Newsletter April 2004
by Andrew Bryant

The concept of values plays an important part in my work with individuals and companies. Firstly to discover what they value and to align that with behaviour and secondly to teach how to discover what their clients value and use that for effective sales and marketing.

Values are a frame of mind about what is important to us and usually operate out of awareness at an unconscious level. Just as the last thing the fish is aware of is water, we are not often aware of our values until they are either not met or violated.

When you talk to someone in terms of what they value, it is like giving them a gift because they feel understood and validated. Communicating values builds trust and rapport.

To find out what you value, take a peice of paper and write at the top of the page...

What's important to me about...?

Then think about something that gives you pleasure, such as a sport, going for a walk, gardening, painting, playing a musical instrument or playing with the kids. Now keep asking yourself the question, "what's important to me about...?" and write the answers on the peice of paper. Trust whatever comes to mind and keep writing until you have at least nine things that are important to you about that activity.

If you have followed my instructions you will have a list of your personal values because what gives us pleasure is what is important to us. If you are feeling unfulfilled at the moment it is probably because you have not been spending enough time doing what you value.

There are many other frames of mind that drive our behaviour such as, beliefs,meaning, decisions, identity and purpose. I will talk more about these in future editions of this newsletter or if you could attend one of our upcoming previews or trainings.

"I have not felt this aware of my own self before. NLP and Neuro Semantics awaken the mind, body and spirit. It is the power of understanding human experience and the power to change through thinking about our thinking for results."
- Kym West, Advertising Manager