NLP

Euro zone

noreply@blogger.com (Rossy) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 11:18:00 +0000

I think David Cameron was right not to sign us up to the new euro treaty. The new treaty is there to sort out the euro-crisis due to the debt in the euro countries and the single currency. UK is not part of the single currency and therefore is not part of the problem yet they want us to sign up to the solution which involves giving up more powers to Europe and giving them lots of money.

They wanted 200bn euros from us to help fix a problem that wasn't of our making. Also the new financial transaction tax hits the UK the most as 75% of these types of transactions are done through UK banks.

The Europeans are upset we haven't join! I am guessing they need our money and the tax generated through our banks.

I think to sign us up to the treaty would have been undemocratic as we were never part of the issues or the single currency.

Long term however, do we isolate our selves. Strategy in the Art or War talks a lot about having strategic alliances. The other European countries may cut us out the loop. The may insist on doing their financial transactions through other banks inside the euro zone.

If not part of Europe do we need to find other alliances instead!!!

Only history well tell if this is the right decision. I think it doesn't have to be a NO long term, but it needs to be debated with the UK public before jumping in without any thought. A referendum is needed on the long term relationship with Europe.

learning from work

noreply@blogger.com (Rossy) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:13:00 +0000

I posted some months ago about using the same methods and techniques I use in work to be successful to help run my personal life and projects.

I created another tab on the spreadsheet next to the work actions for personal stuff and started listing the things I wanted to accomplish.

I also create a value against them and way of showing how they linked together.

Very quickly it produced big dividends as I followed up an idea on advertising a holiday rental property. This idea worked and has help me to gain more bookings than before. I don't think I would have done it without the actions list as I would have normally forgotten about the idea and lost the opportunity. I know log every idea and follow it through. Some of the ideas have come to nothing very quickly, but at least I know its not worth pursing. Some ideas are for the future, i.e. things to do in the next few years rather than weeks. Some ideas have just made life easier and more organised. A few have made money, or mostly saved me money. I created a financial plan and strategy, something I would do at work, but not at home. This is getting me organised and gives me hope and confidence in the future. I have found ways of saving money by learning to do my self assessment tax, tracking my financial outgoings and spotted areas to cut back.

Not all the actions are money related. One is on weight loss and health related. I have measured my weight daily and logged my exercise and calories intake daily. From this I have found areas I have gone wrong in and found times when I have got it right and now able to replicate it. It has proved me with a wealth of background data that upon analysis has shown what I need to do in order to keep getting fitter and lose weight. This is just a tracker, something I would put together on a team's or individual performance in work put never done it against myself. It is a very powerful tool.

I found my biggest improvements and gains from the personal action sheet were from projects I had already spent time on before, but never quite completed. It has given me the focus to finish these off and realise the assets I had already built up, but had yet to release to its full potential. The advertising action I mentioned earlier was one of these types. All the other hard work completed and this action made it finally successful.

The other part was tracking where the action lead to. What I found was some actions lead to other action, which lead to other actions. That is no surprise I hear you say, but the actions that came out of other actions weren't often the ones I expected. Sometimes I found something new on the way and created a new action/ project instead or found it combined well with another project and combined them together.

Overall working very well. So why do so many people organise their work life, but not their own life?

Is NLP a load of rubbish re-visited

noreply@blogger.com (Rossy) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 13:34:00 +0000

I posted this original on the 31st December 2007. It has been by far the most visited page on my blog.
In fact top of the google search for this subject!!!

Nearly 4 years on I thought I would re-read it and see if 4 years of experience had changed my mind.

I still agree with what I first wrote down and have many experiences to back this up.
I work in a large multinational company as manager. I have tried using NLP on my Directors to get them to change their minds on subjects.
This had little effect as they didn't or couldn't change their minds as it would have been seen to be weak or go against their strategy. What I have noticed is the higher up into management you go the more stubborn they become and less effective NLP is on them.

Also discovered that people can become desensitized to NLP. My daughter for example no longer falls for the double bind and presuppotion of "Shoes on first or toilet first before we go out". She replies with "Neither I am not going out".

I have used NLP to good effect in interviews. However, I tried to write a NLP CV and Cover letter and it didn't work as well as it relied too much on NLP and not enough on selling myself properly. I bought a NLP CV and interviews book in the end that helped get the balance right.

NLP in the written work and NLP in speech are different things. A lot of NLP was created around objection handling and therapy, this works well in a conversation as the interaction provides the spark. However in the written word doesn't work so well, best then to concentrate on the positives only using embedded commands, presuppositions, sensory language in order to convey your message.

NLP I think is a helpful guide and useful addition to your communication skil, but it isn't and shouldn't be the only way you communicate.

