The library
Everything, in one place.
122 pieces of personal-development work — read one, apply it, keep what serves you. No order required. Start anywhere.
122 pieces
Communication Skills
Strategies, tools and techniques to be effective at communication. Outcome Learn a wide range of new and powerful communication techniques and processes. Benefit…
Read · 25 min →Charting Life's Journey: Navigating Purpose, Vision, and Values
What are you going to leave behind for the world when you turn to dust? Activity Context Understanding why you are doing something, what it is made up of, how you…
Read · 6 min →My mother in-law schooled me on life!
I don't know if there are any other son's-in-law that would admit to being schooled by their mother's-in-law, but it happened to me. You might have noticed, I like…
Read · 2 min →Mastering the First Step in Effective Communication: Building Rapport
Title: 'Mastering the First Step in Effective Communication: Building Rapport' By Rob Way Blog Post Introduction: The Art of Building Rapport In a world where the…
Read · 3 min →Embracing the Power of Breath in Personal Development
Introduction Ever wondered if there's a singular, simple tool capable of tackling most of life's challenges? Imagine mastering a skill that not only helps you…
Read · 3 min →Sucker punch
Everyone has a guardian who watches over them, a spirit, ever shifting in form. One day, they might appear as an elderly sage: the next, a youthful sprite. Yet, let…
Read · 2 min →5 Key insights from the NLP days
5 Key insights from the NLP days By Robert Way INTRODUCTION Take these 5 key lessons from our blog archive and identify if you can use it for your success. Use…
Read · 2 min →My Reading List
These are the books that have shaped how I think and influenced what I have done with my life. I hope you have your own list, that we share some of the same books…
Read · 2 min →The Reading List
The initial introduction to this list was very different, but as I have gone through the process of writing this list, all I want to say is.... These are the books…
Read · 2 min →Meditation
I can't remember when it happened, but at some point, someone I trusted said that meditation is important. You know the kind of person I am talking about. Someone…
Read · 2 min →Compelling Introduction
Would you like to know how to introduce yourself in such a way, that people are convinced that you are an authority on the topic you are speaking about. in less…
Read · 2 min →Emails from a modern Stoic - Letter 6
Mate, I hope you are going well. I just wanted to share my reflections from the last few weeks. I see in myself, not just having improved but transformed. Although…
Read · 4 min →Clean my room! No Jordan Peterson, I don’t want to. Rule 6 and atomic habits both want me to clean.
RULE 6: 'set your house in order before you criticise the world.' J.B. Peterson - 12 Rules For Life AND. He is not the only one. The damn book by James Clear…
Read · 2 min →Reframing
Are you ever stuck in a situation where you are being challenged or faced with a problem? Would you like to look at it from a different angle? What Reframing is the…
Read · 2 min →Sensory Acuity
Do you know what a change in someones face means? Do you know what to look for to see if your message has been received? What Having sensory acuity allows you to…
Read · 1 min →Emails from a modern Stoic - Letter 5
It’s freaking awesome the way you have applied yourself to your study. How you have sacrificed time at parties, gaming and dating. Putting all your energy into to…
Read · 4 min →Your year of mastery
2020 is the year of mastery, it is your year. At least, if you are around 27-33. Why that age range? You have been working for about ten years now and its time to…
Read · 4 min →Emails from a modern stoic - Letter 3
Mate, you forwarded me that email from “your friend”, as you call her. You then go on to tell me to avoid discussing your stuff freely with her, since you really…
Read · 4 min →Metaphors
Do you know how to use stories to communicate emotional states or to enable inception? What Taking our experiences and stories and turning in them into metaphors…
Read · 3 min →Swap a Craving Into a Turn-Off: The Submodality Swap
Your mind doesn't store 'I love hot chips' and 'I can't stand olives' as words. It stores them as pictures — and those pictures have a structure. One is probably…
Read →The Fast Phobia Rewind
A phobia isn't a character flaw. It's a piece of learning. Somewhere, something got anchored to a stimulus — a spider, a lift, a stage — and because your mind…
Read →What is NLP
The history of Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) is an interesting one. Simply put, NLP is a collection of communication, personal development, self help and…
Read · 3 min →Breaking Habits
