Belief Modelling
Belief modelling is the process of observing an individual who is achieving the results you want and finding the beliefs that drive the behaviour that is producing those results.

The world is full of people who have a skill, ability or behaviour we really admire and would like ourselves.  Belief Modelling is a very effective way of laying the foundation upon which that skill or ability can be acquired.  There are many areas where people demonstrate valuable skills and abilities which can be modelled:

• Health - People who have healed themselves of disease, people who are always healthy, effective Healers, effective health professionals - doctors, nurses etc, people who manage their weight, people who no longer smoke, people who exercise regularly.
  
• Business - Successful entrepreneurs, effective managers, successful marketing personnel, front line personnel - air stewards /stewardesses, ground crew, waiters etc.
  
• Education - Excellent spellers, people with language skills, people who no longer have dyslexia, people who can read with comprehension and speed.
  
• Leadership - Effective business leaders, effective government leaders, effective leadership at times of crisis.
  
• Sport - Top athletes, effective coaches, effective team players

If Belief Modelling is so Good Why Doesn't Everybody Do It?
The answer is - we do, or to be more accurately we did!  As infants we had little choice other than to model the beliefs and behaviour of the people around us.  It is not until we reached an age where we became aware we had choices that the opportunity for change arose.  Unfortunately, even when given the choice, many of us have chosen to continue to model ourselves on the "wrong" people! 

What happens when we choose to model the beliefs of the "right" people e.g. those people who are being and doing and having what we would like to be do and have?
This is where our opportunity for significant change exists.

Let's say you wanted the entrepreneurial skills of a businessman such as Richard Branson.  Is it simply a question of modelling his beliefs and then you will have his skills?  The answer to that question is "maybe".  Even using the powerful NLP techniques and belief modelling you will never be Richard Branson.  However, if you adopt some key elements of his thinking - his beliefs, values and maybe some of his strategies you are going to find your own way of being a successful entrepreneur.

The techniques outlined here are based on the method devised by David Gordon who has done some excellent work in this area as well as making a considerable contribution to NLP.  David Gordon has an excellent tape set "Modelling with NLP" available from Anglo American Books.

Belief Modelling in a Nutshell

• Find someone (preferably more than one person) who demonstrates the skill or ability you want and does it really well.  This is your model or sometimes called "exemplar".
  
• Ask them questions about what they believe to be true and important while they are demonstrating this skill or ability.
  
• Listen very carefully to what they say and make a note of the answers. If you have more than one model look for the key beliefs that are common to all or most of your models.
  
• Adopt the key beliefs and try them on for yourself.

A very convenient way of capturing the information needed is to use the "experiential array" devised by David Gordon and Graham Dawes.  For a detailed explanation of this modelling method see David's Web Site or listen to the "Modelling with NLP" tapes mentioned above.  The experiential array used on this web site has been modified into a more convenient format but the box configuration is much the same.

Click here to go to the Belief Models page.