How To Expand Your Thinking

Robert Dilts has made and will probably continue to make, contributions to the field
of NLP. I have not made a complete survey or study of precisely what he has
contributed. At a glance, I'd say he has elicited many strategies for applying NLP.
These are not actually NLP, they are application strategies. If utilizing the strategy
requires prior training in NLP, then the strategy can be called an NLP strategy.

The old questioning strategy for expanding thinking; Asking: When? Where? What?
How? Why? Who? and Who else? has been hijacked by Dilts, renamed, associated
to brain neurology and categorized as an NLP model.

The questioning strategy works as well today as it ever has. It expands one's
thinking about the topic in question.

A useful exercise is to apply the questions, to Dilts version of the questioning

strategy. This reveals that Dilts did not develop the strategy and it has nothing to
do with a person's neurology beyond the neuropathways a person uses to ask such
questions. Applying logic, reveals that what Dilts proposes are "Logical Levels"...
are not. They are categories of information and types of questions one can use to
elicit that information.

A few years ago during a coaching session I was providing for a local golf pro, he
hit eight balls in a row dead on a target he had chosen. Everyone watching was
amazed and then they were even more amazed when the golf pro refused to
believe he had just done it. He insisted he couldn’t have and that I must have
hypnotized him into believing he had. No amount of convincing would change his
mind. Some people refuse to believe what's right before their eyes.

In Canada we have a "Rickyism" that accurately describes this common

phenomenon, it's called "Denial and error". We could argue whether or not "logical
Levels" are logical, all day long with someone experiencing "Denial and error", and
still not get anywhere.

"Logical Levels" is not an "NLP Model", it is a strategy for gathering information. I

refer to it as "Categories Of Thinking".What? When? Where? How? Who? Who else?
Why?

These are standard questions all reporters are taught to ask. Asking those
questions helps expand whatever information the reporter already has. I call it
"Using NLP to expand your thinking".

In the NLP Trainings I provide, Practitioners and Master Practitioners do an exercise

using these questions. The intent of the exercise is to have delegates experience
the process of expanding their thinking about any topic. I use several examples
and go through the list of questions to demonstrate how easily they help a person
expand their thinking on that topic. Delegates are then asked to form small groups
and explore the answers to those questions for a topic of their choice. The
questions do not have to be asked in any particular order.

The following is an example of the above being put into practical application.

We are often faced with meeting new people. In that context it is also often useful
to be able to gather information about them in a fluid and conversational manner.
A LOGICAL place to start is at the level of Identity, who?. I've provided some
examples below. The questions you use will change to suit the subject you focus
on.

(These examples employ the balance principle of "give then take and/or take then
give". Give information then ask for similar information and/or ask for information
then give similar information)

Hello, I'm _____. Who are you?

 I'm with _____. Who are you with?

What's your mission/roll _____? My mission/roll is _____.

I'm _____ because _____. Why are you _____?

How do you think _____ will turn out? I think _____.

What are you going to do to achieve that?

Where and when does _____ happen?

Conversation moves fluidly from one type of information to another and does not
have to adhere to the sequence of information types that are presented. Questions,
answers and other statements may also involve more than just one type of
information.

Steve Boyley, JAFS. NLPT. MCHt.

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