Do you pick your nose, bite your nails or scratch an itch you shouldn't? It can be possible to shift or break these habits. What By creating multiple images that…
Read · 3 min →Time Perception
Understanding how we perceive time is a key enabler for goal setting and memory. What We all perceive time differently, specifically the way we conceptualise it in…
Read · 2 min →Timeline Goals
Setting goals in your timeline is one of the best ways to create positive tension towards your goals. What Leveraging your understanding of your timeline, you can…
Read · 3 min →Anchoring
Anchoring gives you the ability to call upon past emotions, experiences and feelings to shape how you are in any moment. What Based on the research conducted by…
Read · 3 min →Ask Your Unconscious: The Pendulum Technique
Most of the time your conscious, talkative mind runs the show — and it has opinions about what you should think. This is a way to step around it and get a straight…
Read →Goal setting
Why Setting goals is an amazing way to ensure tension towards your desires is high. It will help you be pulled towards what you want. What Setting goals is one of…
Read · 9 min →Parts Integration
Part of you wants to be permanent, part of you wants to run your own business. It is possible to integrate these two parts, find your higher purpose and be one…
Read · 3 min →Reading Eye Movement
Do you know how to read the meaning of a persons eye patterns. Do you understand what what it means, depending where they look? What Where people look has meaning…
Read · 2 min →Spelling Strategy
Are you trying to teach your kids how to spell? Do you know the process to developing a successful spelling strategy? What Understanding what makes someone a great…
Read · 3 min →Strategy Elicitation
Would you like to know how someone makes a decision, the process they go through to create something or how you go about achieving something? What The following…
Read · 2 min →The Allergy Technique
Read this first. Allergies can kill. This is not medical advice and it is not a replacement for your medication, your EpiPen, or your doctor. Never test an allergy…
Read →Three Questions to Shift a Problem
Sometimes you don't need a deep intervention. You need a pattern interrupt — something that knocks you out of the groove you're stuck in and points you somewhere…
Read →Values
What is most important to you, the things that have to exist in your life? In NLP there is one of the best activities I have found for eliciting your values around…
Read · 9 min →Learning Strategies
Do you know the best state to be in to learn something? Did you know you can create it? What All learning is state-dependent. In other words… The key to an…
Read · 1 min →Shift an Issue With the Learning State
There's a state your nervous system drops into when it's relaxed and open — soft eyes, wide attention, nothing gripped. Some people call it the learning state…
Read →Emails from a modern Stoic
There are so many good lessons to take away from the Stoic philosophy. Unfortunately they are some times obscured by the time they were written in. Hard to believe…
Read · 8 min →Emails from a modern Stoic - Leter 2
JUDGING from what you tell me, what I read on Facebook, LinkedIn and from what I hear, I feel that you show great promise. You haven’t moved around much at all…
Read · 4 min →How they find out if you can be hypnotised
A hypnotist will often do a suggestibility test with you, they would say something like this… “Now we are going to do some suggestibility tests to determine your…
Read · 3 min →What to expect from a hypnosis session
If you have decided you want to be hypnotised, make sure the following exists between you and your hypnotist: - You must consent / agree to be hypnotised. - There…
Read · 4 min →What to expect from hypnotic trance
Understanding Trance First things first, don’t expect to feel hypnotized, as you are just following suggestions that you choose to listen to or not. Many people…
Read · 1 min →Stoic Sprint Retrospective
A retrospective (retro), is an activity that is run at the end of a set period of time, following delivery of something (software, report, policy). In a retro, the…
Read · 3 min →Stoic Sprint Planning
“Don’t seek for everything to happen as you wish it would, but rather wish that everything happens as it actually will.' - Epictetus Sprint planning is an activity…
Read · 5 min →Know when its time to quit your job
How do you know if a company is a good fit for you, or if you are for the company? Knowing your values makes it very easy to identify what you will and won’t accept…
Read · 5 min →Lessons in prioritisation
If you have gone through a ‘transformational change’ program at work, I am willing to bet you have been told that a key success factor of the change is learning how…
Read · 4 min →Plan for the worst, be ready for success
