Image via Wikipedia

In the business world this is the presupposition that people most crave. They want it, but even when it is given to them they don’t always believe it or use it.

The presupposition says: “The person with the greatest flexibility in thinking and behaviour has the greatest influence.”

Remember what I said on Monday 13th February: “beliefs are emotionally held opinions that we have found to be true over time.”

Work on the supposition that flexibility of thinking and behaviour will give you influence and you will very likely be amazed by the difference that it makes.

Be flexible in your thinking and in our behaviour. Be prepared to adapt to the needs of the people and the environment in which you find yourself and it will enable you to survive and influence the thinking and behaviour of others.

If what you are doing is not working then the more choices you have the more likely you are to be able to find a way that does work.

Image via Wikipedia

If you have ever been tempted to underestimate yourself, take heart from this presupposition that says: “you have all the resources you will ever need.” They are there inside of you, all you have to do is tap into them and you will be able to……..

For you to achieve what you set your mind to you need to tap into your skills, abilities, knowledge, beliefs and attitude. You have developed these during your journey through life, you chose to develop specific skills and attitudes because they are likely to be useful to you in meeting the sort of challenges that a person who lives life the way you do is likely to encounter.

As you journey through life your interests take you in certain directions and you develop appropriate resources to meet the challenges that someone journeying in those directions will need. Hence you will always have the resources you need. You will be well advised to practice tapping in to those resources.

Image via Wikipedia

Hurrah, there is a solution to every problem. I know this to be true because my NLP presuppositions told me so. I can’t think of the solution right now, but I know it’s there.

This is the positive attitude, the positive frame of mind that drives people who make breakthroughs. It was the positive intent behind President John F. Kennedy’s statement in his inaugural address when he said: “ I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”

Notice that President Kennedy presented this statement as a Belief. It was a belief that became a reality despite the multiple problems that the scientists at NASA had to overcome in order to achieve the objective that the President had set for them.

When you believe that you can find a solution to any problem you are much more likely to find a solution than the person who believes it to be impossible.

Does This Mean Anything to You? (Photo credit: brewbooks)

In the business world people talk a lot about good communication and bad communication, but, how do you tell the difference. The difference is the effect that the communication has on the audience. You may not like the communication, you may not agree with the communication or you may be inspired by the communication. But it is the way that you react to the communication that gives that communication its meaning.

If a song makes you cry then its meaning is that it is a sad song. If a TV documentary changes your opinion about an event then its meaning is that your opinion changed. If someone blames you for a mistake that you made the meaning of their communication is that you feel bad. When you view a really lucid presentation and really understand what the presenter is seeking to convey to you, the meaning of the presentation is your understanding.

If a leader says: “once more unto the breach, once more” and his army charges again into the breech, their charge is the effect of his communication.

Image via Wikipedia

Start the week with the presupposition that behind every behaviour is a positive intention. You did not mean to break that glass when you were doing the washing up last night, your intention was to clean the glass. The fact that you accidentally smashed the glass against a tap and broke it does not detract from your intention to create a clean glass. It was an accident, that’s all.

This belief is important to the eradication of blame in the workplace. It allows people to take responsibility for their actions. It makes it OK for people to try, possibly err and learn. If they know that others are going to accept that their actions had positive intentions they are much more likely to try things that may produce ground-breaking results.

This presupposition is at the heart of learning organisations. It encourages people to take responsibility, to experiment and to do.

Image via Wikipedia

The presupposition that there is no failure, only feedback is central to our ability to learn. It opens up our “learning pores”. You may well find that you are a more porous learner if you accept that it is OK to fail provided that you learn the lessons.

Trial and error is the basic learning style of all mammels. Watch a baby learning to walk. First it watches the humans around it to see how they do this process of walking. Then it climbs to its feet. The first effort of moving one foot in front of the other usually ends in failure and a fall. Up it jumps and tries again. Failure follows failure until eventually it has sufficient feedback to enable it to stagger, uncertainly around. In time it masters the art of walking and does it as well as all the other humans.

This revolving process of observe, try, feedback, try again, feedback, try again, success is natural. Unless we try and very possibly fail, we never get the feedback that enables us to learn.

Take heart and learn!

Image via Wikipedia

The second presupposition is that everyone makes the best choices available to them at the time that they decide what to do.

Above all you will find this presupposition useful when it comes to forgive what we perceive to be the errors of others and to change their ways.

Ask yourself this question: “Is anyone ever going to do anything that they consider will cause them harm?” No, they will do what they consider to be best for them at the time that they do it. What they do is their choice and will be based on other presuppositions, but they will be choosing what they consider to be their best option at that moment in time.

When considering the actions that others have taken we have to pay attention to the knowledge or information that they have and the circumstances in which they found themselves. Too little knowledge will limit their choices. Outside pressures and unusual or previously unexperienced circumstances will cause a person to have difficulties in making choices.

Image via Wikipedia

Everyone has their own unique view of the world. It is based on their own unique experiences of life, the behaviours that they learned from influential others, like their parents and the way that they have interpreted what has happened to them.

The way that someone else sees and feels experiences is always going to be slightly different from the way that you see and feel that experience.

You are not right and they are not right. You are not wrong and they are not wrong. Each of you is just the way that you are with your own thoughts, feelings, interpretations and actions.

It is the way that you view the world that makes you the unique human being you are. Your views give you your power and your weaknesses.

For today start to notice how others seem to view the world and notice how your views of the world differ from those. When you can take into account other people’s views you will become a better negotiator.

Presuppositions are used a lot in NLP because they are beliefs that have been tried and tested by a lot of people and found to be true. This does not mean that all presuppositions will work for you. But they do provide you with starting points for the formulation of your own beliefs.

Over the coming days you will learn about a number of presuppositions. You may find it helpful to spend a day on each presupposition trying it on for size, to see if it is congruent with your own beliefs.

Bear in mind that you may have a number of beliefs that have a powerful effect on your behaviour of which you are not consciously aware.

By working with the presuppositions about which you are about to learn, you may find that some gel with your own beliefs and some do not. Do not reject a presupposition because it is not in your current belief system – rather try it on for size and test whether it can help you to become more effective in your work.

Whether you believe you can or believe you can’t – you’re right.

For today just notice the effect that your beliefs have on your behaviour.

Image via Wikipedia

What are beliefs? Beliefs are opinions that we feel to be true but which have also proved to be true over time.

For instance you may believe that the sun will rise every morning. You will also find this to be true every day because you experience your world becoming lighter. However, you may not actually see the sun rise each day of your life. The fact that you do not see it happen does not detract from the fact that it is true.

Because beliefs are feelings they have a powerful effect on the degree of energy that we inject into our actions.

A good NLP Practitioner will believe that he or she can make a significant difference to those with whom he or she comes into contact simply by the way that he or she uses his or her NLP techniques.

The question is: “how well do you know what you believe?”

In order to become the best that you can be you need to understand, recognise and possibly alter some of your beliefs.