Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) Training

Indian School Parents Forum (ISPAF) conducted a one day Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) training to the students from secondary and higher secondary classes. I sent two of my children to attend the training.


The training was conducted by Brother Kabeer N.V.Brother Kabeer has an impressive academic back ground. He is a trainer and mentor for a lot many in Kerala and elsewhere in India and the middle east. 
Br. Kabeer is the Director of Center for Information and Guidance India (CIGI). 


When I asked some of the attendees about the workshop they were all impressed by the workshop except for one from the organizing team who said, "I was expecting more from Br. Kabeer"


One of the main technique taught , according to my son, was that the following: 
" Suppose you are going to attend an interview for an important job. Before the interview convince your mind that you have already got the job. Then attend the interview very casually". Of-course there were many other tips and practices.


Now you wonder why I wrote this post?


While browsing, I have seen the below criticism about NLP training from wikipedia website. 


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming


"According to certain neuroscientists,^[3] psychologists^[4][5] and linguists,^[6][7] NLP is unsupported by current scientific evidence, and uses incorrect and misleading terms and concepts"


Reviews of empirical research on NLP indicate that NLP contains numerous factual errors,^[11][13] and has failed to produce reliable results for the claims for effectiveness made by NLP’s originators and proponents.^[5][14] According to Devilly,^[15] NLP is no longer as prevalent as it was in the 1970s and 1980s. Criticisms go beyond the lack of empirical evidence for effectiveness; critics say that NLP exhibits pseudoscientific characteristics,^[15] title,^[3] concepts and terminology.^[6][16]NLP is used as an example of pseudoscience for facilitating the teaching of scientific literacy at the professional and university level.^[7][17][18]NLP also appears on peer reviewed expert-consensus based lists of discredited interventions.^[5] In research designed to identify the "quack factor" in modern mental health practice, Norcross et al. (2006) ^[16] list NLP as possibly or probably discredited, and in papers reviewing discredited interventions for substance and alcohol abuse, Norcross et al. (2010)^[19] list NLP in the top ten most discredited, and Glasner-Edwards and Rawson (2010) list NLP as "certainly discredited".^[20]


I request the readers, who has some knowledge / experience on NLP, to share their experiences about NLP.


If you have attended NLP training earlier and feel that you have benefited from it, please share it in the comments column. And if you know certain drawbacks of NLP, please do write it as well in the comments column.




Other key words: Richard Bandler, John Grinder, Neuro linguistic programming, 

Self Appraisal

A little boy went to a telephone booth which was at the cash counter of a  store and dialed a number. The store-owner observed and listened to the  conversation:

Boy                : "Lady, Can you give me the job of cutting your lawn?

Woman         : (at the other end of the phone line) "I  already have someone to cut my lawn."

Boy                : "Lady, I will cut your lawn for half the price  than the person who cuts your lawn now."

Woman         : I'm very satisfied with the person who is  presently cutting my lawn.

Boy                : (with more perseverance) "Lady, I'll even sweep the floor  and the stairs of your house for free.

Woman         : No, thank you.

With a smile on his face, the little  boy replaced the receiver. The store-owner, who was listening to all this,  walked over to the boy.

Store Owner  : "Son... I like  your attitude; I like that positive spirit and would like to offer you a  job."

Boy                     : "No thanks,

Store Owner  :  But you were really pleading for one.

Boy                     : No Sir, I was just  checking my performance at the job I already have. I am the one who is  working for that lady I was talking to!" 

This is called "Self  Appraisal"

Estidama: A model of sustainable urbanization

Try walking or cycling with your children to school when it is safe to do so.

Ask your children's teacher about starting a recycling program in school.

Organize a table to sale to enable unwanted items to be reused, with proceeds going to charity.

Borrow books from your school library rather than buying new ones.

Get a head start at school for a sustainable life style.

Small changes make a big difference.

Estidama, which means sustainability in Arabic, is the initiative which will transform AbuDhabi in to a model of sustainable urbanization. Its aim is to create more sustainable communities, cities and global enterprises and to balance the four pillars of Estidama: Environmental, Economic, Cultural and Social.

I was touched when I saw the above words in the website : http://estidama.org/

Sustainability is something every one of us should try to practice in daily life. There are several initiatives in the world today on sustainability, green technology etc. There are several agencies in different countries to promote sustainable technology, energy conservation etc.

Sustainable technology is a walking back, the way I see it. Our parents and grand parents were promoters of sustainability. 

Remember their life style?

- They used to walk a lot 

- They used to use sustainable materials wherever possible.

- They never practiced the use and throw culture

- They used to preserve soil erosion by controlling rain water flow during rainy season.

- They never filled paddy fields for construction purpose

- They used love planting trees and loved to have forest and wild life

- They never made our rivers polluted.