Wealth management

noreply@blogger.com (Rossy) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:57:00 +0000

Saw a program on the tv last night about wealth creation and wealth management. very interesting I think I will definitely be reading "rich dad, poor dad", have know asked for it for Christmas. Basically the premise being you re-invest your money into assets that then generate you additional income. You save in the early years re-investing again and again for the pay back to come later on with passive incoming. The examples they showed were mostly people who have done this through the property market through rentals. Pre -recession this was probably easier, get a mortgage buy a small property rent it out and use the rental to pay off the mortgage. Creating a property that becomes more owned by you as time goes on, plus hope for market value increase as well in order to sell off at some point and re-invest again. Harder in today's market to get buy-to-let mortgages, however rental rates have increased and more people need to rent due to increasing housing market, which is probably inflated due to people investing in property. May still be a way forward if you can afford it to start off with.

I suppose passive income doesn't have to be just property. Shares create dividends, interest on savings accounts, isa & google adsense. Some effort involved in setting up google ads and something for them to appear like youtube or your own websites. They can generate income after the event. Isa and savings the same less risk, but also less incoming coming back. Shares more risky again, but better return in terms of dividends and possible share price increases. If an author or musician your previous works out on the market may continue to earn you income in the years to come as well. They could be seen as an asset in this sense. Has made me think about my income and what I do with it.

I have have been dabbling in other areas of passive income as well. Zopa a crowd sourcing money lending site. You can lend your money out and get a high rate of interest than savings with a bank etc. There is a risk involved and fees to pay hence why I am testing it out.

Also crowd cube a crowd source dragons den/investment angel web site. You get give funding to start up companies and get shares. Obviously a longer term investment and much risker again, but interesting to read the pitches and a chance to get in at the ground level of a new company. Again I am testing it out with to get an understanding.

Also little things you can do like cash back credit cards is a form of passive income. Reward points another way of earning a very small but passive income for very little effort.

Years ago I worked out if I never went out, no holidays, saved all my money and stayed in the same property, I could slowly amass a large amount of money that I generate interest from in savings accounts or re-invest. Instead I choose to have holidays, bought a motorbike, moved house twice (have made money on these, but it only on paper as won't downgrade) had two children (very costly). I haven't put aside lots of money to re-invest. However I could start now as have some world experience and knowledge and ideas on how this could be done. Building up a fund for Uni education I suppose long term, for my children or preparing for retirement as I don't trust pension funds.(in my mine they are encouraged so greedy bankers can use your money to gamble on the stock market). I am going to write out a financial strategy and stick to it for the next few years to see what I can generate.

More trouble at the RFU

noreply@blogger.com (Rossy) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 15:46:00 +0000

England Attack coach Brian Smith has resigned. Feedback from some of the players was he had no ideas. He asked them for their opinions and wrote them up on a board.

Well a I would have though a good coach would canvas his players and get them involved in the decision making.
get them to take ownership of the way they play.
Get an understanding of what it is like on the front lines in the modern game against these teams.

Some England players said it lack imagination and was lackluster. However, I believe England was the top try scoring nation in the 6 nations over the last two years. Won the 6 nations last year. Not that bad then!!

Feedback is important and should be accepted for what it is and that is a opinion of that person based on their perspective. Its not right or wrong.
It should be accepted and those involved develop from it to communicate better or improve their skills. It could have been an explanation as to why he ask for peoples ideas would have helped those giving the bad feedback.

RFU Leaked report. Who benefits??

noreply@blogger.com (Rossy) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 10:59:00 +0000

You have to wonder who benefits from a leaked report.
The players!! No its bad news for them.
The coaches! no!
The RFU management, yes. The leaked report firmly blames the players and coaches for the lack of success.
The leak really helps Rob Andrew out as many people been asking what he does! Why isn't he to blame.
What did Rob Andrew ever achieve as the Newcastle manager. Not a lot!!

Players will always negotiate about pay. We haven't heard both sides of the story and unlikely to now.
Yes I am sure some players are at fault but this leak doesn't help.
Will the players want to take part in a review again and give honest feedback. NO not if the RFU management use it shift the blame.

The England team and the RFU is suppose to the pinnacle of English rugby. Where as the premiership clubs are professional organisation the RFU is still run by amateurs. This does make sense. RFU management wouldn't last 5 minutes in a premiership club or any big company.

Time for a change within the very structure of the RFU. I would like the premiership clubs to create a new RFU and England team even if meant a few years of being out in the wilderness. It would long term be better for the game as the RFU is a shambles.

Hay fever strategy

noreply@blogger.com (Rossy) — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 19:08:00 +0000

At some point in my earlier thirties I developed hay fever. I suffered from itchy eyes, runny nose, sneezing and struggled to breath properly.

I treated this with the normal hay fever antihistamine tablets with out much effect. Every year I will struggle from June till early August classic grass hay fever season. The tablets had some affect but didn't completely take away the symptoms. Each year I will try all the different tablets as it seemed the ones that worked the year before didn't work the next year. However I realised this wasn't the case it just that eventually I would try a new tablet by which time I my body had adapted to the grass pollen, which was usually August time. I also realised the tablets where having an effect as when stopped would be even worse.

