The Birth of NLP

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is the study of how we think and experience our world around us. Obviously, the nature of our brains and consciousness has not become an exact science quite yet, so the main method used by NLP is to form models of how these things work.

The models are then used to create techniques for quickly changing thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors that you may not want or need anymore, or even be aware of.

The two people generally credited with developing NLP are Richard Bandler and John Grinder. Bandler was a psychology student at the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1970, when he joined a group led by Grinder, then an associate professor of linguistics at the school.

The two men became friends and began working together, both influenced by the Family Therapy work of Virginia Satir, Fritz Perls’ Gestalt Therapy, and Milton H. Erickson’s work. Bandler used his background in mathematics and computers and Grinder used his linguistics knowledge to detect patterns and create models.

Both Bandler and Grinder were impressed with the seemingly magical effect that therapists like Satir and Erickson had on their clients, and wanted to see if they could break it down to a scientific level, so it could be more easily reproduced by anyone.

Other like-minded people joined Bandler and Grinder, and many of the methods that are still used today were developed, including anchoring, calibration, reframing, representational systems, and various personal behavioral change techniques.

Throughout the early 1970s, Bandler and Grinder worked on new ideas and experiments while giving workshops and writing books. The Structure of Magic, Volumes I and II, Patterns of the Hypnotic Techniques of Milton H. Erickson, Volumes I and II, and Frogs Into Princes were all published during the subsequent five years.

Most of these books are mainly addressed to therapists wanting to use NLP in their work, but anyone interested in the subject will find useful information there.

Introduction to NLP

You are the owner and operator of the most amazing, beautiful, and complicated machine ever invented — your brain.

When you buy a new camera, or a new printer, or a new microwave oven, you most likely take some time to look through the manual and learn about what your new purchase can do, and how to operate it and get the most use out of it.

Yet your brain did not come with an owner’s manual (how many pages long would something like that be, anyway?). So it’s no surprise that people have occasional difficulty controlling how their brain works.

NLP means different things to different people, since there is no central governing authority or set of rules regarding its definition and practice.

But basically NLP helps us get out of our own way. We build up an arsenal of often unconscious ways of reacting to certain situations in our lives, and often those reactions have become outmoded and unproductive. If we identify and become conscious of those unproductive reactions, we can choose to change them, thereby removing roadblocks to our progress in creating the lives we really want.

Furthermore, NLP can be used to change the way we interact with our reality, with huge implications for every area of our lives.

NLP draws its inspirations from a number of different areas of psychology and science. It’s sort of an “open-source” system, with a large number of people constantly adding to its growing knowledge base.

In essence, and unlike many strands of mainstream psychology and therapy, NLP is less concerned with “curing” whatever is “wrong” with a person and instead focusing on what makes people effective and on what works well.

You may be familiar with the saying that “insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results.” NLP assumes that every person is already working perfectly, and that what appears to be “wrong” with someone is actually the perfect response to their current map of their world.

Needless to say, NLP has many potential applications in business, along with the other areas of your life. There are models that can help you locate your hidden talents and skills and bring them to full flower, as well as teach those skills to other people.

There are models of communications and behavior that can help you improve relationships with your clients, and become more effective in all areas of your business.

Put simply, NLP is about studying human excellence in all its forms, but not in the sense of putting that excellence on a far-off pedestal, but studying it and learning how to model those things that we would like to be doing.

And, unlike other competitive tools, using NLP is not one of those things that will lose its advantage once it becomes more widely used, forcing you to abandon it and search for the next cutting-edge thing.

NLP strengthens and sharpens your unique strengths and advantages, which no competitor can take away from you.

NLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming) first emerged under that name in the early ‘70s in the U.S. as a way of examining the thinking and behavioral processes of extremely productive and successful people.

Since that time, it has grown to where it is an international phenomenon used by millions. Its methods and principles are applied in many diverse areas, including sales, marketing, education, therapy, sports, personal development, and more.

A good thing to remember is that NLP is the study of what we already do — our patterns, beliefs, and thinking — so we can focus on and strengthen what does work, and take focus away from the elements that act as (often unconscious) roadblocks and keep us from reaching our potential.