In fact, we use this tool without realizing it
Psychologist John Watson said: “Give me a dozen healthy, well-formed children and my own specific world to raise them and I guarantee you’ll take any one at random and train them to be. become any type of specialist I might choose – doctor, lawyer, artist, chief merchant and, yes, even beggar and thief, whatever his talents, inclinations, tendencies, abilities, vocations and race of his ancestors.
Watson is best known for his research on “human conditioning”. Much like Pavlov’s experiment (where he conditioned a dog to expect food every time it rang a bell), Watson also believed that people could be “conditioned” to feel a certain way internally, when triggered by an external stimulus.
Although much of his work has been controversial, we can actually use this study, and that brings me to my favorite concept in NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), called “grounding”.
We actually use this tool, without realizing it. Don’t you feel instantly ‘calmed’ when a loved one lays their hand tenderly on your shoulder, or anxious at the sight of a traffic jam? These are some examples of conditioning, and these signals have become our “anchors”. When the outer anchor is triggered, loving touch, for example, the inner response is triggered – to feel calm.
Simply put, the process of “anchoring” helps us connect external triggers to internal responses. And if we apply the default concept anyway, imagine how impactful and empowering it can be if we follow a deliberate anchoring method?
We can calm our nerves before an exam, manage our anger, boost creativity or confidence, and elicit many such states in ourselves through grounding.
Steps to anchor yourself:
1) Determine the sentiment you want to work with (let’s choose ‘confidence’ for now).
2) Recall the time when you felt extremely confident. The stronger the feeling during that minute, the better. Now step back into memory, feeling with all the intensity the confidence you felt at the time.
3) Once you feel your confidence level is at its peak, “anchor it”. It means, choose a certain action. Let’s choose ‘hit chest’ for now. Choose a specific action that you don’t commonly use and remember it. This is the most important step.
4) Now release your action, and repeat the whole ritual to solidify the anchor.
Congratulations, you have created your “anchor”! In the future, when you go to a big meeting and want to feel confident, pat your chest. This external action (of tapping) will trigger the internal feeling (of trust).
The more you use it, the stronger your anchor will become. Try it out and let me know via Instagram if it works for you.
Connect with Delna Mistry Anand on social media @DelnaAnand
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