What I realised was I had to understand what Hay fever was and why I suddenly became affected.

Hay fever is a allergic reaction to the pollen. Your body believes its under attack from the pollen and tries to repel it. Why after 30 years would I suddenly have an issue. I believe it is due to the fact I work in an air conditioned office all day from the age of 23 onwards. About 10 years of working in a sterile environment meant my body was no longer use to the grass pollen. What triggered the hay fever was when next doors lawn got very long and seeded, plus I had only recently moved to a move rural location. I had become sensitive to grass pollen from the lack of contact and this sudden influx created the allergic reaction.

Like most hay fever suffers I have tried everything I could get my hands to try and live a normal life. Eventually I found a solution. First it is import to understand the journey and all the failed attempts

1) Just tablets including Priton 4 times a day - Worked the first 2 years then stopped working. Made me very sleepily and had to counter act with lots of coffee.

2) Chinese herb medicine - tasted disgusting and I developed a chest infection.

3) Other hay fever tablets - occasionally worked had more effect later on in the season

4) Honey or honey bee tablets - had some effect dependent on the amount taken. about 20% effective reduction in symptoms.

5) Hay band - acupuncture band - surprisingly worked quite well. reduce effects by about 20-30% works really quickly. Only down side is in the Sun with short sleeved t-shirt and band around your elbow. People keep asking whats that?

6) Realised the itchy eyes was down to dryness caused by the hay fever and rubbing of the eyes. Put on moisture over my eyes too soak through during the day as and when felt needed. It seems to soak through the skin and keeps the eyes well moisturised and less itchy. Also seems to create barrier against the pollen. I used Vaseline. Works incredible well.

7) Eye drops - works great at giving moisture put in to the eyes and clearing out the pollen. This acts as a quick hit to itchy eyes where as apply moisturiser is a longer term solution.

8) Nasal spray - works well now my hay fever has lessen. when hay fever really bad this just seemed to irate my nose more.

9) Desensitisation kit - Homoeopathic treatment to get you use to the grass pollen taken over 2 years. This has worked brilliantly and has lessen my reaction to hay fever.

10) Vitamin C is a natural antihistamine. Vitamin c tablets help a bit.

11) Plenty of water to stay hydrated

In the end no one thing worked it had to a combination of solutions. Some aimed at prevention and others at reducing the symptoms.

Prevention

Desensitisation kit has work well for me.

Honey work okay but realised grass was my main issue hence the Desensitisation kit was good as it has grass extract

Reducing symptoms

Hay band works great seems to reduce the swelling and hence reduces the itchy eyes and sore nose

(paracetamol helps reduce the swelling as well)

Antihistamines sprays and tablets

Vaseline on eye lids and inside nose to act as a barrier and moisturise

Eye drops to clear eyes.

If I review this in terms of classic strategy it has all the right points.

1) know your enemy - research and investigate

2) Try to prevent your enemies attacking capabilities. Cut supply lines. limit movement. from allies (Prevention of hay fever)

3) defend against attack. Damage limitation. Treating the symptoms of the attack.

4) The best strategy is always a multi strategy. So many different strategies used to from an over arcing strategy.

It goes to prove that good strategy theory has many applications.

Update on creating actions and following through

noreply@blogger.com (Rossy) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 09:42:00 +0000

An update on my personal actions and creating a value tree.

Seems to be working well so far created a few events of true value through my own actions that have lead to new actions.

An advert I placed has worked and seem to have got a booking. This alone would pay for the advert so any more bookings is a bonus. Just have to work out if I would have got them anyway.

Weight loss/fitness training going well. Have introduced HIIT training (High Intensity Interval Training), lost some weight straight away then seem to put some back on. I have been told by a personal trainer this will be due to the body retaining water and glucagon following such a session and will take a few days for it to even out and drop this excess. Apparently this is your body's way of protecting itself following intense physical activity, incase it has to do it again.

Realised that some of my web sites didn't appear on the Bing or yahoo business directory's following a search on another subject. This was an accidental piece of value added from another action, but nevertheless still a valid point, I have added my web sites to both now and this may increase the chances of visitors and business. This was an easy action free of cost just time and it will hopefully bring money in. As Bing is getting more popular it is essential to make sure this search engine is also covered.

Another one of my actions was to create adapted CVs and covering letters per job I applied to in the future. This seem to be real working as had 3 interviews in the last 4 months in the previous 4 months zero interviews. I realised I would go to great lengths to sell business cases and justification in my job to my superiors, but wouldn't do the same when applying for a new job. I would just send a generic CV and cover letter in the hope they could some how pick out the potential and the good bits. As said previously thisnew adpated CV and cover letter has already lead my to a new job. Plus I had an interview last week for an even better job that was closer to home. The interview went well I did very well on the behaviour and competency questions as you image for someone into NLP. I was a bit rusty on the technical side, but tried to employ as much objection handling as possible. We shall see what happens next.

