Modelling success

I love people watching. Throughout my life I have watched people. I particularly watching successful folk and the things they did. I would generally conclude that I could do what they do.

But, I didn't. That was frustrating. What did I not have that stopped me?

It was the last week of NLP master practitioner that I found a tool that could get some of that success others were having into my life. Wouldn't that be great?

The answer was modelling, the technique upon which all of NLP has been constructed. Modelling is akin to method acting for an actor. In addition to learning the lines, a method actor actually becomes the person. They will believe what the character would believe and think what they would think. Some actors even notice physiological changes.

Wouldn't it be great if in a business decision we suddenly were able to think like a great entrepreneur. How fab would it be when standing up to make a presentation we took on the persona of an after dinner speaker or how awesome would it be when in the sporting field we had the focus and drive of world class athlete. Think how much more successful we could be.

As part of my studies, I did a test and modelled a magician in the context of a card trick. This took just two hours, including the compulsory cuppa. I learnt why magic was important to them and what they believed about magic. I discovered their strategies to be a great magician, the key visual, auditory or self talk triggers that motivated them and put them into the right state to lead the audience through the magic. The least important bit was the process of doing the trick.

The result was astonishing. I did not rehearse, I had no notes. When asked I stood up and ran the magicians programs, unconsciously.

I started with a story that created a buzz of excitement and curiosity that I could hear and see. The rapport built through the story motivating me and focussing the audience away from the sleight of hand that occurred right under their noses. The story drew the audience in. The more they were hooked the more elaborate I made the process.

When the right card appeared, their was confusion and complete disbelief.

I have never been good at tricks and when I look back it was almost as if it was Ben Broomfield, the magician I modelled, had been in the room.

Now imagine if you had THE expert in the room helping you perhaps helping you in work. Well when I look at the magic trick, translating that into work would be incredible. That is my next job, to model a successful entrepreneur to help me in the business context.

When I look back at all those people I used to watch, it was what I couldn't see, their beliefs, strategies and programs that were the missing components. Modelling is the way forward.