By: Shantanu Das Sharma, Sr. Associate Editor, ICN Group
Quick recap of what we have covered in Part 26
The Swish Pattern: How to Change a Lifelong Habit Now
1) This MUST change
2) Create an Alternative
3) A New Pattern is Re-conditioned
The Swish Pattern of Rapid Change
Step 1. Elicit the Negative Habit to be Changed
Step 2. Identify the TRIGGER that led to the Negative Pattern
Step 3. Elicit the DESIRED STATE/BEHAVIOR that You Want
Step 4. Swish the TRIGGER IMAGE Away, and Swish the DESIRED IMAGE Towards You at a HIGH SPEED with a ‘Whoosh’ Sound.
Step 5. Repeat this 10-15 times
Step 6. Test by Future Pacing
THE KEYBOARD TO YOUR EMOTIONS: ANCHORING
Act of anchoring one’s mind to positive states is powerful stuff. It has made fighting couples fall in love again… and cured phobias like fear of snakes. Here’s what it can do for you.
By now you know that you create your own states and you have the ability to access any of these states at will. But do you have to go through the process of shifting your physiology and your sub-modalities every time you need to get into a particular state? Is there a way you can fire off any state in an instant? The answer is yes, and the process is called anchoring. An anchor is a stimulus that immediately fires off a state in you. A stimulus is anything you see, hear or feel. Whenever you are in an intense associated state and an anchor is applied repeatedly, the state will be neurologically linked to the anchor. When this happens, all you have to do is to apply the same anchor and you will immediately experience the same state.
Anchoring was first discovered by Ivan Pavlov, a Russian psychologist who called it ‘classical conditioning’. In his experiment, Pavlov got a bunch of dogs into an intense state of hunger by putting food in front of them. The dogs would salivate ferociously. At this time, he would ring a bell, over and over again. After a while the sound of the bell (the anchor) became neurologically linked to the state of hunger. Then Pavlov decided to ring the bell but didn’t put any food out. The moment the bell rang, the dogs showed hunger pangs and began salivating! Well, the process of anchoring doesn’t just happen to animals. As human beings, we get anchored to different states all the time. Some of these anchors put us into resourceful states.
Unfortunately most of them limit us by putting us into lousy states! What are some of the states that your brain is anchored to right now? There are basically three kinds of anchors: visual anchors, auditory anchors and kinesthetic anchors.
Visual Anchors
What are some of the visual anchors that people have? Is there a person’s face you see that immediately makes you feel lousy? Like a nasty boss or an ex-girlfriend? Is there someone else who, the minute you see him or her, puts you in a great state? You feel uplifted.
We also tend to anchor intense emotional past experiences to things that currently happen around us. For example, have you ever sped along the expressway and suddenly a white car on the road catches your attention. If you are a speed maniac, I bet that ‘white car’ would have fired off a state of fear, causing you to quickly put on the brake.
Then there are some people who start feeling sleepy the moment they flip open the pages of a thick book. It’s the sight of the thick, heavy to me feel which they associate with boredom and sleepiness. And are you one of those who instantly feel butterflies in your stomach when you step in front of an audience? Or get a panic attack when you approach the examination hall as a student? Some people I know get it so bad they have to run to the washroom when it happens. Then there are others who are affected by particular times of the day or night. Certain times, associated with bedtime or naps, have become anchors for such people. Catching a glimpse of the clock, seeing that it’s already 11pm or 12 midnight (their usual bedtime) can put them into a sleepy state. We have to become aware of which stimuli or anchors fire off lousy states in us and as a consequence make us perform poorly.
Auditory Anchors
Another form of anchor/stimuli we experience are auditory anchors. Auditory anchors are sounds that are neurologically linked to a particular state. A good example is the sound of a siren. Hearing it fires off a state of ‘fear’ in some people. How about people’s voices? Are there some voices that make you feel irritated instantly? I’ll bet you these are whining or grating, abrasive and loud voices.
Is there a person’s voice that immediately makes you feel loved and happy? All these are auditory anchors that have been conditioned from past emotional experiences, good and bad. One of the most powerful forms of auditory anchors is music. And movies have done a great job of installing all kinds of music anchors that put us in a whole range of states immediately enhancing the pictures we are seeing. Can you imagine floating in the middle of the ocean in the pitch black of night? As you feel your body moving to the waves, I want you to imagine playing the theme from Jaws. Does the music fire off a state of fear? Does it trigger off images of a menacing shark? I know a lot of people who, after watching ‘Jaws’, had phobias of swimming in the ocean. They could not get the Jaws theme and horrible pictures out of their head when they were in the water?
Were you one of those people? What the movie did was put its audience into an intense state of horror and fear as they saw people being ripped apart. In the background, they constantly played the ‘Jaws’ theme. After the movie, the music got linked to the state of fear! Now, have there been movies that have installed resourceful anchors in us? Of course! To many people, the theme from ‘Chariots of fire’ still fires off a state of inspiration and motivation. If you are a Rocky fan, I bet that the Rocky Theme makes you similarly inspired and motivated! Now, what I do and what you can do is to use these auditory anchors to get into these powerful positive states when you need it. Do you have a problem waking up in the morning? Does the shrill ring of the alarm clock set off a lousy state that makes you switch it off, and go back to sleep? For me the alarm going off was the trigger to bury my head in the pillow. What I did to reverse this negative state was to program my compact disc player to play the Rocky theme, at full volume, at a time I needed to get out of bed.