Now if you read the recommendations put forward by the modern sustainability promoting agencies like  USGBC (LEED), MGTC, IGBC etc. you will find many similarities to the life style our fore fathers practiced without knowing the word "sustainability"!

You may also visit:

http://www.igbc.in/site/igbc/index.jsp

http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CategoryID=19

http://www.ukgbc.org/

http://www.mgbc.org.my/
http://www.worldgbc.org/

Each one of us has a role to play in handing over a livable world to our children and grand children!

Personality Development and Character Ethics

"The Character Ethic taught that there are basic principles of effective living, and that people can only experience true success and enduring happiness as they learn and integrate these principles in to their basic character. But shortly after World War I the basic view of success shifted from the Character Ethic to what we might call the Personality Ethic. Success became more a function of personality, of public image, of attitudes and behaviours, skills and techniques, that lubricate the process of human interaction"

"If we want to make relatively minor changes in our lives, we can perhaps appropriately focus on our attitudes and behaviors. But if we want to make significant, quantum change, we need to work on basic paradigms"

Quoted from "7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey.

These quotes have great relevance in today's professional world. Let us not get carried away by the shallow "Personality Development" capsule solutions. Before you attend any such programs and before you send your child for such programs make sure that the team behind the training has hands on experience and a right vision about "Character Ethics"

The Continuous Improvement Formula

The Continuous Improvement Formula
By: Brian Tracy

Put Your Career on the Fast Track
There are many things you can do to put your career onto the fast track. You can set clear, specific goals for each area of your life and then make plans to accomplish them. You can plan your work and work your plan.

Ask For Greater Responsibility
You can accept 100% responsibility for everything you are and everything you become. You can refuse to make excuses or to blame others. You can tell your boss that you want greater responsibilities and then when you get them, put your whole heart into doing an excellent job.

Utilize Your Inborn Talents
In the parable of the talents in the New Testament, Jesus says, "Oh good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over small things. I will make you master over large things."

If you too will carry out every assignment to the very best of your ability, you will be given larger and more important things to do and you'll be paid more as a result.

Dedicate Yourself to Continuous Improvement
The key to long term success is for you to dedicate yourself to continuous improvement. If you become one tenth of one percent more productive each day, that amounts to 1/1000th improvement per working day. Is that possible? Of course it is!

Improve A Little At A Time
If you become one tenth of one percent more productive each day, that amounts to one half of one percent more productive each week. One half of one percent more productive each week amounts to two percent more productive each month and 26% more productive each year.

The cumulative effect if becoming a tiny bit better at your field and more productive amounts to a tremendous increase in your value and your output over time.

How to Double Your Productivity
Twenty-six percent more productive each year, with compounding, amounts to doubling your overall productivity and performance every 2.7 years. If you become 26% more productive each year, with compounding, times 10 years, you will be 1004% more productive over the next decade. That is an increase of ten times over ten years.

The Reason For All Great Successes
This is called the Law of Accumulation, or the Principle of Incremental Improvement. It is the primary reason for all great success stories. By the yard, it's hard. But inch by inch, anything's a cinch!

Become A 1000% Person
Make a decision, right now, to be a 1000% person. Commit yourself to continuous personal and professional development. Read, listen to audio programs and take additional courses. This process will completely transform your life.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do to put these ideas into action immediately.

First, make a plan to become a little bit better every single day. Learn and apply one new idea each day to help you to become more productive and effective at your work. The incremental effect will amaze you.

Second, be patient. Don't expect overnight changes or instant results. Remember the story of the tortoise and the hare. Become a little bit better each day and your future will take care of itself.

 (Received by email from  Abdul jabbar Palam 19th December 2010)

Human body: An amazing creation

Today morning I was performing a simple breathing exercise.

During the exercise one thought just struck my mind. "Why Allah has given two holes to my nose?".
Till now I don't have any answer for this question. Can anyone help me out?

Later in the afternoon I was sitting with my Boss. One of my Colleague came to see him with a bandage on his right thumb. My Boss asked him, "What happened to your thumb?". My colleague explained what happened was a simple cut while removing his nail and it got a bit serious after 10 days from the day he made the cut.

My boss told him the following: Beware of your thumb!

The whole human civilization is built with the help of the thumb of human beings. One of the biggest difference between man and other mammals is the presence of thumb. Consider a situation where the thumb got cut for someone. He can not hold a pen properly and write. He can not hold tools in the factory or in an operation theater!
My Boss mentioned the case of his old friend who had to change the stream of study from medicine to engineering when his friend's thumb got removed after an accident!

Similar is the case with everything on our body and / or everything in this universe. The more you think about the intricacies of creation, you get more amazed!

In Quran (41:53) Allah says: "Soon will We show them our Signs in the (furthest) regions (of the earth), and in their own souls, until it becomes manifest to them that this is the Truth....."