Chapter 2: Some Basic Assumptions of NLP 23
Romilla attended a course run by a wonderful Hawaiian Kahuna, Serge Kahili
King, during which he said that he never made mistakes. This statement
caused a few chuckles because none of the delegates believed him and the
twinkle in his eyes belied the deadpan expression on his face. He then added
that he may not always get the results he wants, but he never makes mistakes.One of the messages we took away from listening to entrepreneur and top
marketeer Liz Jackson, MBE, at an International Women’s Day event, is not to
be afraid of failure. Liz has herself had to adapt to the challenge of losing her
eyesight, and still manages to run a successful company. She says that failure
is one of the most powerful tools to learning; she inspires those around her
to break down their barriers to success by talking about what their ambitions
look like and stepping out of their comfort zones, even if it means being petri-
fied for a while. She says ‘It’s only the failures that teach you.’In normal language, the term feedback is associated with receiving input or
getting a response from another person. The meaning of feedback has been
expanded in the context of this NLP presupposition, however, to include the
result or outcome you may get from a particular situation.You can discover a lot about feedback from Thomas Edison. Although he’s
famous for inventing the light bulb, he was a prolific inventor. His genius lay
in trying out his ideas, learning from unexpected results, and recycling con-
cepts from an experiment that didn’t work in other inventions. Where other
people saw Edison’s thousands of attempts at inventing the light bulb as fail-
ures, Edison simply saw each trial as yet another way of discovering how not
to make a light bulb.Worrying about so-called failure keeps you focused on the past and the prob-
lems. If you examine the results that you’ve already obtained, even if they’re
unwanted, you can shift your focus onto new possibilities and move forward.When you’re faced with ‘failure’, you can use this NLP presupposition to find
the opportunities for growth by asking yourself some questions.Think of something you ‘failed’ at and ask yourself:✓ What am I aiming to achieve?
✓ What have I achieved so far?
✓ What feedback have I had?
✓ What lessons have I learned?
✓ How can I put the lessons to positive use?
✓ How am I going to measure my success?
Then pick yourself up and have another go!