NLP: Eliminating unproductive days

We all have days where we don’t feel 100%, days we know are going to be unproductive and dissatisfying. Here’s how to turn them around.

It’s common to put times like these down to ‘one of those days.’ We tell ourselves “Tomorrow will be better. “ Doing this means you are teetering over what is known in the NLP world (Neuro Linguistic Programming) as the ‘Cause versus Effect’ line, and allowing glimpses of ‘effect’ to take over your day.

When you are on the ‘effect’ side of the equation, you are allowing other factors to take over and rule your productivity. Most of our society is brought up to think in terms of effect. There is always a reason why something cannot be done or why something is not working out as it should. It is also known as the blame factor.

However, if you embrace the NLP way of thinking, (which for the most part soloists tend to do, be it consciously or unconsciously,) you can only be on the ‘cause’ side – where only you can control and dictate what happens.

So when you have one of those under par days, consciously shifting to ‘cause’, will empower you to snap out of it and get on with it. Easier said than done, I know. Society always tells us to ‘be positive’ - but it does not actually tell us how. This is where the ‘N’ of NLP comes in, the ‘how to’ have a ‘cause’ mindset, which is the ultimate state of productiveness.

The following classic Henry Ford’s quote sums up the ‘cause versus effect’ theory very aptly: ”Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re probably right.”

Here’s a quick exercise to get yourself back into ‘cause’. Pick a quiet spot where you will be uninterrupted for the few minutes it will take you to complete it:

Think of what state it is that you would rather be in, for example, would you rather be feeling totally capable, totally powerful, totally successful or totally decisive? It may be a combination of positive states, so just choose the ones you want and then run through the following with yourself and allow yourself to get immersed in it.

Can you recall a time when you were really, really (insert desired state here)? Can you remember a specific time? As you go back to that time, can you step into your body and see what you saw through your own eyes, hear what you heard, and feel the feelings you felt when you were really, really (desired state)?’.

Repeat this and recall as many times as you need to until you feel a shift inside yourself and harness those new states - you’ll get yourself into ‘cause’ and march forth into your now extremely productive and successful day!

Deborah Keep runs training events and coaching that use NLP at their core, a powerful yet simple tool that helps create new levels of performance and results in any area of personal or business development.

10 Jun 09

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Hi Deborah, I've never been a big fan of NLP as, whilst acknowledging its strengths, I've seen it used in unpalatable ways. This article, however, is a real white light in these challenging times - simple, powerful and valuable! Having looked at your website, I trust you'll allow me to call this one a 'keeper'!! Grant Hyman from Sydney | Read my articles
Deborah, thank you for writing this, and thanks too for your timing in posting it today! I have been having "one of those days" for about a week now, and your reminder to get over myself and get on with it is just what I needed. Here's to a highly productive afternoon and rest of the week :-) Jayne Tancred from Sydney
Hi Deborah,
Thanks for the timely reminder! I forgot all about this fantastic way to snap out of unproductive mindsets - maybe now I'll finally get some writing done!
I use other simple techniques like 'pacing' and 'mirroring' to help quickly build a rapport with clients, but as I think Grant suggested, there's a fine line between 'effectively communicating' and 'manipulating'. Hopefully respect and courtesy will prevail! Dennis Jablonski from Cairns, Australia
Great to read this feedback. NLP is a fantastic resource to help us regain, amongst other things, focus. As you say Dennis, it needs to be used, like any discipline, with respect and courtesy, and I believe integrity and ecology. With that, you can't help but get a win-win outcome! Good luck to everyone with your productivity this week! Deborah Keep from Sydney, Australia | Read my articles
I'm curious about NLP. I looked at your website Deborah and noticed that your courses are only run in Sydney. Do you do anything in Melbourne? Do you produce CD's of some of the key themes of NLP? Ruth Barnard from Ashwood
Hi Ruth, I will be looking at running courses in Melbourne later on this year and am more than happy to keep you posted on dates. In terms of CDs and NLP, if you were to do a Practitioner course, CDs are part of the course requirements, but I don't offer CDs independently of the actual course. Hope this helps and thanks for your interest! Deborah Keep from Sydney, Australia | Read my articles

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