Anchors can help you get ahead in life as opposed to slow you down! There is a concept in NLP which when used appropriately allows an individual to "anchor" behaviors to their body. We are all familiar with the concept of tieing a string around the finger to remember something.
We can use the same concept to "trigger" emotional states, behaviors, etc. If you are having trouble with anger, you can use an anchor to remind you to "count to 10." If you are afraid to deliver a public speech, you can "trigger" a previous behavior, such as patience or confidence to help you counteract the nervousness or fear. The process can be accomplished as follows:
1) determine the action that you would like to trigger (i.e. calmness)
2) mentally picture a time when you were very calm
3) close your eyes and relive that calm time
4) choose a location (i.e. elbow) to anchor the calm feeling
5) touch the elbow and "lock" the calm feeling to the elbow
6) just prior to a time that creates the nervousness touch your elbow and remember the calm feelings.
With a little practice, you should be able to capture any of your past behaviors and be more successful.
By the way, this also works in reverse. Each of us must be careful to avoid bringing up bad prior experiences or behavior. It is just as easy to trigger the behavior that we do not want.
Copyright 2010 - Jim Lindell