What is NLP?

NLP has been called the “new technology of achievement” and is said to be the greatest contribution to the behavioural sciences in the last 30 years. It is a technology for improving communication and the study of human excellence. NLP was born when a linguist called John Grinder and a mathematician called Richard Bandler asked themselves a simple yet fascinating question:

“What is it that makes the difference between somebody who is merely competent at any given skill and somebody who excels at the same skill?”

People typically answer that question in one of two ways. Either that some people have natural gifts and talents for a particular skill, or practice and experience is what really counts. NLP side-steps these two answers not by focusing on the past training between people with different abilities, but on the present. It enables a competent person to turn their old performance into one of excellence. NLP is a practical application of how people think. Described as “software for your brain,” it takes you to the root of understanding behaviour and allows you to automatically tap into the experiences you want to have.

NLP proposes that there are three elements to behaviour:

• External behaviour - what a person actually says and does.
• Internal Thinking - what a person thinks and how they interpret it.
• Internal States - how a person processes their feelings.