Nick Kemp Blog

 I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.”

Bertrand Russell

In the world of Changework and NLP one of the most useful skills is exploring how to change and create beliefs. However in many instances this can lead to a highly unrealistic mind set where people actually believe that they have a capability which doesn’t translate in real life. Of course the seminar generation business is to a great extent responsible for fostering this idea as it helps sell courses! It’s in my view a shame that this focus has in some instances eclipsed a focus on generating real skills. Of course believing you have skills doesn’t make it so…

I read a thread online recently about a bunch of people reading a new book called “I can make you rich” and following the exercises in the belief that they will become rich! Time will tell if this manifests in real life, but in my experience hard work requires application and also an ability to identify opportunities and create opportunities. It’s said in show business that it takes ten years to become an overnight success and in my experience perseverance  is a key ingredient in creating any form of wealth whether this e financial or otherwise. Again believing its possible is useful, but don’t make it so…

I have previously blogged about how especially how the commercialization of some training companies has led to issuing certificates for almost anything in an attempt to create “ownership”. As I have said before we now have NLP certificates regarded by some as “qualifications” and NLP has attempted to make inroads into being seen as credible in the worlds of medicine and education while at the same time attaching itself to some quite wacky ideas including Shamanism! Amazingly people still believe that these are “qualifications” and there is a lot of whooping online as people obtain “new certificates” believing that these will create work opportunities when in reality it will make no real difference from a work opportunity perspective.

Perhaps the co creators would have benefited from some brand advice as the “NLP brand” has become so diluted it’s almost impossible to determine what NLP is with many holding the belief that NLP is “a cure all for all ills!” If only the co creators had been able to read Donna Heckler and Brian D Till’s “The Truth about Brands” it could all have been very different, especially chapter 50…

I have blogged about Amys before, but you can't say too much about such a wonderful bakery. All manner of great breads, cakes and the best New York coffee. Bleecker Street has some great stores, guitars, cheese, CDs and ice cream, what else could you possibly need?

I love New York and it makes London look like a sleepy village. There is a buzz and an energy quite like any other city I have visited. I liked San Francisco and Orlando was "ok" but a bit for tourists, New York is the real deal with the best food, best music, best shopping and now some great trainings!

Great to meet up here with some stella musicians, writers and presenters for The Mindscapes weekend. We have a great group interested in learning and developing skills. Really pleased to be co presenting with Doug O Brien and Andrew T Austin, two very talented trainers so rare these days. Can't wait until Friday night, but plenty to do until then!

“There are some people so addicted to exaggeration that they can't tell the truth without lying.”
Josh Billings

I was looking online today at a number of online postings on the internet while doing some research for a legal issue and discovered some of the most ludicrous and funny comments I have seen to date. It seems that especially in the field of NLP and other changework, practitioners and trainers feel the need to embellish and amplify comments to a farcical level. For a field that claims linguistic skills and precision, this seems to me to suggest a massive incongruity. Amazingly we now have some individuals claiming to cure whole groups of 50 phobics at a time with (100% success rate of course)  and others desperately trying to sell books claim to have “cured” thousands of phobics!  It reminds me of the wonderful Monty Python four Yorkshire sketch.

The culture of newsgroups and associated behaviours has in my view created some of the most dreadful behaviour that only damages the perception of the field. I have blogged previously about individuals who talk about “being qualified” in NLP, when in reality they have only attended a few brief days’s training. Others talk about getting “their Masters…” which actually in many cases means they sat in a workshop for a few days and “became” a “Master Practitioner” Some trainers actually fabricate having qualifications and add logos to their sites until they are outed by the professional body that runs the trainings who are understandably unimpressed by such misleading behaviour.

Of course without any regulation and in many cases professional standards, individuals can literally run riot and the internet is full of such examples of behaviour.

This gross exaggeration extends beyond inventing “qualifications” with many individuals regularly talking about billing thousands for corporate work while always seeming financially broke and having “huge success” with clients while lamenting a lack of regular client income. Some practitioners attempt to charge thousands of pounds for their services often referring to themselves as “success coaches” and “performance coaches” without any obvious factual evidence for any such “success” Other ludicrous sets of claims usually start with “The world’s greatest” (insert whatever you want after this initial proclamation…Often individuals will proclaim "I've got a client" online or "I've got a new training opportunity" which suggests to me a certain level their own surprise...

The tragedy of this kind of behaviour is that some people can (having seen such comments) then totally dismiss the entire field of NLP and changework as “kooky” and without any substance. Considering how useful some of these skills can be when used in the right hands this is a real shame. I have become pretty embarrassed (but not surprised) by such behaviour and am pleased that some groups such as ANLP and a few others advocate a set of ethics and standards and promote professionalism and accountability.  

PS a colleague just e-mailed me this which appeared online

"The best hypnosis 6 day certification training in the World"

The 36 provocative icons allow the therapist to adopt different perceptual positions when working with clients. The key to this approach is to work only “in the here and now” and to make suggestions and observations to the client by “running them up the flagpole and seeing if they salute them.” This produces a wonderfully improvised way of working that is in many ways the total opposite of standard talking therapy, hypnosis and NLP style approaches. The therapist can literally move in any direction at any speed to provoke new and more useful ways of thinking and feeling, from a new and greater perspective, without offering solutions, so that  the response appropriate for the client is literally” called forth” from them .

 Shifting from Disassociated and Associated Positions

Here are some of the phrases that can be used in moving a client’s way of thinking from an associated to disassociated perspective and vice versa

 Disassociated Phrases

• Some people say…
• I heard that…
• Studies have shown…

 Associated Phrases

• Do you consider yourself to be…
• Are you A, B or C?
• How long have you...?

 By using the Provocative Icon System™ in conjunction with these shifts, the client is moved from “a stuck state” when they are often extremely associated, into a new more useful state. Often the conversations that take place can appear to be quite surreal from an external viewpoint, but make perfect sense for the therapist and client.

Also take a look at articles on www.afpt.co.uk