NLP is a fascinating subject. A lot of people think that NLP was created in some kind of lab, and doesn’t really exist “out there” in the world.
This makes sense because there are plenty of politicians and other types who are really good at knowing how to manipulate people.
Of course, you can learn nlp without needing any desire to manipulate anybody.
But those politicians, surely they know a thing or two about neuro-linguistic programming, right?
People hear some politician throw out a pattern or two, or maybe use some anchoring and suddenly draw the conclusion:
“Hey! They must have trained in NLP! What a sneaky bastard!”
In truth, NLP was reverse engineered from people who are naturally good at persuasion and influence.
See, most people are naturally good at what the do, to some extent, otherwise they wouldn’t be doing it.
Sure, we need to practice if we want to earn a living, but we wouldn’t have decided to do what we do unless we were halfway decent at it, and liked doing it.
Pro golfers are naturally good at golf, and enjoy it.
Engineers are naturally good at math, and enjoy it.
Politicians? They’re naturally good at persuasion, and they enjoy it.
The best ones simply keep doing what works, and keep getting better and better.
The truth is, that most people who are really good at something usually don’t really know why they are good at it. They just know that they’re good at it, and by doing it again and again, and measuring their feedback, they keep getting better and better.
What makes NLP different is that you can take ANY skill, reverse engineer it, and take it on as your own, “as if” you were a “natural.”
Most people assume that you’ve either got these skills, or you don’t. In reality, you can pretty much learn anything you want.
But with NLP? Anything’s possible.
Think about that next time you see somebody who’s naturally good at something.