Engineering the Quality of Experience Through Meta Programs
Author
Damon Cart
Date
Oct 12, 2015
Tags
General tips
Content
Author
The Meta Programs Mixing board was created by imagining Meta Programs on a sound mixing board, the kind a sound engineer in a recording studio slides up and down adding more treble or decreasing the treble, adding more bass or lowering the bass, etc. to balance the qualities of sound while recording a song. Instead of balancing qualities of sound I wondered what it would be like to balance qualities of information sorting (Meta Programs) for a given context.
I wanted to know what would happen if I took a particular context, a problem situation or even a situation I felt successful in and elicited my Meta Programs for that context and then moved them, sliding them back and forth. Doing this allowed me to try on the opposite Meta Program or find the middle of two opposite Meta Programs until I optimized the way I sorted information on a meta level for that particular situation. What I discovered was a somewhat uncomfortable and yet powerful way to engineer, balance, mix and remix past experiences, ongoing experiences and future experiences and also a way to gain helpful insight.
This technique comes with a warning. Meta Programs are filters and when you filter something you're deleting (and/or generalizing and distorting) information. Moving Meta Programs is very powerful and can be very uncomfortable. It's important to not only have rapport if you're guiding an explorer, it's really important to hold a space for them that allows for flexibility, possibility and constant assurance that what you're doing is an exploration and that you can always return their Meta Programs back to the way they were. Be gentle in other words.
The exploration into this idea began with wondering if it would be useful to open the filter up and allow the deleted information in to see if it could be useful to the context or would the new information change the Meta Program altogether for the better? For the sake of time I started with identifying three to five driver Meta Programs which were Meta Programs that were on one extreme or the other, Meta Programs that seemed unmovable or Meta Programs that when moved even slightly altered other Meta Programs.
The first time I experimented with this process with someone besides myself I elicited Meta Programs from a work situation from a woman who really liked her job and felt like she was quite successful at it. She chose three Meta Programs she felt were driving her experience and I used markers on the floor to indicate one end of the Meta Program like 'Specific' and a few feet away from it I used another marker to represent 'General'. I also put a marker in the middle to indicate the middle ground between the two extremes of the Meta Program. We did this for all three Programs she chose and for every Meta Program she chose she happened to be all the way on one extreme with no in between. For example when it came to Specific to General she was on the extreme end of Specific. I had her step into that filter and describe it to me. I asked her, just for the sake exploration, what would it be like if she opened her filter to the middle and I had her step into the middle. Once she was there it was obvious she was taking in more and new information not just into her mind but also somatically. Her skin color changed. She shifted from primarily visual representation to kinesthetic and auditory. Her whole physiology shifted as she adjusted.
After asking her to describe what she was experiencing I asked her if there was any useful information she could take back with her if she were to return to her original filter. Though there was some resistance and parts of her rejecting this position she was surprised to find that there was plenty of useful information in this new perspective that she had until now not been aware of.
I moved her to the opposite filter, all the way to 'General', and again her physiological shifts were obvious as she adjusted. I asked her if she found any information in this filter to be useful. Once again she was surprised to find, despite her resistance to the position, that this new perspective gave her useful insights and information she did not have access to prior to this exploration. We did this for all three Meta Programs and by the time we were done she decided to modify two of them because she realized that the new information she discovered was important enough to change her filter to improve her effectiveness in her job.
When she went back to work she had new information and she was aware of a range of possibilities she hadn't been before this experiment. In other words she now had more choice and more options. She also created more flexibility and adaptability to new situations that might require different filters.
Since then I've used this process several times and every time the people I've guided have realized new insights and implemented new choices into stuck situations or made already good situations better.
I worked with a hypnotist who was so dedicated to her work that she wasn't charging most of her clients and was going to run out of money and have to get a regular job if she didn't do something soon. She felt stuck and unable to ask her nonpaying clients to pay her. Her driving Meta Program was Internal/External. She was extremely External because she believed that a great hypnotist had to be selfless and their for her clients 100%. When I moved her to the middle, closer to Internal, she said "Wow! This is where I make money and it's okay." This new understanding deflated her limiting belief about charging her clients and she realized that if she didn't charge her clients she would have to go to work for someone else and wouldn't be able to see most of her clients anymore and she really wouldn't be able to be there for them at all. She realized it served her better and her clients better to charge for her services.
The Meta Programs Mixing Board is a process designed to optimize already successful contexts, model successful contexts, bring more choice and flexibility to already successful contexts and/or bring more choice and flexibility to contexts where a person feels limited.
Music like life is not static. When recording it, it requires an engineer to balance the manifold qualities of sound. By taking this same approach to Meta Programs (how we sort information at a meta level) not only can you balance and optimize your state and inner and outer game you create choice and flexibility to change and flow in the moment as a given situation changes and requires sorting information differently in order to optimize performance. It also can give you greater flexibility in changing how you communicate in order to align with another person or a group's Meta Programs to create rapport and have greater influence.
META PROGRAMS MIXING BOARD
1. Elicit five to ten Meta Programs for a given context, problematic or generative from the explorer.
2. Go over their Meta Programs and narrow down three to five driver Meta Programs, programs which when moved seem to effect other Meta Programs, Meta Programs that are on one extreme of the spectrum of the program or Meta Programs that seem inflexible as if there's no other way the explorer can sort information in this context other than these three to five ways. (You can use all Meta Programs for this exercise if you have the time.)
3. Lay out each Meta Program on the floor using three markers on the floor to represent one Meta Program and line up the Meta Programs one in front of the other. For example:
Towards [—————I—————] Away
General [—————I—————] Specific
Match [—————I—————] Mismatch
4. Have the explorer step onto the spectrum of the first Meta Program in the place that most accurately portrays how they sort information in this context with this Meta Program. Perhaps they're more Towards than Away or more Away than Towards or perhaps they're both Towards and Away, in the middle. Usually they're closer to one extreme. If they start in the middle you can have them explore either extreme.
5. Have the explorer move to the middle of the spectrum to experience what it's like to sort from both extremes. Notice physiology. Check ecology and be gentle. Then move them to the opposite end of the spectrum. You may need to reassure them that they can always put the Meta Program back the way it was. Again be gentle and sensitive to ecology.
6. What is different? What's the same? Any new insights into this situation? What new information or understandings come up when they are experiencing the opposite extreme of sorting information in this context?
7. Move them back to their original starting point putting the Meta Program back where it was. Then have them step off into a Meta Position to debrief.
8. Follow the previous steps with the other Meta Programs.
9. Once you've moved the explorer through all of the Meta Programs and explored all extremes of the spectrum bring them to a Meta Position and ask them what, if any, adjustments could be made to the Meta Programs that would serve them better in this context to be more resourceful. They may not want to make any changes. If they do want to make changes bring them back through and move to the position on the spectrum of the program they want to change and future pace sorting information this way next time they're in this context. Check ecology. Do the same for any other changes they might want to make.
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.
