Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Malaysian Airlines System continues to lose money

This is frustrating for the Malaysian government. The flagship, Malaysian Airlines, or MAS, continues to lose money. Months, after months, quarter, after quarter, and year after year. Hardly any quarter passes without articles in the newspapers decrying the fact that once again, the company lost money.

Sure, there was the oilprice increase and may be the company didn't hedge their funds earlier. Sure, there is the hope that a new boss, Mr. Idris Jala, will manage a turnaround.

Still, there is one thing that needs to be considered. The morale of the employees is down. How would anybody feel, if their company loses money, again and again, is battered in the newspapers, and blamed for bad policies in the public. Their morale is down and their value system, their alignment to the corporate vision is damaged. They don't belief in the company anymore and what the company was standing for earlier.

What is needed is a major work on their beliefs, to reinstate their values and align their own identity with the mission of the carrier.

Is leadership enough? Sure, it is a start, but what is needed is the buy-in from many, many corporate chieftains to carry the mission and assist their "boss" to recreate the values and beliefs. Only then, I believe, will MAS have a worthwhile future.

A challenge ahead, but this is what is needed!

(NLP in Asia)



Monday, November 28, 2005

Hypnosis on the highway

Do you know that it is easy to go in trance and be hynothised? Even more, do you know that the subconscious mind is pretty heavily involved in your daily life - basically any time you do more than 2 actions at once? Ha - this might be new to many.

So don't wonder that driving is putting you into hypnotic state as well. Especially when you drive on a highway, nicely and rythmic. Suddenly, wooms, you kind of wake up because a motorocycle roars by, or an animal quickly crossed the street.

Read the article to know a bit more about highway hypnosis and what to do to overcome it!

(NLP in Asia)



Sunday, November 27, 2005

Asian terrorist a master hypnotist?

I was always wondering what kind of belief system is really driving suicide bombers. Religeous beliefs is one thing of course, but to blow yourself up is pretty heavy.

Now, an Australian newspaper publishes an article that suggests that one of the top terrorists in the region, Noordin Top, is using "hypnosis to elude capture and recruit more suicide bombers."

It is possible, that is sure. It is also possible that the so-called sleeper cells in other countries are pre-programmed to operate as suicide bombers at a given command. It is possible for the hypnosist to instill commands in the person that can be activated at a later stage. This is done during the hypnosis process with the intention to shorten the induction cycle for the next session. Normally, it can take a while for someone to go into hypnotic stage and in order to shorten the cycle, the hypnotherapist might instill a command that shortens the timeframe. This is simply more effective for both sides. Normally, a person can only be hynothised when the will to be hypnothised is there. A positive attitude. In the sense of the article, it is possible that Noordin instilled the secondary command without the knowledge of the persons - an awful intention!

To misuse hypnosis in such a manner is simply awful, because in itself, hypnosis in itself is a powerful tool to change limited beliefs into more powerful resources. Imagine what good you can do with hypnosis. Things like more confidence, to stop smoking, lose weight, and so on - all possible, but only if the person really wants to change. To misuse hypnosis is just making it more difficult for those with a positive intention to help those who want help.

(NLP in Asia)



Saturday, November 26, 2005

Pain management

An article says that "an estimated 50 million Americans live with chronic pain, and 80 percent of us can expect to experience "some type of back pain that will be somewhat disabling."

These are heavy numbers. Many of those who suffer pain simply take painkillers and don't involve the mind in the overall treatment. But many, many times, the mind plays a role in the creation of the pain, and of course, in keeping the pain in your body. Its impact is not shown on any X-Ray or cannot be identified so simply.

It should be clear, however, that there are treatments, and ways that release the pain from the body, by involving the mind and solving potential issues.

Because, after all, body and mind is the same.

(NLP in Asia)



Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Lazy and unmotivated fresh graduates in Malaysia

The Star Malaysia reported on Sunday that there are 60,000 unemployable fresh graduates in Malaysia and that the main reason for their unemployability is that they are lazy, lack communication skills and motivation.

The article also states that it is the parent's fault that children are lacking, since parents buy them cars and houses even before they start their careers.

In addition, even those excellent graduates don't want to work at jobs that demand a lot from them, but prefer to get jobs where it is easy for them to work.

Do you get what I am heading at?