“Don’t seek for everything to happen as you wish it would, but rather wish that everything happens as it actually will.” Epictetus How many times have you…
Read · 6 min →Fos Roh Dah
...... You have woken up on the back of a horse drawn carriage, you are one of four people shackled. A man sitting across from you has his mouth gagged with fabric…
Read · 3 min →My podcast blog
I proposed to my wife the very day I bought the engagement ring. Not because I had intended that sequence of events. I just couldn't wait, I couldn’t conceal the secret…
Read · 6 min →Personal Retrospective
Marcus Aurelius – Roman Emperor (161 - 180 CE) “If anyone can refute me, show me I’m making a mistake or looking at things from the wrong perspective – I’ll gladly…
Read · 1 min →The Day Adulting Started
Do you remember what it was like when you first entered the workforce? I don't mean your first job, the one for a family member or friend. Not the one where you…
Read · 2 min →Anchoring Script
Anchoring State Elicitation “Can you recall a time when you were totally (desired state), do you remember a specific time? As you go back to that time now, go right…
Read · 3 min →Hypnosis
Hypnosis An artificially induced trance state resembling sleep, characterised by heightened susceptibility to suggestion. Overview The outcome of hypnosis is to…
Read · 2 min →Understanding Trance
Understanding Trance First things first, don’t expect to feel hypnotized, as you are just following suggestions that you choose to listen to or not. Many people…
Read · 1 min →Eye Pattern Questions
Ask these questions to determine whether someone is normally organised or reverse organised. Vr: Visual Remembered Seeing images from memory, recalling things they…
Read · 1 min →Workmate or colleague?
There are two types of people you work with, workmates and colleagues. A workmate is someone you: - have had a beer with, - get coffee, - have lunch with (by…
Read · 1 min →Thanks a lot Qantas!
Don't you hate it when you are on a plane, seated in your seat and some person puts their arse right on you. WTF! It happened to me a couple of days ago and all I…
Read · 2 min →I hate you and this program!
I use to be a trainer for an IT program, not just any, but a really boring one. The sort of thing that people hated to use. On top of it being boring, people were…
Read · 1 min →Are you, you?
I just got on a jet in Tasmania and saw a face that I had not seen in years. It belonged to a bloke I had worked with as a mentor. Now he was 100% sure that he was…
Read · 1 min →So Fu*+ing What?
I want to do what ever I can to help you get what you want. My goal is to help you understand what you want, define it and demonstrate how it differs from what you…
Read · 4 min →Change, tips for resolving resistance and conflict
I am going to assume you have been following my blogs on change to date, which means you know the answer to the 4matt of change, you know your outcome, you know the…
Read · 3 min →Change, Steps to take when a person doesn’t want to change
People don't want to change. We get wedded to doing things in a certain way and we want to keep doing it that way. And more times than not, the reason people…
Read · 1 min →Change; what's the rub?
If you cannot answer the question, 'whats the rub', then you don't know your customer, your staff, or how the change is going to impact your business. One of the…
Read · 1 min →Change; towards and away?
So if you know the 4matt of the change you are implementing, the next thing you want to be able to answer is what you are moving towards and what you are moving…
Read · 2 min →4Matt of Change
If you are responsible for implementing change at work, regardless of scale, there are four key things you need to be able to answer for the people affected by…
Read · 3 min →Quick Start Topic 1-6
Below are the first 6 'Quick Start Topics' from my first book Communicating Like A Boss, I thought I would give you a bit of a feel for what the book is about. I…
Read · 10 min →Meta Progams
You might have figured this one out by now, there are about 20 odd posts on meta program. But in case it has been missed, here is the meta programs elicitation and…
Read · 8 min →What to Consider when you Decide you want to be Hypnotised
If you decide you want to be hypnotised you should make sure you can agree to the following, they are the key criteria that should exist between you and your…
Read · 4 min →Finding your values
In NLP there is one of the best activities I have found for eliciting your values around any area of life. Personally I have done this multiple times around…
Read · 2 min →What is hypnotic change work? Heck, what is trance?
Change Work Overview & Suggestibility Test The outcome of hypnosis is to gain confidence in your ability to enter into trance, create a strong relationship with you…
Read · 5 min →Why Isn't Everyone Else Obsessed?
