Personal Editing: How to improve your client interactions

Are you happy with your performance?

In NLP, structures have been created that allow you to review your performance in any given situation and re-edit it for better performance in the future.

Have you ever looked back at a situation and wished you had handled it differently? Perhaps you look back at some of the decisions you've made over time that could have worked out more positively. You can't take any of that back, but with personal editing, you can alter your future outcomes.

Check yourself and edit your personal state

As you may already know from reading previous articles, NLP is in part about managing states of mind; not only in others, but also for yourself.

When you're not satisfied with past outcomes or your performance, you can work through an exercise to prepare to be better next time. You may discover your performance was due to certain habitual behaviours on your part, you can challenge those behaviours with personal editing.

Get started with personal editing

Start by reviewing (as if on a video) what happened in the scenario you would like a different outcome for. What elements didn't go according to plan? Take a look back and access the situation, was there (for example) a response that caused the negative outcome you experienced?

Now, ask yourself what could possibly make you respond differently. Identify a resource – internally or externally – that would make you change the way you reacted. What would have had the power to change your response?

What does it actually mean?

"Personal Editing" is a term that was thought to be created by NLP pioneers John Grinder and Judith DeLozier.

The basic premise is that the techniques "edit" thinking and behavioural patterns, to instil new habits so that positive outcomes can be achieved.

Established techniques include tools like the "Meta Mirror", the "Disney Creative Strategy", "Resonance Pattern", "Time Line", "Belief System Integration, "Anchor Collapse", "Alignment of Neurological Levels" and "Postural Editing", among others.

The combination of these techniques changes your pre-programmed subconscious responses to situations. Essentially, it works through a repetitive reinforcement of good response mechanisms and removal of negative ones.

Where can personal editing be used?

You can apply personal editing to your daily life with specific situations in mind. Altering your performance in a specific work or behavioural area becomes possible because you "train" yourself to respond in a more positive and constructive manner.

Like many areas of NLP practice, personal editing is a behaviour-altering mechanism designed to enhance your personal performance. So, NLP doesn't only help you subtly adjust the behaviour of others, it helps you adjust your own, too.

Carrying on from the initial example - once you've identified where you want to have a different outcome, e.g. meetings with your boss or a particular client, you can imagine watching the previous meeting, and with the calmness of hindsight establish how you would want the meeting to run differently.

To summarize very quickly, you would in essence make the changes in the video (your image memory of said meeting) so that it now runs (the memory of the meeting) with an outcome that you want. This creates an image you can utilize to bring to life the next time you are with that client, or your boss etc.

Rebuild your thinking

Personal editing changes your thinking, not just on a conscious level, but on a physiological level. It produces feelings, behaviours and speech patterns that can help you create the best results and performance for yourself.

When you cultivate a thorough understanding of personal editing processes, it becomes habitual to be flexible and open to change. And change is the core tool you need to keep moving forward – in your life and in your career.

You can rebuild your thinking, simply by learning to be fluid in your approach. Understanding other people helps, but completely understanding yourself is the real key to success. Think about what you can do today to change your mindset.

To learn more about other NLP techniques that you could apply for yourself or perhaps to coach a colleague - take a look at www.nlp-impact.com