A is for Anchors
Have you heard of Pavlov’s dog? Anchoring is a natural phenomenon based on this principle. NLP teaches how to create your own unique stimulus to create a specific emotional response; perhaps one of calm or confidence.
Everyone has anchors.
They are personal to you and can be positive e.g.:
😊 A particular song or piece of music will remind you of a happy time.
😊 A photo album may remind you of a fun holiday.
😊 A smell reminds you of a person or place e.g. baking bread in gran’s kitchen.
Or negative such as:
😠 Your manager rolls his eyes and you feel you have done something wrong
😠 A colleague sighs loudly resulting in a sense of irritation
😠 Someone on the train stands too close to you resulting in a desire to move away.
Anchors are when an external stimulus triggers a specific internal experience or response. Once we understand how they work, we can create our own anchors to create an emotion or resourceful state, e.g. confidence or calm, for when we need it.
NLP teaches us how to do it!
Here are the Steps
- Decide on the type of anchor which will be the stimulus e.g. a word to say out loud, a clenched fist or something else that you can reproduce.
- Remember a time when you had the feeling. Imagine being there and noting what you see, hear and feel at that time.
- Add the stimulus, e.g. clenched fist as the emotion rises to the peak and let go before it decreases in intensity
- Break state by moving or thinking of something else
- Repeat steps 2 to 4 a few times.
- Test the anchor by e.g. clenching the fist and noticing the resourceful feelings
- Repeat steps 2 to 4 if necessary
- Imagine a future time when you need the resource and fire the anchor and notice how it feels different.
It seems simple and it is simple!
The key is in remembering to keep building the anchor and then choosing to use it when needed.