Monday, March 15, 2010

4-point Success Formula


The NLP 4-point Success Formula works like a modern guided missile to help people achieve their goals.
  • Step 1 – Select your target (set your goal)
  • Step 2 – Blast off (take action)
  • Step 3 – Sense (gather feedback on whether you are closing in on your target or not)
  • Step 4 – Adjust (change your flight path until you hit your target). 

Step 1 – Select your target.

Lock on to it tenaciously like a guided missile.

It is critical to be precise about what you are locking on to, otherwise you may get unintended results or get nowhere.

People often do not achieve their aims because their goals are “out-of-shape” i.e. not well-formed.


Step 2 – Blast off.

Unless we take action, we will not achieve our target no matter how well defined or worthy our goals are.

Taking action might seem pretty obvious, but many people do not do that. They make up excuses like, waiting for the best time, waiting for others, or give other “excellent” reasons on why doing nothing is the right thing to do.

Go for it, NLP is action oriented and about making things happen, for ourselves or for others.


Step 3 – Sense.

Where are you now compared to where you want to go? Are you closer to where you want to be? Are you heading in the correct direction?

If your goal involves other people, you have to pay absolute attention to them using your sensory acuity.

Often when we are talking to others, we are engaged with ourselves in our heads at the same time. We are formulating our responses and are waiting for the moment to jump in to give our own opinion.

As a result, we miss noticing those minute shifts, verbal and non-verbal cues, and changes in others that tell us whether what we are doing is working or not.

Sensing (listening, looking and having total external focus) lets you notice everything that is going on that affects your goal.

Paying attention lets you receive more feedback because you become a great listener that people want to talk to.


Step 4 – Adjust.

The road to your goal is seldom a straight line.

Often people just stubbornly plod on, repeating the same thing that has already proven not to work.

Lock on to your target tenaciously, and also be flexible. If what you are doing isn’t getting you what you want, change what you are doing.

These, in a nutshell, are the four basic steps to excellence in NLP and in life!

2 comments:

  1. i think the arrows are going the wrong way, when i first saw the diagram, i was thinking..huh? why are we setting targets at the end? then i realized i was reading it the wrong way...perhaps you could make it clearer?

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  2. Why use a metaphor of war? ie. missiles? Aren't they used for distruction?
    We can actually do much more when we work in cooperation and in peace.

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