To make sense out of the mish-mash of NLP-related material you will go through, you'll find it useful to categorize the areas of activities tied to NLP.
This article will be very short and to the point but nevertheless one of the most important I will post. The distinctions you learn in this one will allow you to map out your areas of learning in NLP.
With that said, let's get to our 4 areas:
1. NLP Modeling
This is THE main area of NLP, as I've constantly harped on since starting this blog. NLP You're modeling any time you're coding behavioral patterns into explicit strategies or models, more specifically the behavior of geniuses who produce outstanding results in a specific field. You can also be said to be modeling when you craft useful descriptions or maps of phenomena that you observe (for instance, eye movements tied to the use of a specific representational system).
2. NLP Design
As you become more proficient in modeling, you will inevitably be drawn to design. You are designing any time you're using NLP variables to create new patterns with the intent of producing a specific result. For example, you might design a specific sequence of sentences that trigger specific sensory channels whose goal is to persuade a client to buy a house.
3. NLP Installation
Installation has to do with the actual "Programming" of NLP. You're installing whenever you're transferring, conditioning or programming a pattern in yourself or another person using anchoring, hypnotic language, chaining states or any combination of the former. For instance, you're installing when you run someone through a swish pattern.
4. NLP Training
Training deals with teaching specific skills to a student. Either you're training or you're being trained. You're training whenever you're explaining, describing or exemplifying a specific pattern or model for a student to learn how apply that specific pattern or model. While writing or reading this blog can't exactly be considered training, it would fall in this generic category. This is what we've been doing together all along.
Now, don't take all of this for cash. These categories don't really exist. I just made them up because they make learning NLP much easier. They help you to understand what's going on and serve as a crutch to make sense of the patterning coming your way.
Ideally, as you progress in learning NLP, you'll create your own categories (your models). Please share your models with other learners as it will enrich and stimulate your learning even more.
Very interesting concept, glad I found your site. I just started reading some of your articles, and find them very helpful in my search for more NLP understanding. Thanks so much! I will be back…