I have to ask the world, knowing full well I don't have the fame yet to get a massive response. But why isn't everyone else obsessed with personal development? I…
Read · 1 min →Cause and Effect
Continuing on the theme of mindset, I would like to introduce you to the idea of cause and effect. I would say all of us will spend time on both sides of the…
Read · 2 min →Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
This book is one of my favourite books written by a psychologist. The reason I love reading content written by a researcher is it is backed up by experience and…
Read · 1 min →Context Re-Frame
Context Definition:Noun 1. the parts of a written or spoken statement that precede or follow a specific word or passage, usually influencing its meaning or effect…
Read · 1 min →Framing Introduction
If you've ever had your image turned into a meme, you should understand framing. The second your image was layered over a black box with a funny comment, the…
Read · 1 min →LEADERSHIP FILTER
How we need to be lead varies from person to person, what you need to consider is what each individual is focused on. “Do you know what you need to do to improve…
Read · 1 min →CHALLENGE RESPONSE FILTER
When we come up against a challenge in any situation, aside from freaking out and getting angry; there are three key ways (in the context of NLP meta programs) that…
Read · 1 min →TIME AWARENESS FILTER
We sort of covered this in a previous blog, so I will get right to the point. “Do you have a planner? Or do you prefer to live in the moment and take each day as it…
Read · 1 min →Some Thoughts
I think if you have read any of my filter blog posts you will have guessed by now that people are complex, but by asking the right questions you can get to know how…
Read · 1 min →COMPARISON FILTER
“It’s easy, it is the same as the last project we ran!” said the project manager. It is the same old problem; we like to speak the way we like to speak. It is never…
Read · 2 min →PREFERRED INTEREST FILTER
I like this meta program, this is the preferred interest filter. Basically people what people are interested in can be categorized into these 5 things and if we…
Read · 1 min →PERFORMANCE FILTER
People will have a preference when it comes to how they perform a specific focus on their approach to how they tackle a situation. In NLP Meta program terms we are…
Read · 1 min →Decision Making Filter
I have to admit that this filter is way more complex that what I am about to propose. I guess this is a good place to start, but please note it goes a lot deeper…
Read · 1 min →Energy Direction Filter
When working with a team, each will have their own energy direction filter. It is how they approach a given task, and what it takes for them to act. Once you know…
Read · 1 min →Success Orientation Filter
I use to be a cabinet maker apprentice, good gig, but a bit to much saw dust. One thing that the trades I worked with and for is they sucked at feedback, positive…
Read · 1 min →Orientation Filter
Our orientation filter (relationship, career, situation, health etc.) can go two different ways, these are possibility or necessity. When some one like @donaldtrump…
Read · 1 min →Speaking Filter
I said to one of my team while we were out on the road “have you ever thought of doing research into communication styles”. This bloke was super technical and could…
Read · 1 min →Predicate Translation Task
Translation: Change the predicate phrases. The results of the survey sound right to me. (A) - The results of the survey feel right to me. (K) - The results of the…
Read · 2 min →Quantum Linguistics
Quantum Linguistics Tools There are multiple tools that can be used to help people make a change, quantum linguistics are tools that can be used to reframe the…
Read · 3 min →Strategies
For every thing we do we have a strategy, eliciting that strategy can help us understand what it is that we do and enable us to make a change if we are not happy…
Read · 6 min →Submodalities
Like To Dislike “What is a food that you like but you wish you did not? What is a food that’s of a similar logical type, that you absolutely hate? Is it OK with you…
Read · 2 min →Listening Filter
I do a bit of drawing with a white board marker on my desk, it’s a productivity thing that I might talk about later. Regardless, my boss came up to me and said “are…
Read · 1 min →Information Processing Filter
In a previous post I talked about the communication and behaviour model, it looks at how we process information through our values, beliefs etc. Another part to…
Read · 1 min →Abstraction vs. Specific Filter
This is a simple one, some people are pie in the sky thinkers and others are down in the details. My wife is a super rad marriage celebrant, and the other month she…
Read · 1 min →Work Satisfaction Filter
When it comes to taking on a new staff member we will want to make sure they feel included and have access to everything they need to be successful, right?Often…
Read · 2 min →Motivation Filter
Specifically what we were talking about with this filter was how people are motivated. Now the context can change, you could be talking about a career, buying a car…
Read · 3 min →Convincer Filter
Romel called me and said “you have to check out this program by Eben Pagan (@ebenpagan), it is called Wake Up Productive. You are going to love it!”As soon as the…
Read · 3 min →Through Time Vs. In Time
So now you know how you perceive time, you are either through time or in time and you would like to know a bit more about what that means. Well some one that is…
Read · 1 min →Discover How You Perceive Time
Everyone has a physical concept of time in relation to their body. This can be discovered by trying out the following process, beginning with looking for where you…
Read · 1 min →The Rules of Observing Body Language
It is important when reading people that you avoid taking one thing you see out of context, you must realise you need to see people as a whole and aim to observe at…
Read · 1 min →Body Language
One of the topics we covered very early on in the face to face mastermind group was body language. We looked at some of the most common things you can look for to…
Read · 2 min →How you say it
The meaning of your communication will change depending on the tone you use when speaking. It will affect how the person hears you and what they think of what you…
Read · 1 min →Literal vs. Inferential Communication
When it comes to listening, most times we will hear in one of two ways when some one talks to us. Someone might say 'I'm thirsty'. Would you find that interesting…
Read · 1 min →What is your focus?
