your memory pathway using both the number and the letter. Let’s me explain further as I go through my NLP peg list.
1 A – Actions – the way I remember actions as being in the first position is that it takes just one action in NLP to change your state. You can easily change the way you feel by changing your physiology. For example, if you are sitting down, hunched over, staring at the floor thinking about how bad life is, the best way to change that state is to stand up and look up. Try it! It’s really hard to be depressed when you are standing up straight with a smile on your face.
2 B – Behaviours – this is a key element of NLP. Behaviours show up in 2 specific NLP presuppositions: “People are not their behaviours” & “Every behaviour has a positive intention.”
3 C- Coins – what do coins have to do with NLP you might wonder? Well, we use 3 coins in an NLP game that reveals a certain set of metaprograms in the person playing the game. These metaprograms can tell the person a lot about themselves. If you ever come across an NLP Practitioner or Master Practitioner ask them to do the 3 coin game with you. Giving away any more information about the 3 coins would ruin the game.
4 D – Dissociate – when some dissociates they take a step back from their experience and look at it as if they were observing it rather than being part of it. I remember dissociate by thinking that I take 4 steps back from the event.
5 E – Energy – it’s amazing how much energy you use when you think. Your mind consumes vast amounts of glucose to keep it going. When I think about energy I think of the 5 elements – water, metal, wood, fire, earth. These are energy forces in Qi Gong.
6 F – Feedback not Failure – this concept shows up in another presupposition of NLP. “There is no failure, only feedback.” Imagine if you couldn’t fail. Imagine if you experienced all of the mistakes, mis-steps, wrong paths, broke businesses, etc as feedback and not failure. Feedback helps us to adjust course and get back on the pathway to the outcomes we are producing in life. I remember the six because there is a rule in coaching for managers that you give 6 positive pieces of feedback for every 1 correction you make when managing employees.
7 G – Gestures – we look for things to match when we are building rapport with others. One of these elements is gestures. When someone uses specific gestures to emphasise what they are saying, using the same gestures when responding says to the person, “I get it. I understand you.” It builds rapport. We look at 7 things when building rapport: Voice, Eyes, Gestures, Breathing, Skin, Common Experiences & Culture.
8 H – Hierarchy of Values – when I really want to know what’s important to someone, I mean REALLY important, I’m going to ask the hierarchy of values question 8 times: “What’s important to you about…” “And by having that, what’s even more important?” (repeat)
9 I – Integrate – this is one of the most important concepts of NLP. Integration is about taking everything in and using all of the tools of NLP congruently. I remember 9 because there are 9 integers and integers and integrate sound the same. It’s called creative cheating. 😉
10 J – Juggling – in my NLP Master Practitioner course in New Zealand, we modelled our instructor and learned to juggle. Modelling is another core concept of NLP. You can learn to do anything anyone else knows how to do by applying the tools of modelling. My first goal was to juggle three balls for 10 catches. I eventually got up to 110.
11 K – Kitchen Sink – or the list frame which is the opposite of systemic frame. When people have a list that has everything in it including the kitchen sink, it isn’t organised or prioritised. Sometimes people work within this chaotic frame. In NLP we like to teach the systemic frame which means putting lists into some type of order – just like we are doing here in the ABCs of NLP exercise. When you look at 11 it appears it’s in order which reminds me of the systemic frame and it’s opposite.
12 L – Laundry List – another word for kitchen sink frame. Again, this is creative cheating. I remember the 12 because the 2 looks like a hanger on the line of the 1.
13 M – Meta Model – this is a language component of NLP. The meta model tool helps us to uncover lost information when speaking with others. We all delete, distort and generalise information when we speak. The meta-model tool helps us to recover what was lost. We have 13 different ways to get back what was lost.
14 N – Neurons – we’ve got a lot of them in our brains. In NLP we want to make sure our neural pathways are going the direction we want them to go instead of just operating on their own based on an old program. NLP brings what we do unconsciously into our conscious so we can change what needs to change. I remember 14 because it’s half of 28, the number of days it takes for us to create a new habit – a new neural pathway.
15 O – Order – is the steps in a strategy. Every strategy has a specific order in which it occurs. When someone’s strategy isn’t working for them, we have NLP tools to change the strategy and its order. 15 reminds me of the number of black shoes in the closet of the lady who did the first strategy elicitation I saw. She didn’t want to keep buying the same black shoes over and over again so we changed her strategy.
16 P – Parts Integration – this is a really cool tool in NLP that helps when you have something like this happening: “On the one hand I want to go to the gym. On the other hand, I have so much to do at work. I’m torn.” You have two parts wanting different things. The parts integration tool helps your parts to get back together and be friends. I would only do a parts integration on someone who was over 16.
17 Q – Quit – the following programs. This was the first message I had on my Facebook business account. “Quit the following programs: Anxiety, Stress, Depression, Loneliness.” The 7 & 1 together look like a triangle to me. A triangle is the symbol for delta – or change.
18 R – Rapport – the basis of all communication is rapport. Without rapport we cannot communicate effectively. Without rapport we live solitary lives. We weren’t meant to be solitary. We are meant to connect. Rapport helps us do that. You don’t have to be 18 to be able to learn rapport. Children are fabulous at it!
19 S – Swish – another great technique in NLP. The Swish is a way for us to eliminate unwanted images from popping into our heads and messing up our happy lives. The 9 in the 19 reminds me of the technique we use in the swish having a small circle come exploding on to the screen of our minds.
20 T – Test – when we are working with strategies, we want to know what the test is. What needs to happen for the strategy to begin (1st test) and what needs to happen for the strategy to stop (exit test). The 2 in the 20 reminds me that there are 2 tests in a strategy and 0 more.
21 U – Utilise – we talk about utilisation in NLP when we are working with others. We utilise their strengths, their problems, their resources to help them to get to where they want to go. I know it’s unusual to see that we use their problems to help them get to their goals. Sometimes, these are the best tools you have. 21 reminds me of the legal drinking age in the USA. I can utilise alcohol at 21.
22 V – Visual Squash – this is another NLP technique similar to the swish. We use the screens of our mind to squash unwanted images that produce nasty emotions and behaviours. The box we use for this technique is 2X2 (22).
23 W – Wiring– changing neural wiring is what we do when we break habits, change strategies, or eliminate phobias. There are at least 23 techniques in NLP to change your wiring.
24 X – Experience – we all have them and we can change the experiences we are having by simply changing our frame of reference. It’s a great skill you learn in an NLP Certification Course. I remember the 24 because when I see 2 and then 4 it is like the 2 doubled itself. It changed it’s reference.
25 Y – Yin and Yang – this is a concept that we introduce in NLP to understand the nature of the continuum. The yin and yang are the symbols that personify a little light in darkness and a little darkness in light. There is no day or night as with every second of passing time there is more night in day or day in night. Because time keeps flowing, because it’s a continuum, there is no absolute. This is a cored concept to understanding NLP. When I was 25 I was living in Japan – the home of the yin & yang.
26 Z -The end – there’s no “Z” in NLP so I used the concept of it being the end. And in NLP, when you are working with someone else, the number one rule is that you never end unless your client is in a neutral to positive state. It’s easy to remember 26 – it’s the end. 🙂
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