Hate exercise? Love it? What’s your vote? The other day I went to the gym and I met my trainer, Niki. I decided to put on my NLP hat and get to the bottom of this question about exercise. For those of you unfamiliar with NLP, the concept of modeling is at the core of it.
Modeling is the ability that we all have to be able to acquire any behavior, talent or skill. This is something that we do every day, unconsciously and without much thought.
You might consider it ‘copying or replicating.’ When you watch someone, listen to them and attempt to duplicate those behaviors, you are doing some small degree of modeling.
However, in order to truly acquire a new behavior it takes more than just doing what you see on the surface.
You need to be able to get underneath the surface and understand what they are thinking, what’s important to them and find out what motivates them in order to truly model the behavior. There is much more to it but that’s basically it in a nutshell.
I learned how to model last October when I attended a Modeling workshop with David Gordon, one of the original co-founders of NLP. That was an amazing experience and I will write more about that in the future.
You can learn more about modeling by reading David’s book called, “Expanding Your World: Modeling the Structure of Experience” Don’t miss the DVD of the same name. It shows in detail how to model.
Since I am deeply passionate about helping people to get healthy, I’ve created a program tailored around releasing old limiting beliefs and changing habits using Emotional Freedom Technique and the best of NLP. If you are interested in learning more about The Craving Zapping Program, email me at [email protected]
Understanding the importance of being able to teach my clients how to acquire new behaviors, I decided to ask Niki if she would be willing to be an exemplar (a person with a behavior to model) and if she would allow me to interview her and find out what she does differently internally and externally from someone who hates exercise. She agreed.
Niki is a beautiful young woman from Europe. She has a wonderful disposition and a lighthearted way of giving sage advice to her personal training clients. She is non-judgmental and just a blast to be around. I asked her, “When was the first time that you fell in love with activity?
After some digging, she explained to me that, in Europe, the education system there is very different. Exercise is highly valued. She remembered that from 1st grade to 6th grade she participated in gym class 3 days a week. She loved being in that class and expressed such joy in those memories.
Niki recalled that as children became proficient in one area of activity, that they were soon encouraged to move into another field. I even joked around with Niki and said, “You’ve probably even done pole vaulting.” She had a beaming smile and looked at me with her twinkling blue eyes and she said, “Yes… And I loved it.”
In the weeks to come, I’ll be doing a full scale recorded interview with Niki and really be able to break down for you how she came to associate activity with great joy. I’ll give you this in a tool called the Belief Template created by David Gordon.
As a NLPer, I know the value of modeling and realize that I can take the best of Niki’s experience and share it with all of you so that you can benefit and begin to love exercise as much as Niki. There’s much more to be discovered and I can’t wait to do the interview.
In the meanwhile, let me ask you… what’s your vote? Do you love exercise or hate it? Why? Do you know? Let me hear from you.