Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ Beyond Human PhotoReading & NLP can be detrimental to your life

Ok, I'm telling everyone this out of experience. As we all know anything can be detrimental if not used in moderation. I've done lots and lots of self-development. I've done many many courses, brainwave training and hypnosis. I was so into self-help that I always wanted to learn something and it became like an addiction. This learning caused me to appear slow when interacting with people. Someone would tell me the simplest thing and it would take me like 10 seconds to answer anything someone asks me because I over analyzed the meaning behind what they said before I talk. Over analyzing really hurt me. I discovered that I was being slowed down when my manager that just hired me said that I appear slow. He said he hired me because he thought I was a lot like him and when I was hired on he discovered that i was slower in communication because I was way too over analytical. When my boss told me this it got me thinking....

Hmm maybe it's the self-help. Being very frustrated I decided to type in "NLP is crap" on google and I found articles with people with the same problems. My advice to everyone is that NLP has some good ideas but living by NLP can make you doomed to fail. Always refering to NLP makes you slow. So don't take your time to refer to your NLP stuff. Your conscious mind can only handly 7 + or - bits of info. The good stuff you get from NLP is integrated into your personality anyway after, so don't think consciously about NLP or any self-help course.

For years and years and years you've survived without NLP. If you're a self-help junkie, then you already have all the tools you need. You've listened to NLP so the most beneficial tools are intuitive so it doesn't require you to even think consciously about it. With NLP it's important to only work with the things that work. Remember when you didn't do any NLP I'm sure there were a few things you liked about yourself and were confident about. You've already done more than what the average person does in terms of self-development. It's now time to get out of the self-help trap (which a good number of people who do self-dev are in).

Now that you have all these tools, just be yourself and integrate the stuff that gives you a smooth landing. So I have a questions for you.... How much easier and better would your life be if you didn't have to read or listen to NLP and just live life? That would take a lot off your chest now wouldn't it? It's fun to learn stuff without trying (just go do stuff and you'll learn automatically). You'll automatically know what to model while doing activities and whatever you learn is unconscious. Let's suppose that NLP is off your chest. What kind of fun would you have on your free time? You'll be surprised how many more discoveries you'll make just by being abstinent from NLP. Having fun that involves your body and get out of the always learning mode because if you're always taking in input, then what room is there to output? Have fun and output and do what you feel like.

You've probably heard that if you teach something, then you learn faster than sitting down and listening. That's because learning involves your body, mind and it increases your confidence because people look up to you because of your abundance of information. Can you imagine a teacher that is always on learning mode and not in output mode? The answer is no because they were already on input mode when they were learning in school, right? Now that doesn't necessarily mean that they are never on input mode. There's a time and place for learning. So you've done NLP, right? Use the tools and quit inputing too much. Being one who inputs all the time makes you in effect mode and not cause.

You'll never know everything I've tried, so trust me. I've been from library to library photoreading thousands of books without any kind of satisfaction. I'm more satisfied having fun doing things than photoreading. Don't try knowing anything from a book, the brain only picks up on the STUFF that you need from the book as long as it is in alignment with your purpose.

Want to know more change your purpose so you know other STUFF. Keeping this in mind it's easier to come up with a purpose. Ok so I'm going to use a programming book as an example. Say you want to learn how to use classes. So photoread the book. Then go to the section of the reference that talks about classes and photoread that section again. Then skitter all over the place. Then ask yourself mind-probing questions. What can I do by aquiring knowledge to apply classes? How do I apply the knowledge? Then skitter for your answers. Then as soon as you bump into something you think can help highlight and write it down. In certain concepts there are things people have an easier time doing than other things, so it's important to start with the easy thing to build your confidence of the book, because confidence help build understanding.

Finally, to keep this skill apply it to your programs. You can't become a good programmer by just photoreading. In fact, the best programmers don't learn by reading most of the time. It's trial and error. I remember a time when I haven't done much reading but I was so confident in a topic that I was better than a person who read line by line in a book. Why is that? It's because I was using my genius and creative mind to come up with solutions. Reading is important but it's important to balance your reading with ur own thinking. Ask yourself how much of the info is coming from a book and how much is coming from your creative mind? By using photoreading it gives you an edge, maybe not as big of an edge you were expecting but an edge that makes things easier than before. So don't be dissapointed.

