NLP podcast extract: Doug O'Brien on NLP and Metaphor

"So I'll start a story, and I'll start on one side of the room, to spatially anchor the story and the state that that place elicits on one side of the room. It might be a state for frustration, because the person that has tried to quit smoking or tried to loose weight often has the feeling of frustration, it's common to the people that are listening to the stories."

"So I'll tell a story about that, and anchor that on, say, the right side of the room. And then I'll tell another story, that has maybe, nothing to do with the first story. This kind of open-loop idea. But it elicits, a state again, that is of curiosity, lets say - and then I'll anchor that in this next place, across, closer to the centre of the room, from the original anchor. "

"Then I'll anchor a third state, and I'll start wandering - walk over to the third place. It's a little further to the left for them. And I'll tell a story about when I felt determined, and I felt absolutely determined to make something happen."

"Then I'll tell a fourth story and I'll walk to the far left side of the room, where I get into a flow state, and make things happen. And if it feels really good I'll make it a recursive thing where I - the more that I do the better it feels - or the better it feels, the more that i do. And I start a story like that."

"And then I'll start suggesting that they might want to exercise, for example. so I'll walk over to the right side of the room and I'll start talking to them about exercising, and about how sometimes there's a feel of frustration and then I'll sort of go through a scenario that might be a suggestion and rehearse within their mind, what they're going to be doing - starting from frustration going to a place of curiosity - going to a place of determination - and a place of 'Wow, they're working out every day!'"

"I've move across the room to these anchored spots based on those previous stories that I've told."

Listen the podcast or read the full transcript: NLP Metaphor

Liam Beale
Business Development Manager
PPI Business NLP: NLP Training and NLP-based Business Training