Guess what happened? Rocky instantly propelled me into an inspired state! I flew out of bed and felt totally resourceful as I got ready and went out to work. When I was student, I used to get lousy timings for long hours of studies. A few minutes into the study and I would feel really exhausted, bored and I would hear this voice in my head saying ‘I’m sleepy, I’m tired’.
In this poor performing state I would slow down to a snooze. I knew then that the only way for me to get a second wind to focus back on studies would be to use the power of anchoring. What I used to do the moment I felt bored and tired was to play the rousing ‘Chariots of fire’ music in my mind. This immediately fired off inspiring images of long distance athletes and put me in a powerful state that allowed me to regain my energy and enthusiasm to feel fresh for studies.
Did you watch Titanic the movie? I have friends who watched it several times and still cried. It was interesting to see the many people who got anchored to the Titanic theme. The moment they hear it, they would get into this romantic state! Some of my friends even shamelessly used that music to get their girlfriends into a mushy state!
Kinesthetic Anchors
The third kinds of anchors we have are kinesthetic anchors. It is when someone touches you in a certain way or you move in a certain way that fires off a particular state! Is there a way someone touches you, or holds you that make you feel really loved?
Top sports athletes always have some kind of power move or consistent ritual they do in order to get themselves into a peak state. Michael Jordan sticks out his tongue, Tiger Woods pumps his fist and other athletes slap their hands together. In the past, every time they were in a power state, they kept making that move until the action became anchored to that state. The late legendary Elvis Presley sent millions of his fans – especially females – into screams and shrieks as soon as he swiveled his hips to his rock and roll music. You don’t have to be a sports or movie star to have power moves. You can install kinesthetic anchors that you can fire off anytime you need to get into a powerful state – like before you make a presentation, make a sales pitch, stand in front of an audience, make a cold call or get started on a tough project. Do you know someone who is in the uniformed services and is really proud of it? Like the army, navy, air force or the police force? Notice how putting on that uniform literally changes the way the person feel. I have noticed that when people put on their uniform, especially if they are of a commander rank, their physiology changes. They stand straighter, breathe differently and change their facial muscles.
All this happens at a subconscious level. It instantly makes that person feel more confident and more authoritative! If you think about it, it is just a piece of clothing. But through associating that uniform and its rank with power, that piece of clothing has become a powerful anchor!
When I first started motivational speaking, I used a particular suit and a red tie to get myself into a powerful and confident state! And most women executives and professionals know the power of ‘the power suit’ in giving them confidence and poise, and triggering off respect in those they meet.
How Anchoring Affects Our Lives
Have you ever wondered why Nike pays sports stars millions of dollars just to wear clothes with that famous swish logo? They do it because they understand the power of anchoring. When Nike signed a US$100 million 5-year endorsement deal for Tiger Woods to wear that Nike cap and apparel. Were they crazy? No!
They knew that when people saw Tiger Woods and felt that intense state of motivation and inspiration, they would see the Nike swish. When people watched Jordan and felt incredible,they would see that Nike Swish. Sure enough, seeing the swish gave people all the great feelings. The states of power, motivation and confidence were anchored to the visual swish logo. That anchor gets people to pay hundreds of dollars for those Jordan shoes and Nike golf cap and T-shirts. Why? Somehow when they wear it, they feel great! By using the power of anchoring their logo and products to the great feelings generated by sports stars, Nike has become the largest and most successful sports apparel company in the world. When Nike first started paying millions of dollars to sports stars, many of their competitors thought they were mad to waste so much money but at the end of the day it is Nike who is laughing all the way to the bank. Don’t get manipulated… create your own powerful anchors!
If advertisers spend millions of dollars to constantly anchor powerful states in you to their brands, isn’t it time you took control and started creating powerful anchors for yourself? In a short while, you are going to do just that.
By the way, do you know how people fall deeply in love with someone? They get fantastic feelings of love anchored to that person’s face and voice. As they go out with that person and have a good time, they feel all these great feelings when they see that person’s face and hear that person’s voice until eventually it all gets anchored! So, every time you think of that person, you feel wonderful!
Do you know why people often fall out of love after a while? It is because the positive anchors eventually collapse and get replaced with negative anchors. When you are in a relationship, you are bound to have misunderstandings and unhappy moments. The danger comes when you see your partner’s face while you are feeling these negative emotions. Or when your partner feels lousy and you hug them in a certain way. After some time, those negative feelings of hurt and anger get linked to that person’s face, voice and touch. Over time, just thinking of that person brings up all those negative feelings. This is why many people, once so in love, reach a stage when they cannot see each other without getting upset and fighting. As a result, they eventually fall out of love and break up! So you must understand the power of anchoring for two reasons. The first is to install powerful anchors so that you can access resourceful states any time you need to perform at your peak. The second is to understand how negative anchors can limit you. This way, you can collapse them and stop them from controlling you.
(I facilitate Thought Leaders, Change Makers; Professionals & Business Owners translate NLP concepts into actions to achieve and elicit personal excellence. I conduct NLP Lifestyle Coaching Certification programs for individuals, corporate and celebrity clients. In the next article, you will learn about four steps to create powerful anchors. And after that you will come to know in subsequent articles, how you can utilize concepts of NLP+ in all walks of your life to replicate the success blueprint of a winner mindset to win through life. So, stay tuned every Monday & Friday and fasten your seat belt to ‘Enhance Your Lifestyle With NLP+’)
