NLP and States

Have you ever wondered why on some days you feel tired, slow, lazy, unproductive, and hate yourself because the million things that you should do are sanding still and time is ticking?  Many people have those days.  And many feel powerless to do anything about them. Can NLP help for these states?  

Changing your state is no rocket science.

The simple answer is: know what state we’re in [and I don’t mean this sarcastically!].  Our state – way of being at any moment – affects everything we do.  We have control over our states of being and can change them if we know what triggers them.  So start with your state.  Clearly know your ideal state for doing something. Then change your state to the ideal state, and you’ll much more easily achieve what you want.  So the next time you’re planning to learn something, consider:

• what state do I need to be in when I’m learning something?
• and what state do I want other involved people to be in?

When you know this, you can ask:

• how am I going to get myself into this better state?
• what do I need to do to be in this better state?  What steps do I need to take?
• and what do I need to do to get other involved people into a state that is useful?

What state were you in when you started reading this?  What state are you in now?

How can professionals in education, corporations, and business use NLP for states?

Has it ever crossed your mind how different things would be if all educators paid attention to the states of their learners?

• Has any teacher at school ever asked you how you were feeling before a class started?
• Or has a teacher ever asked you whether there was anything you needed to do / feel before your class started?
• Has anyone ever asked you what the best state for your learning was or would be?
• And even if someone has asked you, would you know the answers?

If you would, great!  But you are in the minority.  Most people have no clue, because they’ve never been compelled to explore this.  Yet our states of being can be a tool that helps us to be excellent.

So how can we use NLP and states for presentations, meetings, teaching?

One example are presentations.  Have you ever faced the hell of giving a presentation?  What state were you in at that time?  And when you finished, did you feel nervous?  Inadequate?  Incompetent?  Excited? Energized? A buzz?  Pumped up?  Did you plan what states you’d like to take your audiences through?  This is it! You might not be aware of this, but professionals such as standup comedians, orators, speakers, and politicians use states to induce responsiveness in their audiences. While listening to them you will be going through carefully designed sequences of states.  So the next time you are facing the challenge of putting together a presentation / meeting / wedding speech, first consider what state you want to be in.  Then consider:

• I’ll have the listeners start here [in state x].  We’ll gradually move to here [state y].  And we’ll finish at this point [state z], because this is the note I want them to stay on.

Plan the speech with this in mind:

• What state do you want people to be in when you begin?
• And what will be the sequence of states you will take them through?
• What state do you want them to finish in?
• And how will that be useful to them thereafter?

If you’re an educational professional in a one-to-one tuition, kindergarten, university, or teaching a group, I invite you to make this approach a part of your work.  And you’ll see how much success it’ll bring you and people around you! If you’d like to learn to use states to your benefit in daily situations and NLP for states, presentations, public speaking, and teaching, I can help you.