NLP Anchoring:

An Echo of Past Successes

I used some NLP Anchoring this morning, and wanted to update you on its effectiveness so you can decide whether to set some anchors of your own.

In short, my anchors were quite powerful and worked well – but when I fired them, rather than making me feel amazing, they felt like an echo of past successes.

I thought this was a rather apt description, so I wanted to write a post that puts the effectiveness of anchoring in context and shows you how they can work in real life.

PS – if you’re not sure what an anchor is, read my introductory article on NLP Anchoring and how to do it.

The Background

I had a meeting with a Vice President at JP Morgan today (I also run a small sales business in addition to this website and doing a bit of coaching).

Although I rarely get nervous before meetings anymore, I allowed the “power” of the JPM brand to get to me a bit, and I began to feel a little tentative whilst waiting in the cavernous reception area for my prospect to pop down and rescue me.

I could have reacted to my pre-fight nerves in one of two ways: either allow them to escalate by worrying about worst-case scenarios; or seize the moment to do something constructive to get my mind on track.

Helpfully, I chose the latter, and racked my brain for the most apt response. I think this was helped in part by my decision to read an empowering book on the way to the meeting – Think and Grow Rich – rather than the crap papers you get for free on London Tubes. There’s a huge amount to be said for programming your brain in the right way every morning – for just because everyone else fills their mind with fear-inducing propaganda, it doesn’t mean that you have to, dear reader!

Anyway, after a few seconds deliberation I realised that doing some NLP Anchoring was my best bet: it’s discreet, powerful and super-quick (as long you have set up an anchor before – if not, I wouldn’t recommend sitting there with your eyes shut for ten minutes desperately trying to install one – you’ll look like a bloody weirdo and people will fear and avoid you like you had a “100% swine flu infected” sticker on your forehead...!)

What Happened?

I fired off two anchors: the first was my “calm” anchor, which I’ve put together over the past few months. The memories I used for it include swimming in a beautiful pool in a spa complex with my lady (nice!), relaxing on the dock behind my apartment on the canal, and just chilling on the sofa with my boys playing Pro (awesome football game!) on the PS3.

I fired this one by rubbing my right ear discreetly with my finger and thumb – and no one noticed (and even if they did they would have probably diagnosed me with a mild case of itchy earlobe syndrome – which is arguably more socially acceptable than doing NLP Anchoring in public!!)

My second anchor was my “success and confidence” anchor. This has been added to over the course of about a year, and I update it every time I get good feedback about an article (hint hint reader!), close a deal, have a successful meeting, or get positive reinforcement about my abilities. The trigger for this one is the middle finger and thumb of my right hand.

I fired these anchors maybe thirty seconds apart, to allow each one time to work (and I didn’t want to collapse the anchors either).

Immediately after firing the calm anchor, I began to feel almost an opaque and fleeting sense of calm, lurking somewhere in the background. Although I didn’t feel as calm as I was when I was swimming in the pool post-Indian-head-massage, it brought back a really nice and gentle sense of tranquillity. What came to mind was that it felt like an echo of my past state of deep relaxation.

After breaking state and firing off my success anchor, the same thing happened: I felt an empowering sense of confidence – but it seemed to be lurking around somewhere in the background; whishing around me without being overpowering.

The combination of these two anchors helped me to regain my Swagger, become centred and present, and immediately stopped my mind from entertaining the idea that “you are in no way qualified to be selling to VPs at one of the world’s biggest investment banks and he will see through your lack of industry knowledge.... etc etc etc!”

So, how did I get on? Well, the meeting was a strong success and it looks like I will win them as a client. Whilst I naturally had to sell and present confidently and responsively when I was in the meeting, the NLP Anchoring exercise I did truly helped to get me in the best possible state of mind.

Please just stop for a moment and imagine what life circumstances you could improve by having anchors set and ready to use? Which areas of your life could be advanced with a gentle nudge from the echo of past successes?

Even though they provide more of a reminder of success rather than the 100% true feelings, NLP Anchoring has got to be high on the list of every amateur personal development enthusiast’s repertoire. They're easy to do, and it's fun to think of good memories while you set them. Best of all, you can add to them every time you reinforce the positive behaviour, making the anchors stronger and more effective over time... you can’t really go wrong.

What advances could you make to your career, relationships and finances if you took just ten minutes to do some NLP Anchoring today? Just a thought, my friend, just a thought...

PS - If you're into your NLP and like to see real life examples of how you can use it, subscribe to my RSS feed (top left of page) AND pop your email address in below to receive my free monthly newsletter. In the words of So Solid Crew, it's all gravy...

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NLP Introduction & List of all my NLP Articles



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