A question that has sat in the back of my mind for years of doing change work with NLP is how come some changes are easier to accomplish than others? Sometimes an hour long session creates rapid and permanent change, like with Nick who came to see me to stop smoking and after one session stopped. In these instances the basic NLP techniques like swish pattern, fast phobia cure, reframing in trance work what appear to be miracles. Almost like these kind of changes require no concious practice. Can you think of something that you learned after doing it only once and you just knew how to do it?  

Other times the change seems to take persistent work over weeks and possibly even months. Like with Nancy who I went to see as her diagnosis of "agoraphobic" meant that she had been more or less  confined to the house, unable to function in the outside world  for ten years. In these instances it seems to me that a much more systemic change is required involving learning new skills. Each time I went to see Nancy I gave her some exercises to practise in between sessions which she did and each time I went to see her another aspect of the way forward for her seemed to unfiold. Can you think of something that you learned, a real skill that you learned by consistent and persistent practice?

Seems like we all learn lots of things in our lives, and maybe all of them are useful once we find a useful context in which to use these skills. Imagine how easy learning could be if you can learn things that you want as fast as what you don't want (and of course you can when you know how you do it). How skilled you can become by practising what you want to become really accomplished at every day instead of continually practising your "problems" and "limitations".

Consistency of practice sems to make the difference in the sporting arena and stories abound of the persistence and consistency of people like Johnny Wilkinson, David Beckham and Tiger Woods. Almost like they enjoy practising consistently.

So how can you begin consistently practising what you want to do better?

Well get your diary and write in each day a reminder of what you want to practise and notice at the end of a week or a month how much practise you actually did. Notice how you feel when you are practising particularly at your mid line. Notice when you have a good feeling and where it starts in your body and whether it is a whole body or part body feeling. Notice when you are getting closer to what you want and when you are getting further away as you practise.

Nancy found that she practised every day as she really wanted to achieve getting out of her house and taking her dog for a long walk. How much do you want what you set out to achieve, how do you know it's worth getting and how much is it worth practising to get what you want?

Enjoy