There is a lot of generalising ongoing in this article. For instance, are all those 60,000 graduates lazy, or are some not? Do all of them lack communication skills and motivation? What kind of motivation? What kind of communication is required to get a job? How many parents buy their children cars and houses and make them lazy? What is the relationship between lazy and property ownership?

NLP teaches and uses the skill to challenge those generalisations, distortions and deletions. We are educated to blend out certain information, and use the bits of information that we have to form our opinions. However, it is a vital skill (what skill?) to be able to identify those statements and challenge them, because honestly, I know fresh graduates from Malaysian universities that didn't lack communication skills, were highly motivated and definetly not lazy.

(NLP in Asia)



Saturday, November 05, 2005

Goals for your life

I recently had a discussion with my executives at work. I just started to work in a new company and to get to know my five guys, I had this personal discussion. During the discussion, I asked them about their goals. Professional or personal goals.

The response, to my greatest surprise (and sadness) was that they had no goals. What is right to them at the current moment - I cannot criticise this. What they are not aware of is that everybody has goals. Few, way too few, have consciously formulated goals. Only a few sat down and really wrote down what they want to achieve over the next 12 months, 3 years or in the next decade.

But it is clear that goals are out there. You are doing something every day. You have the goal to fix your breakfast, for example. A small goal, but it is a goal. How often to you use the words "It is my goal to ...." or, easier, "I want to have a good time tonight!" See what I mean?

Othertimes, other people "push you" into their goal - then, you become their pawn. "Come, let's go out and have a good time tonight," or, "Come on, let's get drunk tonight." Sounds familiar? A company is doing goal formulation (now is budget time), and they plan for you! You will wonder what they are planning, but 12 months down the road, you will know. You have been a pawn, because, where is your initiative?

Whatever happens is out there. Please be aware that your subconscious mind needs goals, needs someone to show it the direction it needs. If you don't have goals and just live in the day, it will find its own ways to get around. It is like the bull that is taking charge. And, then, one day, in the future, don't wonder when you look back and wonder, where the lsat 10 years or months have gone to. And don't wonder, if you should have changed something. Earlier.

(NLP in Asia)



Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Men risk kingdoms for women

Latest since the Julius Caesar risked his empire with his affair with Cleopatra has it been clear that men cannot think clear, especially when it comes to women.

Scientists now make it even clearer, why men risk their empires (and personal relations) when it women are in play.

The simple reason is that women are able to scrample men's brain. "Biologists have long known that animals prefer immediate rewards to greater ones in the future. This process, known as "discounting the future", is found in humans too and is fundamental to many economic models." What means that we give up something now - instant gratification - instead of saving up to gain greater heights in the future.

Here is the description of the test:

"Male students, when shown pictures of pretty women, were more likely to opt for short-term economic gain than wait for a better reward in the future.

Sexual opportunity
Both male and female students at McMaster University were shown pictures of the opposite sex of varying attractiveness taken from the website 'Hot or Not'. The 209 students were then offered the chance to win a reward. They could either accept a cheque for between $15 and $35 tomorrow or one for $50-$75 at a variable point in the future.

Wilson and Daly found that male students shown the pictures of averagely attractive women showed exponential discounting of the future value of the reward. This indicated that they had made a rational decision. When male students were shown pictures of pretty women, they discounted the future value of the reward in an "irrational" way - they would opt for the smaller amount of money available the next day rather than wait for a much bigger reward.

Women, by contrast, made equally rational decisions whether they had been shown pictures of handsome men or those of average attractiveness."

(NLP in Asia)



Web psychotherapy 'just as good'

Swedish researcher found out that therapy delivered via the internet is just as good as face-to-face sessions for treating depression.

"In the study, 117 volunteers with mild to moderate depression participated in either a web-based self-help CBT programme plus an internet discussion group, or an internet discussion group alone.

The do-it-yourself CBT programme consisted of 89 pages of text divided into five modules that were estimated to take eight weeks to complete.

Overall, 37% of the patients withdrew from the programme - the main reason given was that it was "too demanding"."

This is interesting but doesn't take into account the fact that people process information differently. They take in information differently through their filters, store and process information differently.

This could be an explanation for the higher withdrawal rate. However, it is also clear that after an initial conversation with patients, supervision and treatment can be conducted via the web, influencing the overall price structure.

(NLP in Asia)