A Useful Approach to Learning NLP Faster Than You Thought Possible by Damon Cart
Author
Damon Cart
Date
Oct 12, 2015
Tags
General tips
Content
Author
I often hear the question "What's the best way to learn NLP?" or "How can I learn NLP quickly?" The answer I often start with and the answer I was often told is practice. It's an answer that does not satisfy most people but it is the difference that makes the difference when it comes to people who are okay at NLP and people who are great at it. There's just no way of getting around it. NLP skills take practice. The more you practice the better you will be just like anything else.
How do you practice though? Some people don't even ask this question and it's an important one. It's the question I'm still asking myself and my teachers and I pursue the answer relentlessly by trying as many approaches as I can find. It's also a question I love to discuss. The best part is that there is no one right way. There are some bad ways to practice and there are good ways and better ways to practice.
My experience with this comes from trial and error, running an NLP study group, attending numerous trainings and modeling trainers who are the best in the field as well as conducting workshops of my own.
Cultivate Beginner Mind
The first useful method I incorporate into my practice is the concept of Beginner Mind. The reason I call it a concept is that your mind is so full of information that it's anything but new to learning. By the time we reach adulthood we don't absorb information as easily as when we were children and we tend to use more generalizing in order to learn; meaning learning new information by relating it to knowledge we already have rather than opening the mind and letting new knowledge in. Generalizing is a a very useful tool itself, however, it can also filter out important information or even make something you're learning seem like something it's not because you're relating it too much to something you already know.
Just before practicing and just before attending a class or workshop open your mind and body to new information as if everything you know might not be so. Make this your intent. Let go of all that you've learned (it will still be there when or if you want to come back to it I promise) and allow yourself to put down your defenses and filters and let the information in. Even if you've practiced something a hundred times allow yourself to learn something new. Allow yourself to be surprised.
Cultivate Playfulness
The second tool or resource I use is playfulness. Our first learning activity in life is playing. Watch children especially one to three year olds. Playing is how they learn. They don't set a goal to learn their first language or to learn to walk. They play with sounds and words until they start to speak coherently. They crawl around on the floor and watch adults walk until they decide to give it a try and no matter how many times they fall they keep trying because it's play.
Watch animals play. Kittens, puppies, baby tigers, baby bears, etc. (you can find plenty of this on Youtube) all play in order to learn how to be effective hunters and defenders of their territory. Like children they have no fear of failure and no concern of whether or not they get it right. They play and over time they develop skills.
My five year old, for example, learned to do things on my iPhone in a matter of minutes that took me 15 minutes of reading a manual to figure out. To her she was just having fun discovering all the cool things this gadget could do. To me it was a task to figure out.
When I'm coaching and training I often see students struggling and getting frustrated. I remember those times for myself vividly. Why? Because it still happens. When I get frustrated though I remind myself to cultivate playfulness while I practice and I learn so much more and I don't waste energy with frustration. Approach what you're doing with the same sense of fun that a child would and watch how much easier and enjoyable practice becomes.
Cultivate Curiosity
Curiosity is one of the most powerful tools any being has. It is what drives innovation. Like the analogy I used above you will find unlimited curiosity in children as well as most young mammals. Without curiosity there's no motivation to learn. I think people forget about curiosity because they're so driven to achieve a goal. Get in touch with what's driving the goal and I assure you curiosity is part of the fuel.
Get curious about NLP techniques and practices. Experiment. Go at it like a painter might take to a blank canvas with a vague idea of what she wants to paint and enough curiosity to allow what's insider her to emerge. Be curious about practicing NLP the wrong way. Discover what exactly makes it incorrect and you will understand the importance of doing it properly. Curiosity about the person you're working with builds rapport. Curiosity will drive you to new places not only outside of you but also within. Allow it to drive you beyond your limits and beyond what's logical.
Last but not least, push yourself. I'm not saying hurt yourself or do anything inappropriate or unethical or anything that might violate your own ecology or someone else's. Get curious and discover what pushing yourself means to you and do it. One thing I've noticed about great NLPers is that they look at everything in terms of what's possible instead of impossible and they're willing to go beyond their perceived limitations. They assume their limitations are arbitrary markers that only indicate where they haven't gone yet.
Most importantly practice. Consistency and frequency trump duration when it comes to practice. In other words practicing NLP 20 minutes a day is better than practicing three hours once a week (practicing three hours a day would be even better).
Combining the resources of Beginner Mind, Playfulness, and Curiosity with a daily practice will make NLP more enjoyable and will make your skills razor sharp.
Damon Cart
Author
Damon Cart is considered to be a natural talent by some of the best NLP trainers in the world. His approach to guiding and teaching students brings to their awareness that they've been doing NLP all of their lives without realizing it and he empowers them with skills and resources to thrive and reach their full potential. With the understanding of how Neuro Linguistic Programs create oneβs experience a person can then take charge of those programs and create the experience and the life they want. By taking this approach into his own rigorous, daily NLP practice Damon has been able to rapidly accelerate his progress in learning, coaching clients and teaching workshops.
