NLP coaching tip - Believe it or not!  by Paul Lemberg.
 

Do you believe you can get out in front of a changing market, and stay there? Or do you believe the rate of change will ultimately render your company uncompetitive? It’s your choice, take your pick.

I know this is a bold statement – but the first constraint on your ability to perform is the belief you hold about your ability to perform. If you don’t believe something is possible, will you try? If you believe you can be so intuitive and flexible that you can achieve that Holy Grail – sustainable competitive advantage – at least you have a chance.

You will only go as far as you believe you can. And not one inch further. Your beliefs have absolute power over your actions.

Think about it for a moment. The things you hold to be true or false govern the type of actions you take. If you think something is a foregone conclusion, you are not going to waste effort to prevent it, or expend effort to make it happen. Why would you, it’s going to happen anyway, despite your efforts pro or con.

If you think you are doomed to failure, how will that affect the energy you put into your business?

If you believe you will surely succeed, might that cause you to go into overdrive?

You can use your beliefs to take control of change in your industry. The first step is to gain clarity about what you believe, instead of having your personal truths operating hidden in the background.

What are your beliefs about your current venture? Ask yourself, what do I believe about __________? (You may specifically question your beliefs about your ability to cope with change.)

Write each belief on a separate sheet of paper using the following example

I believe…

I believe…

I believe…

etc.

Examine these beliefs you have just written. Think about what they imply.

What kind of choices will having these beliefs cause you to make? What kind of actions will they prevent? Some beliefs strengthen your venture, increasing the likelihood of high-speed success. Some beliefs weaken it, sucking power from your efforts, holding you back from purposeful action.

This is a critical juncture for your enterprise. You’ve got to stack the deck in your favor if you want your company to be on the move. Beliefs are not carved in stone. You are not stuck with “bad” beliefs. You can modify them just as you can modify your value system.

Carefully consider each belief, and label each one with a “+” or a “-”. You are going to do a little head work.

You are going to alter your beliefs about yourself and your business.

First, declare the possibility of altering your beliefs. You must truly believe that you can change your limiting ideas, replace them with more powerful and enabling belief systems.

Next, strengthen your positive beliefs.

For each one, visualize that belief. Form a picture of the consequences of this belief. What does this belief portend for the future of your operation? Create a bright, colorful, image of that. Hold onto that image, gaze at it. Picture yourself as part of it, up close and personal. Make your whole body resonate with this belief.

Got it? OK, on to the next belief. Keep this up until you have created a strong sensation for each of your positive beliefs.

Now, one by one, for each negative belief, decide what positive belief would be useful to substitute. Write that new, positive belief next to the old, negative belief.

Consider the negative belief. Picture it in your mind as you did before. Only this time you are going to detach yourself from it. Picture it from a distance, outside looking in, in muddy, dim colors or black and white. Make any sounds you hear faint and unclear. Shake off any feelings these beliefs give you, as if they are simply unreal.

Picture the new, positive belief you are replacing it with. Hold this new belief in your mind’s eye and strengthen the experience of the new belief, just as you did above with your original positive beliefs.

Do this for each of your beliefs, one at a time. You may have to repeat the exercise several times before the new beliefs totally take hold.

Your new beliefs unlock the gate to the kind of massive action your business requires to move faster than the speed of change.

Copyright 2002-06 ©Paul Lemberg used with his expressed written permission

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