There are some self-help jenies that think they are better than everyone because they've taken the time to train. That's the wrong frame of mind. You can fool people sometimes, but you can't fool all people all the time. What does the last sentence say about people? That we are all intelligent life and we can learn from other people too. Just because someone is an engineer doesn't make them an expert on language. Do you see what I'm saying?

Good words. But please put some paragraphs

Nice rant ZMasterNCreator!!

Always nice to read someone spilling out their soul.

You communicate.

Paragraphs would be a nice touch however...

So how old is this body of yours? Maybe you are making up for lost time somewhere else... perhaps a few other lives lived out in cage where you where denied 'books' or some knowledge you felt was critical.

Anyway, you need not worry about being slow or fast, it all smooths out over time.

No no never ever worry about being slow because that slows you down. It also slows you down to think through too much using NLP because the conscious mind can only handle 7 + or - 2 bits of info. It's best just to react in a natural way.



I'm in my young 20's, I was into self-help because I was interested in being more effective and having a better quality of life. Before taking NLP I was ahead of my peers when it came to formal education. After taking NLP, it actually worked against me because I was living by NLP and the new techniques I'd learn, now I'm 4 years behind in my professional life. So now you can say that I'm behind and denied knowledge that was critical. People resented me because I'd always have the right thing to say, so they denied me.

I was trying to implement as much of it as I could so it can be natural to me. NLP caused me to lose friendships that I had for years and get into trouble. I was frustrated because I tried and tried and when things still didn't work I still tried because back then I wanted to be positive and believe in it so that it would work, but it didn't work the way I wanted it to. More things seemed to go wrong because I couldn't focus as easily because I was too in my head.

So that's a lesson to all you NLPers and self-developers. Do not take it too seriously. You weren't born with NLP so you definetly shouldn't live by it, but take the ideas that work for you. NLP is not a way of life and in order for it to be effective realize that NLP is deeper than just techniques. People always want to know the flashy techniques, the special cure and they soon discover that there is something deeper and more difficult to face.

I've had lots of people stick their noses up at me and think that I'm not good enough to be successful. I've lost time and all these feelings have bottled up inside to the point where I don't care about all the tiny details and facts about everything. I was younger and functioned quite well with grown ups without knowing as many facts and I was very productive too. So that there tells you that there's a misconception that if you don't keep up with all the news and media you're an outsider and therefore not as intelligent. I've found that I can keep up with news that's relevant to me just by doing everday activities that I enjoy. I don't need to show people I'm smart, it turns them off anyway because you're kinda insulting their intelligence by talking in language that's so essoteric anyway. By keeping up with everyday activities you'll have news that's relevant to your life's purpose. The people who are in your life will understand you and enjoy your company more because you're not trying to prove yourself to them (which is a way of seeking approval and that's low status behavior).

In the age of information overload you've got to realize that there's so much information that floating around that you actually don't need. Only keep up with the information that brings you forward. Don't learn things just to impress others or show them you're on top of the news because that means that you are not as high up in your work as you should. I'm not saying that you should quit reading other things but the majority should be on your career. Don't be fooled by the things that everyone wants.

Everyone wants to be smart
Everyone wants to be heard
Everyone wants to be happy
Everyone wants feel important
Everyone wants to be liked
Everyone wants a smokin hot girl friend
etc....

Don't worry about any of these things, they are all distractions. Just stick with your everyday activities and get better at those and all of this will fall into place. Being too busy to do anything with girls is very attractive to girls because you are giving them the gift of missing you and wondering what you are doing. It's nice to know some one that the world thinks is valuable, isn't it? You see what I mean?

There's no better thing than to be good at your everyday activities.

John Grinder, Co-developer of NLP once said :"Never believe anything too much, because there are always times it doesn't work."

In other words, don't idealize anything.

From your post I guess you might have read some David Deangelo's stuffs, in his Mastery with Women program, he introduced a concept called "From Focus to Integration", you really need to have an intensive learning period to master something, but then what you have to do is to make it just a part of your life, not ALL of your life.

The reality is, NLP and PR are just tools, they are not purpose of your life,

I should point out a problem, just from my observation, might be wrong but may be helpful to you. You focus on Technique too much, NLP is not about technique, If you want go get most out of it, it's NLP's underlying principle(Presupposition) and methodology(Modeling, De-normalize), don't caught up by the techniques, they are endless. Don't give your Power to NLP, let NLP serves you. And remember 20/80 principle, don't caught up by all the details, master the basic and most important principle.

