92 Leading with NLP
Think what would happen if a thermostat were pro-
grammed to respond to temperature changes of a tenth of a
degree. It would be switching the heating on and off every
few minutes. A change thermostat set too sensitively would
mean you would be constantly making plans and then drop-
ping them, responding to every slight shift – you would try
to micromanage your personal life, and be sensitive and in-
tolerant to anything out of the ordinary.
On the other hand, imagine a thermostat calibrated in
five-degree units. You would get quite cold before the heat-
ing came on. A personal change thermostat set like this
would mean you would stay the same for long periods and
then suddenly realize and change drastically. Somewhere be-
tween the two extremes lies a range that allows us to live well
and adapt. (I suspect that to handle modern life we need to
have a wider band of tolerance than people had in the past.)
Your Personal Change Thermostat
Does your life seems to be full of changes, or have
very little change?
How do you react to change?
How wide a tolerance do you have for change?
Think of some changes that you have made that
worked out well. What was good about them?
Now think of some changes you made that did not
work out well. What made them unsatisfactory?Think of the changes you would be making in becom-
ing more of a leader in your life and work. What
has stopped you making these changes before?
Has anything changed since then?What might stop you on your quest to develop yourself as a
leader? On the outside you may find your relationships
changing – you may lose friends, though you will gain
friends. You may even damage your career prospects if you