A few of my actions have lead to immediate dead ends. This isn't an issue in some cases they were just one off actions. In others they were investigation that hit a blank or no result which is good as recorded and I now know I can't create any value from these activites.

I shall carry on to see what happens next. I hope to see actions create actiosn creating value and more actions etc.

Turnaround

noreply@blogger.com (Rossy) — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 12:52:00 +0000

Some great news for me today. I recently changed jobs at the end of December and took over two teams.

The teams where failing against their SLA and KPI targets. The latest stats through show both teams now in SLA.

1 team was only 10% off and the other about 25% off target before I took them on.

Managed to turn it around by doing the simple things, getting the basics right.

1) Set a clear remit of the team and the boundaries of interactions with other teams.

2) Defined the processes of team

3) Defined the daily tasks to ensure the work got done.

4) Set reports in motion to find root cause of the issues and trend analysis. This showed us where the issues lied in the team and how to address it. Could measure the success and un wrap the layers of problems one at a time to gain constant improvements.

5) Begin to gain trust by following through on the actions and feedback.

Have turned around the teams in 3 months. I have learnt what I could have done better. Next time it will only take 2 months!!!

My lessons are chase the i.t. quicker as a full month before I had any reports which is the foundations of measuring success and finding failure.

Listen more, people had raised issues that I didn't act upon as quickly as I could have, probably lost a couple of weeks.

Integrate quicker with peer managers.

Met team quicker. Unfortunately with it being late December and the snow this one was out of my control.

Overall happy.

Lots of other improvements still in the pipeline I wonder what the next 3 months will bring.

I am BACK

noreply@blogger.com (Rossy) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 12:32:00 +0000

I am back. I haven't posted for a long time, but have decided recently to start again.

What am I up to.

I have always been good at work in keeping alist of actions and ideas and following them up. I have drivena lot of benefit and value be simply following through and actioning these ideas.

However, I never do this in my outside work interests. I have decided to start an extra list around these outside work interests. As part of new lists I am tracking the value it creates and what it leads to. I had this idea of a tree type diagram showing how one idea creates another how the pathways of value are created. I am going to call it the "tree of value" or the "path of value". I will keep the blog update with how it works.

marmite fridge

noreply@blogger.com (Rossy) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:04:00 +0000

The other day I was having some toast with marmite. I was on the way
back to put it in the cupboard when my wife happen to say the word
,"Fridge", as part of our conversation.

I walked straight past the cupboard and went to stick it into the
fridge. As I started to open the fridge I realised I was putting it in
the the wrong place.

I realised what my wife had said and the effect it had on me.

I guess it worked as a pattern interrupt as it stopped my train of
thought and put in its place the message fridge which directed my
towards the fridge.

Is this how weird things end up in your fridge and in the wrong places
in your house because through a separate train of thought or a
conversation running at the same time mis directs you to the wrong
place?

Genuine Understanding only comes from Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Rossy) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 08:16:00 +0000

Received a great picture message this morning of my daughter building
a couple of lego towers.
Why is that great you are probably thinking? and what does it have to
do with NLP.

last weekend she wasn't really doing much with the lego, but this
weekend I spent a lot of time with her building lego towers. Mostly me
building and her adding in the odd piece. It seems to have made an
impression as today she is building her own lego towers without any
help. Why NLP? Well made me think of the NLP presupposition.

"Genuine Understanding only comes from Experience or learning is in the act"
You can read all you like, and talk to as many other people as you
like, and you can watch other people doing something on video, DVD or
film - but you don't really understand something until you personally
have done it."

This was definitely the case. The learning came from the experience of
building the towers with me.

more feedback

noreply@blogger.com (Rossy) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 08:31:00 +0000

So Andy Murray learnt from his game against Nadel at Beat him in the
US Open. Definitely a case of taking it as feedback not failure.
Although he lost to Federer in the final he now has experience of a
Grand Slam final.

He said in his interviews that although upset to lose you only get
better my playing better players, losing to Nadal and federer has
shown him the weakness in his own game that he will need to eradicate
if he is to become the best in the world.

His behaviour shows he lives some of the NLP presuppositions

"There is no such thing as failure, only feedback"

"Genuine understand only comes from experience"

Whether this is intentionally or he just has a positive mindset I don't know.

On a personal note at work some of my predications on the state of the
department seem to be coming true. I said that the new structure was
set up for failure, (not feedback ha ha). They under estimated the
work the some of the managers did and by changing our job are starting
to realise that something is now missing. The management level above
now get all the work and hassle we use to deal with and it is clear
they can't cope.

