Is there a quick fix for building confidence with NLP ?
We tend to believe that there are no genuine ‘quick fixes’ … that anything really worth having is also worth striving for, that if we have a problem, we should ‘work’ on it.
Okay … fair enough. I’m all for a society in which we don’t expect things to just ‘happen’ for us, or, to quote that well-used expression, one in which we don’t expect to have everything ‘handed on a plate’.
But … is there not a danger that if we apply this principle to every challenge we are faced with, we end up making much harder work out of some things. That we are then denying ourselves solutions that can change our lives, and those of others, for the better?
Take confidence, for instance. We’re all confident with some things and struggle with others, be it behavioural or goal-oriented. Perhaps we are confident drivers, but less so when getting what we want. Maybe we are confident speakers in micro situations, but the thought of public speaking sends us into paroxysms of fear. Or are we great when things are going fine, yet when challenged, all of that assertiveness seems to have taken a long-term holiday? Whichever, it is natural for us to assume that a solution to these issues must be hard-fought for, and yet …
Building confidence with NLP
We deserve quick solutions to some things, don’t we? We work hard and when a lack of confidence prevents us from taking that next step or facing that one challenge we need to overcome in order to shine, a ‘quick fix’ would come in very nicely, thank you.
NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) offers a range of strategies for confidence building that can produce results without the ‘long haul’. By use of the phobia model, fear of public speaking, for instance, can be banished in just one session, and a variety of techniques exists for us to use when the need arises. One of these is visualisation, a powerful tool for just about anything we want to achieve. So … if you lack confidence with public speaking, try this quick fix for building confidence with NLP
Quick fix for confidence
Close your eyes and imagine you are looking at a version of yourself, a ‘version’ you would like to be. Make this version stand the way you would like to stand, speak with the voice you would like to speak with, look as confident as you would like to feel. Take note of how the ‘version’ changes before your very eyes.
Now make this picture as big and as clear as you can.
Feel the confidence running through this other version of you. Step into him/her and take on all of that confidence. Stand like them, speak like them, notice how you begin to feel like them.
Imagine that you, whilst inside this other version of you, is speaking to a large audience. See how they are listening to you. Watch their faces as they show appreciation of what you are saying. At the end, they clap. Hear that applause. Feel your success.
Where is that feeling in your body right now? Is it static or does it move around? What is its temperature? What shape is it?
Focus on that feeling and really get to know it. Know its shape, its location and its temperature. Know that it is directly connected to your prowess as a public speaker. And know that from now on, every time you think about public speaking, you will experience this feeling. Public speaking will no longer be something to fear, but linked to success, appreciation and ease.
There are lots of similar techniques in NLP, like the Building Confidence with NLP fix, including other ways to visualise and how to substitute a feeling of fear with one of confidence. And the beauty is that they don’t take an age. Once you’ve found the method that works for you, you can utilise it whenever you need to. It’s quick … it’s a fix … and just might change your life.
