By: Shantanu Das Sharma, Sr. Associate Editor, ICN Group
Quick recap of what we have covered in Part 21
Controlling How We Focus
Sub-modalities: The Control Keyboard to Our Brain
Disassociation & Association
How to Intensify Any State
KOLKATA: Wouldn’t it be useful and empowering to be able to intensify resourceful states like motivation, happiness, excitement, confidence and power? Let’s find out just how you can do this by simply shifting your sub-modalities.
First, I want you to think of a goal which you would like to achieve, but are not yet highly motivated to attain. For example, it could be starting your own company.
Next, I want you to close your eyes and imagine yourself in the future, having achieved this goal. For example, you could see yourself addressing your staff in your conference room, with you at the head of the table. As you hold this image in your mind, make a quick checklist of the visual, auditory and kinesthetic sub-modalities of this mental experience. Is it associated or disassociated? Is it a still picture or a movie? Is the picture large or small? Are there any sounds you hear? Are they loud or soft? Is it mono or stereo? What would you say to yourself if you have achieved your goal? Is it loud or soft?
Take note of where this feeling of motivation is coming from (location of feeling). Do you feel it in the chest, head or in the stomach? What is the shape of the feeling? (all of us code feelings as shapes). Is this feeling light or heavy? Is there any movement? Quickly, list down the sub-modalities of this goal in the checklist below. Very importantly, ask yourself, on a scale of 1 to 10, how intense is the motivation you felt as you stood at the head of table? For example, it could be a 5 out of a 10 initially.
LIST DOWN THE SUBMODALITIES OF YOUR GOAL
Visual
| Disassociated or Associated?
Still picture or a Movie? Small or Large? Defocused or Focused? Dim or Bright? Black & white or Color? Far away or Closeup? Framed or Panoramic? Location of the Image? |
Auditory
| What sounds do you hear?
Direction of Sound? Mono or Stereo? Soft or Loud? Low pitch or High pitch? Slow or Fast? |
Auditory Digital
| What do you say to yourself?
Direction of Sound? Mono or Stereo? Soft Loud? Low pitch High pitch? Slow Fast? |
Kinesthetic
| Where is the Location?
What is the Shape? What is the Size? Small Large? Still or Moving? Direction of Movement? Light Heavy? Intensity on a scale of 1 to 10 |
As an example, your sub-modalities could be coded in the following way
SUBMODALITIES FOR YOUR GOAL (Sample)
Visual
| Disassociated or Associated?
Still picture or a Movie? Small or Large? Defocused or Focused? Dim or Bright? Black & white or Color? Far away or Close up? Framed or Panoramic? Location of the Image? |
Disassociated
Movie Medium Defocused Dim Color Close up Framed Slightly off center |
Auditory
| What sounds do you hear?
Direction of Sound? Mono or Stereo? Soft or Loud? Low pitch or High pitch? Slow or Fast? |
Roar of car engine
In front Mono Medium Average Medium |
Auditory Digital
| What do you say to yourself?
Direction of Sound? Mono or Stereo? Soft Loud? Low pitch High pitch? Slow Fast? |
‘I’m the boss!’
Right ear Mono Medium Low pitch Medium |
Kinesthetic
| Where is the Location?
What is the Shape? What is the Size? Small Large? Still or Moving? Direction of Movement? Light Heavy? Intensity on a scale of 1 to 10 |
In the chest
Round Size of a lemon Still Nil Light 5 |
Isn’t it interesting to begin to discover how your brain is coding the goals that you have in your mind? Now, I want you to experiment with your mind by shifting the sub-modalities, one at a time and notice how it changes the intensity of the motivation.
The objective of this exercise is to increase your level of motivation to a 10! Why? So that thinking of this goal will drive you to take action right now! In general, shifting the sub-modalities from the left to the right of the checklist (as per below) will increase the intensity of the state. For example, shifting from ‘black and white’ to ‘color’ or ‘dim’ to ‘bright’ generally increases the state. (There are exceptions, however. For example, to get into a state of relaxation, shifting from dim to bright may make you less relaxed. In this case, it would be taking the opposite action.) The other important thing to know is that for certain sub-modalities, you can only switch it from one type to another. For example, ‘disassociated’ OR ‘associated’ or ‘black and white OR color’. These are called digital sub-modalities and are indicated by the word ‘OR’. The other sub-modalities are analog. In other words, they can be increased or decreased along a range. Like ‘dim to bright’. Even if the picture is already bright, you can make the feeling more intense by making it brighter! Also, ‘close to far’. Even if the image is close, you can still make it closer! These sub-modalities are indicated by the ‘ ’ notation. So, close your eyes, think of your goal, and change the sub-modalities one by one. As you do it, notice how much it increases the level of motivation. Start with the visual sub-modalities, the auditory (including digital) and the kinesthetic. For example, you can shift it as indicated below.
