NLP - what's in it for me?

"What's in it for me?" is the question that naturally occurs to people when they come across NLP. This page will provide a few answers.

People learn NLP or Neuro-Linguistic Programming because it gives them the tools and the insights to...

Become very effective and influential communicators
Feel more in charge of themselves rather than be at the mercy of events
Develop themselves - and become more effective in their personal and working lives.

By the way, this is not an objective evaluation of the benefits of NLP. I'm too close to the subject. My name is Reg Connolly and I am happy to declare that I am quite biased.

I have been using NLP for over three decades, I've used NLP in my psychotherapy and counselling practise for over 20 years until 2004, I regularly teach people to use NLP in our Pegasus NLP courses, I use it in my own life all the time and I am, if anything, more enthusiastic about its potential now than when I first came across it at the the end of the seventies.

But then objectivity is not really what NLP is about.

It is, after all 'the study of subjective experience'. It is a way of understanding how each of us experiences life. And of understanding ourselves and others in a deeper way. And it's a whole lot of other things as well.

NLP is what you make it

If you use NLP to enhance, say, your spiritual awareness then that is NLP - for you. The same applies if you use it

as part of a therapeutic process
to ethically or unethically sell something
to grow your business or develop your managerial abilities
to seduce people
to empower people with whom you live or work
to be better in your sport
to empower your children and help them believe in themselves
to train soldiers to fire guns or missiles
to con people out of their money
to help people overcome fears and phobias
to improve your results as an educator
to contribute to your community
to improve your game of golf, sailing, basketball, etc
to become better friends with yourself - or others

Whatever you use it for and however you use it determines what, exactly NLP means for you and what you get out of it.

NLP in Management: how NLP is an near-indispensable tool for adapting to and utilising the changes in the role of the manager today.

NLP in Relationships: using NLP in your close relationships deepens the relationship by increasing understanding between you and enabling both people to retain their individuality.

NLP & Yourself: applying NLP in your own personal development is one of the most valuable and far-reaching applications for NLP.

NLP & Coaching and Therapy: NLP grew out of the study of effective therapy and is the ideal add-on for many coaching and therapeutic approaches.

NLP & Sales: use NLP to effectively identify and fulfil needs - and to develop long term, mutually-beneficial relationships in which you are the preferred supplier for you customers

NLP & your Career: you can use NLP to give yourself the edge in your career by developing your influencing and your technical skills

NLP & Sport: whether you are a participant, coach or sports manager you will find NLP is an excellent performance enhancing set of tools

See also olur the High Ropes and Low Ropes activities.

NLP is a bit like electricity

Just as it was in the case of NLP, the inventor of electricity had no idea how the invention would transform the world. Nor did its early developers. Just as with NLP, it would not be easy to describe 'electricity' comprehensively and accurately to someone who had never encountered it. For example, do you describe it in terms of how it originated? Or what produces it? Or what one can do with it (provide power for lighting, electric chairs, heart monitors in hospitals, etc.)? Or do you try to find concrete analogies to get across the abstract idea of electricity?

And yet NLP is not like electricity

Because wherever electricity comes from, wherever you encounter it, however it is produced it is still measurably 'electricity'.

But how one person, with a particular background, with a particular set of beliefs and values, and with a particular set of objective uses NLP is likely to distinctly different from how it would be used by someone else.

There will be similarities in how they go about things but neither is 'doing NLP' - they are using NLP to enhance how they do what they do.

The many applications of NLP

To many people the range of applications for NLP is surprising ad even confusing.

It seems strange that the same process can help you relate better to your loved ones, enhance your professional performance, improve your golf or tennis game, and enable you to teach your child to spell or study.

However, as you soon discover on becoming familiar with this ‘technology’, there are no really limits to the range of applications for NLP or the areas in your life which can benefit from it.

It is universally useful because it provides you with the means to improve your overall effectiveness - rather than offering specific skills to achieve specific results (such as a meditation technique to calm yourself or an assertiveness technique for communicating).

Do whatever you already do well - even better!

With NLP you learn to think generatively rather than remedially. You learn to look for newer and more creative approaches to life’s challenges rather just trying to fix what is not working.

And, especially as you progress through a programme such as our NLP Core Skills training, you will find that you can use NLP simultaneously in a number of contexts.

For example, at the same time as you are moving towards your principal goal you can be applying NLP to boost your darts or cricket or windsurfing performance (and enjoyment), learn a foreign language, teach your child how to better get along with class mates, or have more fun in your life.

You learn precise step-by-step methods for improving how you think, experience life through your five senses, understand people, relate with people and do whatever it is that you do - in work or play. So there are unlikely to be limits to the range of applications for your NLP or to the areas in your life which can benefit.

Should I learn NLP?

As I said at the beginning I can't claim to be objective in this - I have been using NLP in my work and in my personal life since 1979. And, based on my experience of doing so, I would heartily recommend that you embark on the journey of getting to know yourself and others better through becoming skilled in NLP.

First of all, remember that you cannot learn NLP from books - anymore than you can learn to swim or drive a car from a book or video or audio tape. NLP is not an intellectual thing. It's behavioural - it is about what you do, not about what you know. So you need to learn it from skilled trainers.

Books do have a part to play -- they are excellent for developing your knowledge and your skills after you have attended a hands-on NLP training

Next I suggest that you begin by comparing the two main groups of NLP training provider

The 'fast track' approach in which you get lots of 'qualifications' and certificates in a few days - see our not-unbiased views on these courses here
The full-length, full-syllabus approach - as recommended by the Professional Guild of NLP - which takes longer and is much, much more thorough and skills-based.

Now make a shortlist of two or three training organisations whose approach, experience, and thoroughness an appeal to you.

Next, perhaps using our 8-point check list, to assess the information on their website and in e-mail or telephone communication with them to determine who best meets your criteria

So, if I do learn NLP, what then?

Then the world is your oyster!

Especially your inner world - and the world you share with those close to you. And, of course, you'll be able to do whatever you now do well - even better.

Click on these links for more information about NLP

NLP FAQ

Why learn NLP

How to learn NLP

Where to learn NLP - and how to choose a training provider

NLP Core Skills - our course in the New Forest

What's special about Pegasus NLP Trainings

What people have said about our courses

How we integrate NLP with outdoor activities