They are trying to pass some of the work back to us again, but they
are getting a strong push back. They changed our jobs they can't have
it both ways. So now they are trying to get some of the team members
to pick it up instead and again are getting strong push back. People
are wise to this style of management now, the have their cake and eat
it approach. They want the work done but won't pay you for it or
recognise you for it. At the end of the day I have contract with the
company I work for, just as they have a contract with their suppliers,
vendors and customers. I do what I do as a business decision, this is
the same terminology they us when making excuses for redundancies or
small pay rises. It seems however they don't like their own excuses
bounced back at them when giving reasons not to work outside your
contract.

Getting back into it

noreply@blogger.com (Rossy) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 07:53:00 +0000

Got back into some NLP yesterday. In a managers meeting always a good
place to spot and use NLP.

For starters my director always sits in these meetings with his head
in his hands. He always seems totally bored by the meetings. Around
there are a number of people try to suck up always giving everything a
positive spin and try to put them selves out or getting others to do
the work for the him.

I had a little discussion with them yesterday and used a few Sleight
of Mouth patterns. Realised I could have used more after the meeting
but to be honest I was only doing it to wind them up a bit and I got
the desired effect very quickly. I think telling one of the managers
"we should be working smarter not harder", was a treat, he sat in
silence for quite a few minutes before coming out with a whole load of
drivel that I couldn't be bothered to counter, as I don't really care
about the job anyway.

I think I need to finish up the book I am on, I have written a goal to
complete by October and the final bit will only take a week to
complete. After that I will re-read the Sleight of Mouth book again
and work out some exercises.

plans for the future

noreply@blogger.com (Rossy) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 07:58:00 +0000

Signed up to a number of NLP rss feeds the other day. Something to
read on a daily basis to keep my interest going. Got through nearly
all podcasts I can find on NLP just waiting for the good ones now to
post new episodes.

Going to try and practice NLP every day at the moment and record the
results, not reading up on anything new at the moment want to
concentrate on what I have already learnt and give my self a break
from reading at the moment. Very nearly finished the NLPbook will only
take a few more few to complete so will be well done before the initial
completion date I set myself and the subsequent revised date as well.

I have a couple of book s that will assist in my practicing of NLP
once I get stuck back in again.

This blog was always suppose to be about strategy, politics and NLP. I
have concentrated on the NLP part and have written a goal to write
100 blog entries on NLP before I moved on. I am on 34 blog entries
since setting the goal, so only a third of the way at the moment.

Ploughing along

noreply@blogger.com (Rossy) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:56:00 +0000

Not sure what to blog about today. Been off ill on Thursday to Sunday,
with my outstanding issues at work I have tired to keep myself
detached from the rest of the team. I don't want to get to involved in
case I leave. So not really using my NLP to its fullest at the moment,
just a little bit of mirroring etc in meetings and conversations as
per normal. Still reading through the book and got to an interesting
section on giving and receiving feedback. I wish I had read this
properly before, never mind I will take that as feedback not failure,
ha ha.

Its a skill I need to develop for my future career, but the again the
opportunities aren't really apparent at the moment. I think I will
write up and keep with my other notes so I can use it when necessary.

I think I am getting somewhere with my case at work, I have found more
evidence to support my point of view. Plus in a meeting the other day
when I discussed with my new manager about this role there seemed to
be a softening of his belief in that the job was significantly
different. He had only just met with the person running the
investigation a few hours before so I wonder if this shift was down to
that meeting.

Any how I have heard he has met a number of the people involved so
should hear in the next week or two.

I will use the in between time to practice NLP where I can or observe it in use.

Rapport

noreply@blogger.com (Rossy) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 07:55:00 +0000

Been reading up on creating rapport. I thought I have already done
this as part of the other chapters around matching body language,
filters and states. There is however a whole chapter dedicated to it
in the book. Basically it does cover some I what I already though I
had done in matching filters, body language and states. It does take
it a step forward by try to match values as overall messages as well.
I guess this is trying to understand their logical levels of change
and build your communication to match this levels also as to build
rapport.

It covers the match, pace and then lead system to build rapport with
people. You match their communication, you then pace with it and
eventually try to lead the communication and if you are in rapport
they will follow. I must admit I have read about this before and
understand the meaning of but never knowingly been able to do it. This
is something I will work on as building rapport brings together all
the elements previously discussed , filters, states, body language,
logical levels of changes and the NLP presupposition will also help
think in the right way.

I think my exercises for this week will be to note down and try this
out everyday.

The next part of the book is well formed outcomes, then coaching with
NLP and feedback with NLP.
All of which I am looking forward to learning more about. I do think
that the rapport part of NLP is the basic building block for the rest
of these subjects so might be worth spending some time on.

Feedback not failure

noreply@blogger.com (Rossy) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:01:00 +0000

After watching the Olympics I have heard the NLP statement of
excellence 'there is only feedback not failure' in use several times
or with this meaning.

A number of the athletics who had missed out in 2004 said they gained
experience and drive to win this time around. Likewise many of those
who missed out his time have said they will use it as a learning
experience to ensure the win next time around.

