Posts tagged imagination

X-Ray Listening meets The X Factor?

Sep 27th

Posted by Judy in Clean Language

2 comments

Are you a fan of reality TV?

These shows make compelling viewing – because people love to listen to real-life stories.

I spent the weekend at a conference which featured the real-life stories of successful coaches and consultants: ordinary, everyday people who were now doing the work they loved, helping lots of people and making a reasonable living. It was very inspiring.

Meanwhile, on the fringes of the conference, I was chatting to friends like Facebook expert Viv Craske about digital storytelling, Hypnosis Without Trance guru James Tripp about hypnotic storytelling, and John Morgan of Inspired By Story about… well… being inspired by story.

What everyone agreed was that stories really matter.

Stories are compelling. And they seem to be even more compelling when you can join in, and choose how the story unfolds. So… I was inspired to introduce a reality-TV twist to my own life.

Here’s the idea: you get to decide on the next chapter in my story, and the story ofX-Ray Listening. In November, I’m got time to run one six-week online training.

Since the success of my “Intelligent Influence” programme last winter I’ve had tons of requests: people want me to teach some of the most valuable material I know. But which of the following topics should I focus on? You More >

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Using Metaphors In Problem Solving

Jun 29th

Posted by Judy in Clean Language

4 comments

If you’re involved in teaching, consulting, leadership or coaching, you probably know how effectively metaphor can influence the way people think, and so help them to solve their problems.

But did you know about the research that shows that people’s own metaphors are more influential than any you can provide?

In the Stuff of Thought, Prof Steven Pinker describes how researchers were exploring people’s problem-solving skills. When the team offered subjects a “hint” in the form of a story isomorphic to the problem’s solution, their scores improved – but not by much.

“What’s going on?” asks Pinker. “On the one hand, analogical thinking seems to be our birthright. Metaphorical connections saturate our language, drive our science, burst out (at least occasionally) in children’s speech, and remind us of things past. On the other hand, when experimentalists lead the horse to water, they can’t make it drink.”

In the following paragraphs he answers his own question.

“One factor is simply expertise… Subsequent studies have shown that expertise in a topic can make deep analogies come more easily….

“But there’s more to it than that. The psychologist Kevin Dunbar and his collaborators put their fingers on another way that people are at a disadvantage in the lab: the experimenters More >

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What kind of editor are you?

Feb 2nd

Posted by Judy in Clean Language

2 comments

Hypnotic storyteller Robin Manuell (http://www.ideasinmotion.co.uk) has a great take on the famous Disney Strategy for creativity.

For him, the three ‘positions’ in the sequence are Imagineer, Realiser and Editor, rather than Dreamer, Realist and Critic (or “Spoiler”).

Similar, I know, but definitely different. And the subtle differences between the words make a big difference when it comes to using the strategy in the real world.

Whoever wants to be a ‘critic’, particularly of things connected with their own big dreams? Or worse still, a ‘spoiler’?

An expert ‘editor’ on the other hand, can’t help add value.

She’ll be bringing in her knowledge of the marketplace, of what really sells, and of how other people have done this kind of thing successfully.

She’ll be tweaking the language to bring out the best and most powerful points, while correcting the dodgier grammar and spelling.

She’ll be asking great questions.

She’ll be making your great work really sing.

That’s how it seems to me, at any rate. How does it work for you?

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large gear-menagerie in action

X-Ray Listening is like…what?

Aug 25th

Posted by Judy in Influence

No comments

I’m working on a brand-new product at the moment, part of which highlights the link between two legendary hypnotherapists – Milton Erickson and David Grove (creator of Clean Language). One of the key things they had in common was a passion for metaphor.

They took slightly different viewpoints, of course (more on which when the product launch gets closer). But both of them recognised the importance of metaphor and story to influence the way we think and behave at both a conscious and subconscious level.

As been part of the development process, I’ve been gathering some great insights, and great quotes, about metaphor. For example:

“Metaphor is the engine of imagination.” Gerald Zaltman
“Only the human mind can think metaphorically and see relationships that computers could never detect.” Daniel Pink
“Metaphors can help bring consumers’ important – but unconscious – thoughts and feelings to the surface.” Gerald Zaltman

And so, as I set about giving the website a new look over the last few days, metaphor has been at the top of my mind. (Hmm, what kind of “top” is that?)

When I set up this site and company, I used “X-Ray Listening” as a metaphor for Clean Language. It wasn’t original – it came More >

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