Every time someone you admire speaks, you can get clues about what has made them successful. This is the magic of Neuro-Linguistics (NLP)! When you know what to look for in language, the way a person thinks shouts out at you.
I’m a bit of a tech geek and love learning about innovation. Yesterday, Sir Richard Branson was interviewed about his new Project magazine exclusively for the iPad. (He’s quite real, funny, and human too, causing a couple bleeps!)
Ignore the techie stuff, just as Sir Richard does, and listen when he talks about 1) the world and 2) himself. You’ll hear his values and beliefs pop out.
At 5:44 minutes he says a profound clue: “being a bit of an adventurer myself.” The interviewer picks up on it. In that moment, Richard shares how he sees himself, his “identity” as “an adventurer”. Identity is one of the highest levels of change. Here, we hear a top value (adventure) and an identity, in the same sentence.
Try this on for yourself: What if “adventure” was the most important thing to you? What would your life be like? Would you start a space ship company like Richard did? Probably! Now, see yourself as an adventurer, in your mind’s eye. What would that look like? Make it joyful. Now, what’s possible?
What’s your identity? Are you just just a “worker” or “father”? Or, are you a “loving man”? Declare who you are, your identity, and watch what happens. When I really got, “I’m a coach”, I not only stopped drinking alcohol, but almost everything about me started to change to fit that new empowering picture. Play with some “I am…” declarations this week.
A bonus modeling tip: notice how much Branson looks UP with his eyes. That’s our visual center. He’s looking inside at amazing pictures he wants to share with us. Try looking down and getting sad. Not possible, right? Try looking up more often, as you are thinking, and watch what creative ideas come to you.
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