Also read in the Metro a few weeks a go Peter Jones saying this was
his favorite quote.

A number of athletes recorded personal bests and still felt they had
they should have won or felt there is more to come. I hope that it
will still inspire them to continue in their sport and not get dis
heartened by not winning this time, recognize they have done well and
look to continuously improve for next time around.

I like to think of myself as someone how is very determined to reach
their goals, but from watching the Olympics I realise I have a lot to
learn. I do give up I think the tasks is beyond me and I try and find
an excuse as to why I couldn't complete it or win. I use to do Thai
Boxing and got very dis heartened when I was out sparred and felt I
could never win. I realise the fear of failure use to get to me. After
watching the "the contender Asia" and looking into the history of the
fighters you could see that they have all lost at some stage in their
careers, however the learn and come back for more.

I need to do this, I need to make sure I don't beat myself up over
failure or loss but learn from it instead. I need to use the feedback
to drive myself forward and not dwell on my past mistakes.

This easy to say. We shall see.

missing presuppositions

noreply@blogger.com (Rossy) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 09:16:00 +0000

I just noticed some missing presuppositions

• Change makes Change
Commentary: It is a common saying that "the only person you can
really change is yourself"

• There is no such thing as failure, only feedback
Commentary: When something doesn't go as we planned we tend to see
that as failure. Depending on the seriousness of the situation we
might then get angry, irritated, sad, depressed, worried, guilty or
whatever.
None of which serves any useful purpose.

• A map is not the territory it depicts; words are not the things they
describe; symbols are not the things they represent
Commentary: This may well be the single most important
pre-supposition in the whole of NLP (originally developed by Alfred
Korzybski, the founder of General Semantics).
In very simple terms it means that we are always slightly separated
from 'reality'. We draw maps, but the map is not actually the place
it depicts and we need to be responsive to what is actually happening
around us rather than complaining that things aren't as they "ought to
be".

• Every behaviour is appropriate in some context
Commentary: Another way of putting this is: if we adopt a certain
behaviour it's because once upon a time it worked. The trouble is
that we often go on sing a certain behaviour even though it is
manifestly no longer appropriate.

• You cannot not communicate
Commentary: People often imagine that they can avoid personal
responsibility by simply saying nothing. This pre-supposition points
out that we are constantly communicating, by what we do say, by what
we don't say, and by a host of non-verbal signals.
On this basis it may be obvious that there is more to be gained by
accepting responsibility for one's actions, than by trying to stay
aloof.

I think I will mark out 5 of these to work on else I will disappear
under the weight of them all.

NLP presuppositions

noreply@blogger.com (Rossy) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 09:06:00 +0000

More NLP yesterday. Speaking to a guy over lunch and noticed he kept
looking up to his right as he was trying visual how a something
looked. It was very obvious an I am glad I picked it up.

Been reading up on more NLP especially the model of excellence and the
NLP presuppositions that they believe creates excellence.
NLPers suggest you try on these presupposition even if you don't
believe them initially as you will find they grow on you and you will
eventually believe them to be true. I am think its a another thing to
add to my morning read on my Morning schedule. It would take my up to
2 A4 sheets a paper a morning.
Just about possible without taking up too much time and lose of focus.

NLP Presupposition 1.
1. People respond to their perception of reality, not to reality itself.
Our experience gives us a map of the world from which we operate. It
is not the actual territory it covers. Some maps work well in
situations where others don't. NLP is the art of changing your maps,
so we have greater freedom.

NLP Presupposition 2.
2. Having a choice is better than not having a choice.
The more choices you have, the freer you are and the more influence
you have. NLP seeks to add choice at every opportunity

NLP Presupposition 3.
3. People always make the best choice they can at the time given their
map of the world.
Give them a better choice and they will take it. Even better give them
a superior map with more choices in it.

NLP Presupposition 4.
4. People work perfectly.
No one is broken. We are all getting the results of our map of
beliefs. Change what is flowing through the system of intelligence we
each are and we'll get new results.

NLP Presupposition 5.
5. All actions have a purpose.
Our actions are not random; we are always trying to achieve something,
although we may not be aware of what that is.

NLP Presupposition 6.
6. Every behaviour has a positive intention.
All our actions have at least one purpose - to achieve something that
we value and benefits us. A person is not their behaviour. When a
person has a better choice of behaviour that also achieves their
positive intention, they will take it. NLP uses this intention to
integrate.

NLP Presupposition 7.
7. The unconscious mind balances the conscious; it is not malicious.
The unconscious is everything that is not in consciousness at the
present moment. It contains all the resources we need to live in
balance.

NLP Presupposition 8.
8. The meaning of your communication is also the response you get.
There are no failures, only responses and feedback. If you are not
getting the result you want, change what you are doing. Have the
ability to respond to the communication.