You may have just read the blog on focus, if you did you might also like to think through the statements below and flex your analysis muscles. What is the focus for…
Read · 1 min →The Memory Palace or Roman Room
Today's Mastermind topic is on memory once again, this time though we are going to use the classic Roman Room method. A method that Roman senators would use to…
Read · 2 min →What the VAK did you say?
This activity is to help you hone your ability to identify what representational system a person might be. You will be listening for and recording any visual (V)…
Read · 1 min →What did you say?
Continuing on the theme of VAK and enabling you to hear people on a new level I want you to have this simple overview of words and phrases people will use in each…
Read · 3 min →You Are Wasting Your Time!
Not sure if you have heard this story, but it goes like this. You open your car door and get in, turn on the engine and pull out of the drive. After the first few…
Read · 2 min →Preferred Representational System Questions
I have already talked about Preferred Representational Systems in a previous blog, and we have covered it to death in the face to face mastermind sessions. What has…
Read · 2 min →#Tribes
I have just finished my second read through of Tribes; We need you to lead us, by Seth Godin. Well iBook I should say, 8 hours over my drive to and from work. The…
Read · 1 min →VAK Observation Activity
A lot has been covered in the mastermind face to face sessions so far. One of the early topics was communication styles, one of the strategies I suggest to improve…
Read · 1 min →Communication and Behavior Model
Communication and Behaviour Model Our communication with others and ourselves is the basis of behavioural change. When an external event occurs, like some one…
Read · 2 min →Developing a Better Memory: Number Rhyme Peg System
The reason why people learn the number rhyme memory peg system is to improve short term memory. It is used to reduce or replace your reliance on physically written…
Read · 3 min →Goal Setting & Outcomes
Setting goals is one of the best skills I have picked up in my personal development journey. It is also one of those things that every one has the perfect version…
Read · 3 min →Perceptual Positions
This activity is perfect for thinking out of the box, for connecting with someone you will probably never meet, for exploring issues between you and someone else…
Read · 1 min →Representational Systems
We all communicate using different representational systems. We use our five senses (seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and touching) plus self-talk (internal…
Read · 3 min →The meaning of your communication is the response you get!
The last 6 months has seen me repeat this statement over and over again. 'The meaning of your communication is the response you get' is a neuro linguistic…
Read · 1 min →5 Things I have learnt from PD
I have been trying to figure my shit out for years, NLP this, hypnosis that and all the other tools along the way. Not everything that is out there to learn is…
Read · 3 min →7 Tips for knowing what people are thinking
I spend a lot of time working one on one with people, often trying to convince them to take part in things they don't want to do (change is hard for most people). I…
Read · 3 min →History of NLP
Neuro Linguistic Programming is a hybrid science that was developed in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s by computer scientist, Richard Bandler, and linguist, John…
Read · 1 min →Connecting with Others
So often when interacting with others, the focus is on what we are saying and what we want out of the interaction. Taking the time practicing how to connect with…
Read · 3 min →Values and Beliefs
Values Values are broad concepts that guide decisions in life; they determine what is important, and they are the foundation of character. Significantly, what the…
Read · 1 min →