Before I set up Robertson Fox in 2006, I decided to take an NLP Practitioner course (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) as I’d heard that some of the concepts could be applied usefully in business. Some of the outcomes I went in with had radically morphed by the time I completed the programme; and that’s a story for another day!

The experience I want to share with you here is about one of the interventions called ‘Compulsion Blowout’. Simply put, this is a technique used to blow something out so that the client can’t get it back. For a number of reasons it should only be used for a specific instance and for something specific that the client really doesn’t want.

Keen to be the demo subject for this exercise, I volunteered; only to be turned down. The thing I really didn’t want anymore was to eat chocolate. I knew I ate too much of it and thought if we could blow that out so that I no longer liked it, then managing my weight would be much easier. Wishful thinking on my part!

The trainer explained that this technique should not be used for something that is part of a bigger issue, such as over-eating, smoking and drinking. In these instances you would need to explore why the client is self destructing in spite of all the information out there informing us of that.

The person selected to demonstrate the exercise had a penchant for cheese & onion crisps. That was his go-to thing. Without that craving he would have a balanced diet. So, the intervention worked for him and he lost all interest in cheese & onion crisps after that.

The trainer had a chat with me later that day and we agreed I was looking for a quick fix. It was what she said next that left an imprint. “Wouldn’t you like to have the choice to eat chocolate when you wanted it; and to be able to choose to eat it in moderation?”

That’s exactly what I wanted; to have access to all of life’s treats without the ‘inevitability’ factor which meant I would always over do it. The learning has been to replace the ‘inevitability’ that I would eat chocolate (or cake!) with a way to ‘accommodate’ it into my life without impacting my health goals.

The result is a steady weight loss that is becoming increasingly sustainable over the long-term. Now I’m not there yet (remember me saying we’re all perfection in progress). I am in a happy place, nevertheless. The compromise is eating less overall; the difference is living each day to the full. That’s a win in my world!