Chapter 12: Driving Habits: Uncovering Your Secret Programs 207
If you spell phonetically and want to be better at spelling, try the following:
- Choose a word that you want to remember how to spell, and then
write it in big letters and keep it to hand. - Think of a word that you can spell.
We ask you to spell a word you know already to create a positive feel-
ing. Sadly, when you learn to spell as a child your teachers don’t always
teach you the strategy to spell well. Consequently, you may get catego-
rised as ‘not the brightest student’ and when asked to spell, you feel
bad. Over a period of time, spelling can come to be synonymous with
feeling bad. It may affect your identity, as in ‘I’m a bad speller’ or even
worse, ‘I’m a poor student’. Allow yourself to acknowledge any negative
beliefs that may surface and be compassionate with yourself. You may
not have got on with your English teacher and learning to spell may
dredge up unwanted memories, and that’s OK. Gently remind yourself
that you’re no longer a child under the influence of an unsympathetic
teacher; rather you’re an adult in control of your own life. Then give
yourself permission to be as good at spelling as you can. So play with
the words and go for it.- Move your eyes to visual recall (usually, your top left, if you’re right-
handed) and make a picture of the word you know you can spell.
Knowing you can spell the word gives you a positive feeling (satisfied,
confident, happy, and so on).
- Bring that positive feeling into your consciousness; focus on it and
enhance it; take a deep breath and enhance it some more.
Eureka!
When Olive Hickmott came across the NLP
Spelling Strategy on an NLP Practitioner
course in London, it set her off on a journey of
discovery. Those 15 minutes provided a totally
unexpected ‘Eureka!’ moment, giving her the
important ‘how to’ of spelling that had been
missing all her life. Her struggle with English
had adversely affected her education and her
career, and meant that she didn’t read for plea-
sure until the age of 40. She says, ‘Why hadn’t
anyone ever told me that this was how you
were expected to spell? It was one of those
things that I didn’t know that I didn’t know.’First she discovered how to develop her visu-
alisation skills generally, and then how to
visualise words. She has gone on to teach the
methods described in her book Spelling Means
Achieving to help others resolve areas of word
confusion, such as letters jumping around the
page, before they go on to achieve what they
want. From spelling she has moved her work
to other areas of learning difficulties includ-
ing dyslexia, dyspraxia, and ADHD, and she’s
passionate about equipping young people with
basic spelling skills at a young age before they
embed unhelpful strategies.