NLP Presupposition 9.
9. We already have all the resources we need, or we can create them.
There are no unresourceful people, only unresourceful states of mind.

NLP Presupposition 10.
10. Mind and body are different expressions of the same one system.
Mind and body interact and mutually influence each other. When we
think differently, our bodies change. When we act differently we
change our thoughts and feelings.

NLP Presupposition 11.
11. We process all information through our senses.
Developing your senses so they become more acute gives you better
information and helps you think more clearly.

NLP Presupposition 12.
12. Modeling successful performance leads to excellence.
If one person can do something it is possible to model it and teach it
to others.

NLP Presupposition 13.
13. If you want to understand - Act
The learning is in the doing.

Want to talk more about Strategy in the terms 'Art of War' not what
NLP refers to as strategy.

Going to make some notes and write down my learning experiences for
future blogs whilst it is still fresh in my mind.

Putting it altogether

noreply@blogger.com (Rossy) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 07:56:00 +0000

Had a hearing around my mapping the other day. It was very interesting
from an NLP point.

Firstly I was able to stay calm through out the entire meeting. I
never got upset, I always allowed people to get their point across, I
never interrupted,in total I behaved very professionally. I think this
will help my case massively as it shows me as a rationale and sensibly
person. I didn't allow myself to drawn on emotionally response or
emotionally reasoning why things had occurred. I didn't point ht
finger or make it personal. I think I was able to maintain this good
sate through some of the previous SWISH exercise I had done and the
understanding of physiology and state. I leaned back every time I felt
I was getting to associated, this help be disconnect from the
situation and allowed my to think clearly and response concisely and
intelligently. I think the leaning back has become a trigger/anchor
for me to relax and stay calm, as I have used this recently in the
past to help me stay cool , I think it has become anchor.

I also decide to mental relive this situation and anchor it to squeeze
of my knee. The hope is I can trigger it in the future if required
when in an intense situation.

When responding with a clear mind I was able to pick up the filters
being used by one of the interviewers. He used the words 'hear my out'
and 'let me say my piece', I always did and picked up on the fact he
used these specific auditory filters. I respond in my calm state,' I
think your voiced that point very well I agree with parts of it'.

I also felt I matched the body language as much as possible and tried
to keep eye contact with both my interviewers. I always find it easy
to match body language, it seems to one of the things that comes
naturally to me or I have been doing it so long its becomes an
unconscious reaction.

I was also able to apply a few SoM sleight of mouth patterns when
talking to them and putting forward my point.

Analogy pattern to describe a similar situation that would also be
unacceptable, that was outside the context of work.

Counter example of how I was wrongly mapped in comparison to other
people. This also connects into an 'Art of War' strategy as I have
given them an easy way out by not making about everyone ion the
mappings just myself.

Chunk down into specially why it was a problem and showed the
consequence of the belief in terms of my career.

I also suggested possible intentions behind the actions of the
mappings by saying 'I don't why it happened, I have no substantial
proof that it was intentional or purposefully done to remove me and
bring in their friend, or whether it was a mis understanding, or was
due to laziness or clumsiness.' This is using the intention SoM I have
drawn attention to a belief by saying I don't know if it was any of
these things, but it has clearly placed the possibility in their minds
it could have been done with to fulfil their own purpose.

I also found a few bits of email evidence that supports my belief of
Intention. Plus it is pre-emptive counter example strike if they deny
knowledge of career history.

I should find out in 3-4 weeks time.

Logical levels of change walk through

noreply@blogger.com (Rossy) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:37:00 +0000

Been reviewing logical levels of change from my NLP book and some
information retrieved off the internet. The book suggest working
through the levels of change for yourself in order to understand it
better and then be able to apply to other people.

So I did this yesterday, I stepped through each level working out what
it meant to me it terms of my working career. I started at Environment
and worked my way up to Purpose and back down again.

It was a very useful exercise. I discovered I did a number of things
that were at odds with my purpose, my behaviours didn't always match
up and the environment I worked in or create weren't 100% aligned.

So I noted the areas that were out of alignment and have an action
plan to resolve in order to align my logical levels. This should bring
about a more consistent message to those around me and greater sense
of purpose and well being. We shall see. I have added to my morning
schedule the list of things I need to change so I am reminded every
morning I how I need to align.

Below is the logical levels of change I worked through.

Level
Questions corresponding to logical levels

Spirituality/Purpose
Who else? For whom? This can be viewed as your connection to a larger system.

Identity/Mission
Who? Who are you as an individual or company? What role do you play
to achieve your purpose? How do you think of yourself as a
person/organization – i.e. I am a successful person.

Beliefs and Values
Why? Why do you do something? What do you believe in or value? As an
individual, you may believe you can do anything you choose. Or you may
value honesty. From a company perspective, the company may value good
customer service and/or the well-being of staff.

Capabilities/Strategies
How? How do you go about doing things? As an individual or company,
what are your capabilities, skills, strategies or action plans?

