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In this article about NLP techniques I am going to discuss thinking patterns. We all have a preferred thinking pattern. This is our preferred way of ingesting information, processing and imparting information to others.
There are three main types of thinking patterns. They are “Visual”, “Feeling” (also known as kinesthetic) and “Auditory”.
People whose preferred thinking pattern is Visual will use words like: see, focus, clear, bright, picture, hazy, colour, view, dim, look. They will use phrases like: “the future looks bright”, “dim view”, “I see what you mean”, “he’s in a black mood”, “I look forward to seeing you”, “Things are looking up”.
Those whose preferred thinking pattern is Feeling will use words like: impact, taste, small, feel, touch, tense, rough, bitter and relaxed. They will use phrases like: “racked with pain”, “get in touch”, “taste fear”, “I grasp what you mean”, “I was moved”, “blow to my pride”, “let’s make that a firm date”.
And those whose preferred thinking pattern is Auditory will use words like: sound, hear, tell, say, click, bang, talk, volume. They will use phrases like: “I’m glad to hear it”, “tell me how that will work?” “My teeth are chattering”, “it just clicked into place”, “listen to yourself”, “music to my ears”.
In order to become effective at influencing others you first need to decide which category of thinking pattern you fit into by studying your own language. So make that your task for today. It may help to ask someone else to listen to you.
Tomorrow we’ll take this a step further.
