It was really interesting exercise for me to create Maiden Castle Memories recently and to look back and reflect on music I love and the reasons why. Like the majority of people, I’m stirred by music and ‘I Want to Hold your Hand’ by The Beatles has perhaps the most profound effect on me of all the music I’ve encountered in my life. There is certainly grander music out there, more erudite pieces bristling with technical brilliance and unrivalled virtuoso performances. But this track by The Beatles trumps all the others, due to the memories it brings with it and the calming effect it has on me.
Breaking the mould
I was only nine years old when I first heard it and that could be part of the reason why it’s remained a firm favourite. As children, our minds are flexible and incredibly strong, and possess the power to form powerful and strikingly clear images in our memory. Listening to that track now immediately transports me back to 1963, when the Beatles were shocking the world with music the likes of which we’d never heard before – but also with an anarchic attitude to ‘authority’ and the ‘stiff upper lip’ attitude of 1950’s Britain.
It’s my belief that when we tap into memories such as these from our vantage point of later life that we are naturally making use of an emotional trigger to access a happy place. Essentially this is what lies behind the anchoring of a confident or happy state – which is one of the main building blocks of neuro linguistic programming (NLP), a science that is relatively unknown and is occasionally called into question. It’s my view that some knowledge and careful use of parts of NLP are worthy of the attention of anyone who’s serious about improving business communication.
Confidence in business
The Beatles have unwittingly provided me with the ability to transport myself back mentally to a time which for me is associated purely with happy memories. For me, it’s entirely logical and clearly a sensible thing for an NLP practitioner to take advantage of this phenomenon and use it in extreme circumstances, when a person is unable to access a confident state without the use of an ‘artificial’ anchor.
NLP can be described as an approach to communication which helps us better understand the workings of the mind and how we can change the way we behave. As such, it’s a massive advantage to at least have some understanding of it in business. Fundamental to NLP is the building of rapport between two people and again this is a perfectly natural phenomenon. But it is one which can be enhanced in an entirely honourable way, by use of techniques and processes, to create a much more effective and enduring relationship. This is surely something we all want to achieve in business.
Cumulative knowledge
Someone once said that business is really simple, but it’s made complicated by people. Why not avail yourself of a concept like NLP, which may help you better understand yourself and consequently others too. As is often quoted in coaching circles, we can learn a lot from children. They can perform with ease tasks which we know are vital, but elude us now. We are often weighed down with a lot of mental baggage – fears, doubts, insecurities – that become a hinderance. I’m grateful to my nine-year-old self for creating the beautiful memory in the first place. But I’m also grateful for the coaching knowledge I’ve been privileged to gain since, which helps me understand better what’s going on in my mind today, as I relive that memory. If I can share that and help others to a deeper understanding, so much the better.
If you would like to find out more about some of my other music choices and why I chose them, check out my Maiden Castle Memories https://youtu.be/jO9gy3vyfpM.