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4 Keys to Unlock
Success by Living
your Life with NLP
NLP has been described as the secret of successful people
NLP was created by two people
(Richard Bandler and John Grinder) who
modelled powerful communicators
and people who were leaders in
their fields. They were interested in
replicating excellence and being able
to teach this to others.
Bandler and Grinder studied and modelled very successful people and
built models of how the person did what they did. They then used these
models to teach others how to do it.
They discovered that amongst the many things that successful people
shared there were 4 key ideas or approaches that were common to all.
These ideas can be applied in any area of your life, with family, friends or
colleagues, in sport, business, teaching, sales, therapy, at work or at home.

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The 4 Keys (or NLP in 1 Minute)

If NLP were ever to be offered in a 1 minute presentation, it would probably
go something like this. The presenter would walk on and say, Ladies and
gentlemen, to be successful in life you need only to remember four things.
Firstly know what you want; have a clear idea of your outcome in any
situation. Secondly, do something. Thirdly, be alert and keep your senses
open so you know what you are getting. Finally, have the flexibility to
keep changing what you do until you get what you want.
And would then leave. End of seminar.

Getting the most from this

To gain the most from reading the following pages you might like to think
right now about an area of your life that isnt as you would like it to be.
As you read the following principles consider how they can help you in
this situation.

1. Outcome
A person without a goal is like a ship without
a rudder
Alice: Can you tell me which path I should
take?
Cheshire Cat: That depends a good deal on
where you want to go!
Alice: I dont really know.
Cheshire Cat: Then, clearly, any path will do!

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NLP is about an attitude of focusing on outcomes (and not problems).

Focusing on problems usually means considering what is wrong, why it is
wrong and who is to blame.
Successful people know their own outcome in a given situation. They
focus on the desired result or outcome wanted and how best can this
be achieved. In modelling excellent communicators Bandler and Grinder
discovered that they had an outcome for what they were doing.
Can you imagine being in a plane on the runway and hearing the captain
say Good morning ladies and gentlemen, were just taking off and were
going to fly round for a while in various directions and hope that when
we run out of fuel well be somewhere we want to be. Of course not. It is
important to know the direction youre headed in and where you want to
get to.

What do
you want?

What is it you actually want? (if your initial

answer is what you dont want then you can
just reconsider what it is you actually want?)

How will you

know you have
got it?

What will you be seeing, hearing, feeling or

saying to yourself that would let you know
youve got it?

What will
having this
give you?

What is important about this?

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2. Take Action
A journey of a thousand miles
begins with a single step Lao Tzu
Do not be too timid and squeamish
about your actions. All life is an
experiment. The more experiments
you make, the better. What if they
are a little coarse, and you may get
your coat soiled or torn? What if you
do fail, and get fairly rolled in the dirt
once or twice? Up again, you shall
never be so afraid of a tumble.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

DO SOMETHING
When you do something you have started. This will lead to results. They
may or may not be the results you are wanting (see the next section) but
you will be making progress.

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What is the first

smallest step
you can make?

What is the smallest step you can take to

move you in the direction of your outcome?

How soon can

you make
this step?

How easy is this for you to do? If you dont

feel like you can do it straightaway it may not
be the smallest step.

It doesnt have to be a leap of faith.

You can just be stepping in the right direction.
Wayne Gretzky, ex-professional ice-hockey player famously said:
You miss 100% of the shots you dont take.

3. Notice what results you are

getting (Part 1)
People love chopping wood. In this
activity one immediately sees results.
Albert Einstein
Results! Why, man, I have gotten
a lot of results. I know several
thousand things that wont work.
Thomas A. Edison

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Sometimes people are so busy doing or thinking inside their mind that
they dont actually notice what is happening in the outside world.
What results are you actually getting in life?
And, are you REALLY noticing everything?
In NLP, sensory acuity is the name given to the skill of being able to notice
small details and distinctions and really pay attention to what is important.
This might be other peoples physiology, behaviour or words or your own.
Paying attention to others will give you amazing information. A famously
quoted study by Albert Mehrabian (1967) concluded that words make up 7%
of a communication. This probably isnt quite correct as the generalisations
made in study are questionable but it is worth remembering that words
make up only a small percentage of a communication. So, are you noticing
all the other non-verbal information?
Paying attention to yourself may also give you amazing information.
Some people dont pay attention to their own feelings. We could consider
emotions like a Sat Nav system, they can help guide us and let us know if
were heading in the wrong direction.

