In Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), a strategy is a recipe for results. It’s how we order and sequence our experiences to produce a specific result. A simple way to think of a neurological strategy is it’s what you do in your mind when you do something. They are the thought patterns that produce our results. We have strategies for everything we do from falling in love to getting motivated, to feeling depressed. We aren’t usually conscious of them. If we know what they are, then we can use our strategies to get in a particular state more effectively.

Photo by Pathfinder Linden
A friend of mine sent me an email titled “Twelve Little Laws of Life.”   The laws were short and sweet and I was impressed.   I hunted down the original author Tom Hoobyar.  Tom said I was free to republish the laws.  Here are the 12 laws of life, followed by my take on them. 

The 12 Little Laws of LifeHere’s Tom’s 12 little laws of life:

SELF-MANAGEMENT AND PEOPLE SKILLS ARE THE KEYS TO YOUR SUCCESS AND HAPPINESS.
YOU ARE AT THE CENTER OF YOUR UNIVERSE. STAY THERE!
WHAT …

"If you ask the wrong question, of course, you get the wrong answer. We find in design it’s much more important and difficult to ask the right question. Once you do that, the right answer becomes obvious." — Amory Lovins
How can you ask better questions?   How can you ask more effectively?  If you improve the questions you ask, as well as who you ask, and how you ask, you can produce more effective results.
I find that asking intelligently at work helps me be more effective.  For example, …

"Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers." — Anthony Robbins
Why are you stuck?  That’s not a very empowering question.  You’ll just figure out reasons for why you’re stuck.  Instead, ask a question like "how can you move forward?" or "how might you accomplish that?"  The key is to ask "how" questions over "why" questions. 
In Unlimited Power : The New Science Of Personal Achievement, Tony Robbins writes about choosing "how" questions over "why" questions.
Key Take Aways Here’s my key …

"A major stimulant to creative thinking is focused questions. There is something about a well-worded question that often penetrates to the heart of the matter and triggers new ideas and insights." — Brian Tracy
How can you ask better questions to improve your effectiveness?  By asking "outcome questions" you can change direction toward the outcome and away from the solution. 
I actually use this technique effectively at work, but I call them "solution-focused questions."  Basically, I focus on how to move forward and getting clarity on where we want to …

NLP is a set of techniques and strategies for modeling excellence. I use NLP for practical things from building rapport to learning success from others. The most important thing I learned from NLP is how changing your thinking, feeling, and doing, changes your results. One of the best books I’ve found for simplifying NLP into practical application is Brilliant Nlp: What the Most Successful People Know, Say and Do , by David Molden and Pat Hutchinson.
My Nuggets
Here’s my nuggets from the book so far:

Beliefs on Which NLP is Based
Eliciting a …

The precision model is a tool for overcoming some of the most common language pitfalls. When your language is fluffy or when somebody else’s language is fluffy, it can be difficult to take effective action, because you don’t really understand what the problem is. Using the precision model, you can clarify people’s distortions, deletions, and generalizations, while keeping rapport. In Unlimited Power : The New Science Of Personal Achievement, Anthony Robbins writes about using the precision model to improve your ability to cut through fluff and get more actionable insights …

In Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), meta-programs are the keys to the way you process information. They’re basically how you form your internal representations and direct your behavior. In Unlimited Power : The New Science Of Personal Achievement, Tony Robbins writes about meta-programs that people use to sort and make sense of the world.
Key Take Aways
I think knowing how people work, helps bridge gaps. Here’s my key take aways:

Use meta-programs to understand yourself and others. Meta-programs helps you understand how people sort and make sense of the world. They also help you …

You have programs for everything you do. Your programs consist of sequences of thoughts and behaviors triggered by a stimulus. In NLP terms, this is called a strategy for achieving an outcome. Really, this is an internal processing strategy. If you know about the components of an internal processing strategy, you can change it, copy an effective strategy from somebody else, or create a new one from scratch. In Brilliant Nlp: What the Most Successful People Know, Say & Do, David Molden and Pat Hutchinson provide a technique for eliciting …

What if you could step into your future, experience your success, and look back on how you got there? What if you could do a dry run or walkthrough of your future accomplishments and actually feel your results? In Brilliant Nlp: What the Most Successful People Know, Say & Do, David Molden and Pat Hutchinson write about a simple but effective technique from their Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) experience, that you can use to visualize your success.
Visualize Your SuccessYou can use this technique to set a realistic timescale for your …

The acronym PRIEST provides a framework for evaluating outcomes. In Brilliant Nlp: What the Most Successful People Know, Say & Do, David Molden and Pat Hutchinson share the PRIEST framework for well-formed goals.
PRIEST for Well-Formed OutcomesMolden and Hutchinson write how to use PRIEST for goals:

P is for Positively Stated.
R is for Resources
I is for Initiated and Maintained By Self
E is for Ecology
S is for Sensory Evidence
T is for Time.

P is for Positively StatedMolden and Hutchinson write:
A feature of the human mind is its inability to process a negative. Consider …

Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) was founded on a core set of beliefs. NLP was originally used to model excellence, so the beliefs reflect patterns of excellence that show up in people at their best. In Brilliant Nlp: What the Most Successful People Know, Say & Do, David Molden and Pat Hutchinson write about the core beliefs NLP is based on.
Core NLP Beliefs
Molden and Hutchinson write about the beliefs behind NLP:

The map is not the territory.
Respect each other’s maps of the world.
The meaning of your communication is the response …

Richard Bandler and John Grinder modelled Virginia Satir when they created Neuro Linguistic Proramming (NLP.) Satir was a highly effective family therapist. She achieved rapid results by using communication categories to identify behavior: Blaming, Placating, Computing, Distracting and Levelling. In Brilliant Nlp: What the Most Successful People Know, Say & Do, David Molden and Pat Hutchinson write about the Satir communication categories.
Incongruent Behavior
Virginia Satir used the communication categories to help individual family members become aware of their incongruent behavior. Incongruent behavior is when your mind thinks one thing, but your …

“The relationship is the communication bridge between people.” — Alfred Kadushin
Negative, vague language can work for or against you. Whether self-talk or dialogue with others, generalizations we make, details we leave out, or the way we distort through language, influences how we think, feel, and act. You can choose limiting vague language or artfully vague language patterns that are positive and empowering.
In Brilliant Nlp: What the Most Successful People Know, Say & Do, David Molden and Pat Hutchinson write about generalization, deletion and distortion as it pertains to …

Would you like to improve how you communicate to yourself and others? Intrinsic values show themselves as patterns in what you say, how you say it, and what you do. Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) calls these intrinsic values, meta-programs. You can think of each meta-progam as a range of behavior and tendencies based on what you value. The real key is to pay attention to know where your intrinsic values are holding you back, and to use the meta-progams to help you improve your effectiveness with others. In Brilliant Nlp: …