Behaviours
What? What are your behaviours?

Environment
Where? When? With Whom? Where, when and with whom do you display your
behaviours? What are the external influences on you?

Olympics and NLP

noreply@blogger.com (Rossy) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 07:41:00 +0000

Been reading more about NLP. Onto programming and model part of the book.
Last couple of day have read about the following.

Modelling of excellence.
Anchoring
Logical levels of change

Modelling of excellence talks about the modelling of successful
business people, leaders or sports people. The part about sports
people seems particular appropriate at the moment with the Olympics
going on. Seen so many stories of how people have trained with the
Olympics coming up, the really successful ones seem to eat, sleep,
drink, train their sport 24/7. It appears that there is nothing else
in their lives apart from their sport. Everything they do every day is
dedicated to that sport. Many stories of the world champions losing at
the Olympics. Those that didn't win at the World Championships find
the extra motivation to then win at the Olympics( their is no failure
only feedback. Or there is no failure only learning opportunities).
Stories of people literally hiding away to concentrate on the training
and preparation for the Olympics.

Anchoring is all about finding triggers to invoke good resourceful
states and realising what triggers we have that create unresourceful
states. The idea being we can create resourceful states by firing off
a physical trigger I.e. touching your ear lobe. Resourceful states is
a positive state of mind for example happy, confident, independent,
calm. Unresourceful states are the opposite for example angry,
annoyed, depressed etc. Anchoring teaches you to trigger these
resourceful states and stop the unresourecful states. Part of the
reasoning in the book is that we work better in a resourceful state,
obviously! Also that if we want to lead and influence others then we
must set the right example and be able to spot resourceful or
unresoucreful states in others. If we can recognise these states in
our selves we can then spot it in others and help them find the the
right resourceful state.

This part of the book is all about practising on yourself in order to
create the same effect on others. Can you tell others to give up
smoking if you smoke!
Can you lead others if you don't show the right motivation, influence
and behaviours your self.?

I will write about the logical levels of change tomorrow

Its friday

noreply@blogger.com (Rossy) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:05:00 +0000

Yesterday saw a very clumsy email from someone who had linked two
pieces of information together, was a definite distortion complex
equilvance.

It also presupposed a point of information that showed them up. It
made it apparent they have not worked on the project and they should
have.

Yesterday night was reading up on P of NLP, discussing modelling of
excellence. Just getting into and getting onto the strategies they
have in place from modelling success and excellence. I know the book
covers leadership and coach which are two areas I wish to cover and
have separate (non NLP)books on.

Discovered I tilt my head when listening to people. According to the
books its an auditory thing, however I would describe myself much more
visual.

Anyway, enough ramblings for today. I will be back next week

New CV and covering letter with NLP

noreply@blogger.com (Rossy) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:17:00 +0000

Re did my CV and covering letter using NLP techniques meta model
yesterday. I have upload it to the CV sites and I hope it will make a
big difference. I reviewed my old CVs and discovered that my CV from 2
years ago was better than my previous existing CV. I had removed all
the good flowing language patterns and replaced them with statements
of fact. I think this happened as I quickly updated my CV I just flung
in new skills and achievements with out thinking them through
properly.

In reviewing my old CV I was able to pick out the best bits, enhance
and create a new CV that flowed really well. I asked my wife to review
and she said, 'it was better than the previous one, it flowed better
and the information really leaped out at you'. I tried to create an
outcome to each skill or experience as in ' Management and development
of team of designers on multiple projects & skill sets to create
effective resource. This ensures the delivery of projects in company x
and ongoing availability of technical skills for succession planning.'
The outcome being continued delivery of projects and technical
resource.

After using it through a job application, I got an agency call me
within half an hour. They were particularly happy with my covering
letter.

Just thinking about my CV, it was all about meta model, I didn't
really think about apply filters to it at all.
I keep doing this, thinking about either filters or meta model, find
it hard to apply both at once.

On my CV though I don't think it is a big problem as the nature of the
CV is intentionally positive, towards, proactive, mixed between
dissociated/associated, matching and internal/externally referenced.
It tries to appeal across a number of filters in order to work for
numerous job applications.

If employing someone you wouldn't want a totally internally referenced
person, but you wouldn't want someone who only followed their own
standards. Same with associated and dissociated, a bit of passion goes
a long way to show you are motivated and can motivate others.

I may have another read……

Read.. Not much external reference, but then again why does there need
to be in this case. What value would an external reference have!!!

Towards in general with a few same away points in combination where
relevant. i.e saving costs.
Big or small chunk. Don't think either. You can't small chunk on a CV
as there isn't room. I think its just enough information to convey the
point.

Associated or dissociated. Not full of emotion, this is CV and I
suppose it does come from my point of view so there is a feeling of
association in the fact I am selling myself. Seems very neutral to me
any opinions!!!