I think you should be more aware of the spending your time, someone idealizing any techniques might think "If I master this or that my life will be perfect." it will never happen! It will be helpful, but don't rush to it. Handle your life and career first, and then take your time to learn it. NLP is not crap, but it is not everything either.

About your "slow" problem, I have a story for you.

When Stephen Gilligan was student of Milton Erickson, he wondered about the unique and wonderful language pattern of Erickson, Erickson can get great result, so Gilligan tried to model Erickson's language, very Consciously, he tried to figure out how to say this, say that, what's behind client's speech....

Yet he couldn't figure out, he missed something, he couldn't get result.

then He asked Erickson, Erickson said, warmly:"Don't let your conscious mind interfere your experience, trust your unconscious mind!"

He didn't understand, he continued to do it, Consciously, and, of course, didn't get any result.

Then he asked Erickson Again, This time, Erickson appeared to be angry, and said:"Don't let your conscious mind interfere your experience!"

He still didn't get it, and continue....

One day Erickson was watching Gilligan dealing with a client, Gilligan did it poorly. Afterwards, Erickson gazed at Gilligan's eyes, directly, and said something slowly: "Don't let your conscious mind interfere your experience, All you have to do is to..... trust your unconscious mind!"

And then, Gilligan was totally shocked, in his head, there is a flashing submodality and everything was flying here and there.

This time, He got it!

Go on to the next thing you want to do. It takes a lot of time and personal effort to form an enduring personal philosophy that works and works and works...

And until you get it, you could get lost from one school of thought to another. However, in looking back you will notice it is all steps along your path.

Hello ZMasterNCreator

Thank you for your very interesting comments.

I know very little about NLP. The subject does sound interesting.

I hope you don't mind that I decided to make a few comments and observations in relation to your writings.

Judging from your comments I personally feel that the NLP you undertook from what appears to be a relatively young age, has actually served a purpose in your life. You may feel that as a result this has "held you back" but I believe that from your comments you are now years ahead in maturity. Coming to the realisation that most of the information in this world is irrelevant unless you have a distinct purpose or need for such information really does put miles ahead of the "competition".

Most "average" people probably don't have this realisation until they are double or possibly triple your age. Don't be too hard on yourself. You may feel like you are "behind" because you actually took a great leap forward and are now just in cruise mode. Your journey has only really just begun and with your new approach life will take on new meaning.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to improve one's self, provided there is meaningful purpose. It's also part of natural instinct. We are driven (to varying degrees) to better ourselves physically, mentally and to some extent, spiritually. I believe this comes back to a basic survival instinct which in the modern world has evolved into a need to improve one's life via physical activity, education and general self improvement. It's tremendously difficult to ignore this instinct as it seems to be embedded within ourselves.

Some of us seem to be driven more than others to survive and thrive in a world full of "competition". Without competition we would loose the urge to strive for continued improvement. Without a drive we would loose the desire to do most things, and I believe the extremity of loosing such desire would eventually see the demise of human beings.

The fact that you, me, and many others in this world desire more than just a "basics" is actual proof that our instinct for survival is strong. Stronger in some more than others. It's also probably part of a "natural selection" process. Those who strive to improve will eventually do much better in life than those who don't.

And I am not just referring to one's financial position or one's career. I'm referring to the complete person. A person who can see through the fog of life and find true meaning in their lives. Not many people seem to reach this point, or at least not at your age. So it seems you have grown beyond your years and now have the realisation that life isn't all about just knowledge. That's only part of it. You have now turned your experiences and knowledge into wisdom. That's a huge leap forward.

This tends to remind of a quote that sums up our almost unquenchable thirst for self improvement:

Man - A being in search of meaning. Plato

ZMasterNCreator,

If you were so far ahead of your peers at school, why did you ever bother getting into personal development? If things worked out instinctively for you, you did not have to learn them through a certain technique, like NLP.

It's the integration process that matters, as MagicTerm, correctly mentioned. Unless you want to become an NLP trainer, then it's only how you apply the technique that matters. If you focus on it too closely, the technique remains the center of your attention and the rest slows down.

Because I thought it could enhance the quality of my life. I was curiouse about this self-dev stuff and always wanted to learn more. I thought by always learning new stuff would give me an edge, but i was spending too much time learning than applying and having a balanced life.