Brilliant NLP was the first book in my list. I decided to start my 1-book-a-month challenge with this book as it comes highly recommended and has a few high reviews on Amazon. I don’t usually get excited by self-help or self-improvement books and this time was no different. However it was the first book that I’ve picked up about Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and I was intrigued by the whole premise.
The book is well written and easy to read without overcomplicated terminology. Instead, the NLP techniques are presented in a simplified way (too simple sometimes) with easy walk-throughs and examples on how to practice and implement them. The book, and in extension NLP, revolves around the premise that we, as humans, have the unique ability to be in control our thoughts and feelings and that, as with everything else, practice can “make better”. This is not the first time that I’ve come across this theory and I personally feel that even though it sounds simple enough, it requires tremendous amounts of self-discipline and training in order to rise above one’s thoughts and feelings and acquire control. However, it is achievable and mastering such a skill, I would guess, can lead to amazing results. So this was the first part of the book, which I found enticing and I was looking forward to reading into the various techniques that could help me work towards achieving this goal.
Unfortunately the rest of the book was disappointing and I found the techniques and practices described childish and inefficient. I only tried a couple of them and this was enough. NLP is based on some very powerful ideas but the practical implementation within this book resemble a quick-fix or a trick to help you get through “it”. A 10-minute exercise is not going to change years of bad habits (in the thought-process or expressing ones feelings).My overall impression is that the book is easy to read and there are some interesting ideas which seem to reinforce what I’ve been reading elsewhere but it’s not the ultimate guide in NLP. There are better books for or anyone looking to learn new techniques on how to improve his/hers mental skills or about what NLP has to offer in general.
Keep on learning…