SHIFTING SUBMODALITIES TO INCREASE THE LEVEL OF MOTIVATION
Visual
| Disassociated or Associated?
Still picture or a Movie? Small or Large? Defocused or Focused? Dim or Bright? Black & white or Color? Far away or Closeup? Framed or Panoramic? Location of the Image? |
Disassociated
Movie Medium Defocused Dim Color Close up Framed Slightly off center |
Associated
(remains the same) Double the size More Focused Brighter Color Bring it closer Panoramic Centralize it |
Auditory
| What sounds do you hear?
Direction of Sound? Mono or Stereo? Soft or Loud? Low pitch or High pitch? Slow or Fast? |
Roar of car engine
In front Mono Medium Average Medium |
All around
Mono Stereo Louder Increase Make it faster |
Auditory Digital
| What do you say to yourself?
Direction of Sound? Mono or Stereo? Soft Loud? Low pitch High pitch? Slow Fast? |
‘I’m the boss!’
Right ear Mono Medium Low pitch Medium |
‘I’m the boss!’
All around Stereo Louder (remains the same) Faster |
Kinesthetic
| Where is the Location?
What is the Shape? What is the Size? Small Large? Still or Moving? Direction of Movement? Light Heavy? Intensity on a scale of 1 to 10 |
In the chest
Round Size of a lemon Still Nil Light 5 |
(remains the same)
(remains the same) Size of a basketball Create movement Outwards Increase weight 9-10 |
Did the level of your motivation increase? How much did it increase by? Most people who do this exercise will find themselves feeling more and more motivated (up to a 10!) to take action on this goal.
Have you ever wondered why most people set goals, get excited for a while but never get motivated enough to take consistent action to achieve it? It is because every time they think about the goal, their sub-modalities are coded in such a way that they are not motivated enough to take action. The mental image they create may be ‘far away’, ‘disassociated’, ‘still picture’ etc. As a result, they never create the level of emotional intensity they need. Why are there some people who get and stay motivated to achieve their goals? We often think that they are just more focused and disciplined. The real reason is that when they think of their goal, their minds code it in such a way that their motivation is highly intense. It is these strong emotions that drive them every day and night. If you are like most people, and this includes myself, who do not get highly motivated naturally, then you must learn to redirect your sub-modalities to create the internal motivation that you need!
What other states would be useful for you to be able to intensify?
- Confidence towards achieving a challenge.
- Happy experiences
- Successful experiences
- Motivation towards achieving a goal
- What you will begin to notice is that changing sub-modalities is not something new. Like changing physiology, all of us already do it although we are not aware of it. Again, the trouble is that many of us do it unconsciously and in ways that may not be at all useful. For example, some people have a pattern of unconsciously getting themselves very motivated to overeat by shifting their sub-modalities.
Have you been guilty of this too? Have you ever thought of eating ice cream when you know you should keep off the calories? At first, the motivation to eat is controllable. Then, slowly as you think more and more about it, you start imagining yourself eating it (associated and movie), then you make the picture closer and bigger. Then you imagine the sweet, cool feeling in your mouth (kinesthetic), you hear the stirring music (sound) and say to yourself really loudly, ‘Mmmmm Yummy!’ You do this until the motivation of eating is so intense that you cannot stand it anymore. You jump up and rush out to get the ice-cream! It is this same level of motivation and compulsion that highly successful people create towards achieving their personal goals! Can you imagine if you could replicate this same technique and use it on a goal you have, perhaps to start your own business or get started on a challenging project? Wouldn’t that be really powerful? Well, top achievers do this naturally with their minds. Now, you too can learn to consciously intensify your motivation to achieve a goal, any goal!
(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 how to de-intensify a negative experience. 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+’)
Shantanu Das Sharma, Creator of the concept NLP Lifestyle Coaching with NLP+, Founder of Neuromind Leadership Academy is an Amazon #1 Best Selling Author, NLP Lifestyle Master Trainer & Coach, Clean Language Facilitator & Strategic Interventionist.
