NLP Timeline Exercises - Discover your Timeline and use it like a Pro
In NLP, a Timeline is a mental construct that is used internally to organize time. Timelines are often used to organize the future or discover useful resources from our past.
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Before attempting any of these NLP exercises read through them a few times, so you can run through them without having to refer back to the text. This will enable you to concentrate completely on the exercise itself. It is also important to read the NLP Lessons before attempting these exercises as these will help you understand the instructions.
These exercise also requires anchoring, so if you haven't learnt how to use anchoring on yourself then read the article Create Powerful Anchors using NLP.
Finally, you will also need to be able to work with creating states, so you should read NLP states too. The exercises will assume you know these subjects reasonably well.
Discover your Timeline
Hopefully you've experimented with some of the other lessons on this site and are quite comfortable analyzing your own internal representations. To begin you need to think of an experience or event in your life that happened around five years ago and to visualize that event as vividly as possible.
Now, in the same way as within the lesson NLP Submodalities - Change your Reality, notice where in space you project that image, for instance:
- Is the picture to the left or right?
- Is the picture above or below your sight level?
- How far away is the picture?
Having found a position for this event, think of an event that happened within the last week and notice the position again.
Imagine an event that will happen a year in the future, and then finally an event five years in the future such as your birthday.
Now if you take your finger and trace through those points in order, you should discover that they create a line or curve.
There are no fixed positions for time lines, but there are three common patterns. These are:
- Left to Right
- Behind to In front
- Below to Above
In the west most people have either a 'left to right' or 'behind to in front' timeline. In the case of the 'left to right' timeline the past is usually to the left in right handed people and to the right in left handed people. The 'behind to in front' timeline usually runs from behind to in front - people tend to put the past behind then!
The 'below to above' pattern is rare in the west, but strangely is almost universal in Japan - could this be linked to the way Japanese is written?
Like many submodality concepts there are a lot of little idiosyncratic behaviors based on peoples preferences. For instance people who run their timeline from behind to in front may struggle to see far into the future.
If the pictures further away from the present are smaller then perhaps you'll find it harder to focus on those distance events.
Do you think if the gaps between the days on your time line were larger you might find more time to get things done?
Once you have discovered your own time line, check out some exercises below.
Take Resources into the Future
The purpose of this NLP time line exercise is to find resources from your past and make them more available to you in the future, this is often known as future pacing.
“Brains aren’t designed to get results; they go in directions. If you know how the brain works you can set your own directions. If you don’t, then someone else will.”
In this example, we'll assume that the resource you need more of is confidence, but this could be any resource such as humor, resourcefulness, or motivation. You can also build your own NLP states to use with this exercise.
So what you need to do first is to go back and think of a time when you had the resource.
Remember the situation as fully as you can - see what you saw, hear what you heard, and feel what you felt.
When the feeling is really strong then set an anchor.
Notice this new feeling, revel in it for a while.
When you are ready think of a time in the future when this resource would be useful. Imagine that time and as you do fire the anchor. Do this as many times as you wish. Finally visualize your timeline and concentrate on the present moment. Fire the anchor and move your awareness gently off into the future along your time line, keeping this powerful feeling going with you, allowing the feeling to settle at any points in the future when it may be appropriate to have this feeling.
NOTE: Now I know that the last section doesn't really make any logical sense - it's an internal representation - how can you know specifically when this resource will be useful? It doesn't matter - you are just sending your unconscious the message that you want this resource in your future.
Good Luck with this NLP time line exercise - and use your imagination to access the infinite number of possible new states!
Flow into the Future
Do you remember a time when you were in the 'zone'?
Remember one of those times when everything just 'flowed', see what you saw and heard what you heard and feel what you felt. Build the state as strong as possible using all the tools available to you, and anchor it.
Visualize your time line and concentrate on the present moment. Fire the anchor and move your awareness gently off into the future along your timeline, keeping this powerful feeling going with you, allowing the feeling to settle at any points in the future when it may be appropriate to have this feeling. As you move forward you may become aware of events in the future where this state may be really useful.
Glisten up your Future
Thanks to Richard Bandler for the title of this one.
For this exercise you're going to need a really powerful positive state so either practice developing strong states, or find someone else to help you with this one.
“Most people plan by disaster. They think of what can go wrong and then they master it.”
For the state, create a brand new state consisting of confidence, 'being in the zone', comfort/relaxation, focused, and use the feeling from a time when you were just shining.
Visualize your time line and concentrate on the present moment. Fire the anchor and move your awareness gently off into the future along your timeline, keeping this powerful feeling going with you, allowing the feeling to settle at any points in the future when it may be appropriate to have this feeling. As you move forward you may become aware of events in the future were this state may be really useful.
Plan your Future with NLP Timelines
If you have a goal, you can use timelines to help you achieve it.
Firstly create a strong, compelling picture of you achieving the end goal. Make the picture big and bright.
Now visualize your timeline and slide the picture into a position on your timeline.
Does the position match when you would like to achieve that goal?
Does it feel comfortable?
If so, try moving the picture closer to the present, until your feeling changes. You want to move the goal as close a possible but without feeling that it is unrealistic.
Once you are happy with the position of this goal, break the goal down and create images for a further 3 or 4 deadlines. Place each of these (starting with the latest) on to your time line, making sure you are happy with the positions.
Finally, anchor a really strong motivation state. Fire the anchor and move your awareness gently off into the future along your time line, keeping this powerful feeling going with you, adding the feeling to the new goal images as you go passed them.
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