3. Notice what results you are

getting (Part 2)
THERE IS no failure ONLY FEEDBACK
In 1879 Thomas Edison perfected the light bulb as we know it. It took him a
long time to discover the perfect material for the filament-- the wire inside
the light bulb. He filled pages and pages with notes before he finally had

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a bulb that withstood a 40 hour test in his laboratory. When an attempt

failed he made a note of that, readjusted, tried again and kept learning
from every experiment.
Edison was famously interviewed by a young reporter who boldly asked
Edison if he felt like a failure and if he thought he should have given up by
now. Puzzled, Edison replied, Young man, why would I feel like a failure?
And why would I ever give up? I now know definitively over 9,000 ways
that an electric light bulb will not work. Success is almost in my grasp.
Eventually, after testing more that 1500 materials for the right filament,
including coconut fibre, fishing line, and even hairs from a friends beard,
Thomas Edison finally figured out what to use for the filament - carbonised
bamboo.

What have you been

paying attention in
this situation?
Apart from that,
what is everything
else that you
havent been paying
attention to?

There are only

results!

What have you been seeing, hearing, or

feeling in this situation until now?

What is everything else youve NOT been

seeing, hearing or feeling?

If youre not getting the results you want notice that. If youre not getting the results
you want then notice that too!

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4. Flexibility (Part 1)
If you do what youve always done,
youll get what youve always got.
Presupposition of NLP
When one door closes, another opens;
but we often look so long and so
regretfully upon the closed door that we
do not see the one which has opened
for us. - Alexander Graham Bell
Definition of Insanity. Insanity: doing the
same thing over and over again and
expecting different results.
- Albert Einstein

If what youre doing isnt working,

do something else.
When people arent getting the results they want they often just try it
harder, faster, quicker or do it more. In the stereotypical comedy sketch
about a British person abroad he just speaks more loudly and slowly to
make himself understood. But, still speaks English.
Developing flexibility in your approach isnt always easy. The more we are
used to something the easier it feels and the more habitual it becomes.
And, the more we are used to something, the less stimulating it tends to
be for thinking. Edward be Bono coined the term Provocative Operation

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to describe the idea of interrupting old thought patterns and creating

new connections. When we disrupt our thought patterns, those ideas that
create the greatest stimulus to our thinking do so because they force us
to make new connections in order to comprehend the situation.
You can do this really simply. Right now you could do something different.
Read a book or a magazine that you wouldnt normally
Drink something you wouldnt normally drink
Watch a different t show.
Eat ice cream for breakfast (well, eat something unusual for breakfast)
Answer your phone with the opposite hand to normal.
Make conversation with someone just for the fun of it.

4. Flexibility (Part 2)
Doing new things leads to creativity
A surprising number of inventions have actually been discovered by
accident. Most people are familiar with the Post-it note, a small piece
of paper with a strip of low-tack adhesive on the back that allows it to
be temporarily attached to paper, cupboards, walls, computers, and just
about anything else.
The Post-it note was conceived in 1974 by Arthur Fry as a way of keeping
his book marked while singing in a church choir. He knew of an adhesive
accidentally developed in 1968 by fellow 3M employee Spencer Silver.

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However, the lightly sticky stuff hadnt been used until Frys idea. The 3M
company was initially dubious about the products profitability, but in 1980,
the product was introduced around the world.

What would
you like to do
differently in this
situation?

In what ways could you behave or respond

differently?

How would
you like to BE
different in this
situation?

If you were doing what you want to be

doing then how would you actually BE?

What are all the things you could say or do

that you havent considered?

What happens if you start BEING this way

now?

Today, Post-it notes are sold in

more than 100 countries.
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