By: Angie Falls

The world is full of knowledge to absorb. Day in day out I encounter the need to full fill my hunger for information. On any given topic whenever it occurs. I make it a habit to research on items which are not clear to me. Travelling to places where question marks are raised on every corner I walk to. You know there are times when you get into a discussion about a subject. My slogan then is “I will check it out now”. Praise to my iPhone which I carry with me wherever I go.

Time flies by easily and the focus not to waste it made me aware of the fact that you can be productive no matter where you are. To prevent me from forgetting I always keep a notebook at hand. Yes, even in these days of advanced technology I prefer to write down notes. It gives me a better sense of connection with my subject.

This attitude has taught me to stay in touch with the scientific development which takes place at a very fast pace. I would like to share a few methods to use like Eventbrite and Meetup. These two organizations have come with a bright idea to combine events on one internet site to serve the needs of all. Just as simple as making an account and getting access to the community to share and learn. I find it quite useful and it is a nice way to explore new topics to educate myself. I not only use it myself but also share this with my trainees.

My trainees are the ones who motivate me to keep on staying up to date with contemporary materials. In practice, it works like this. I have a coaching session and get to know about challenges a trainee is facing. Based on my expert knowledge I do some research on this topic and consider different scenarios which can occur. I give an advice combined with the different scenarios which are most suitable for the person in question. To understand the trainee, I use the following NLP methodology.

There are 5 senses (human sensory systems) in the representational systems called VAKOG; Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic, Olfactory and Gustatory.

The 3 most important are;

1. visual thoughts – sight, mental imagery, spatial awareness
2. auditory (or linguistic) thoughts – sound, speech, dialog, white noise
3. kinesthetic (or proprioceptive) sense – somatic feelings in the body, temperature, pressure, and emotion.

Understanding this will help to grasp the way people can communicate to you. How they perceive the world from inside out.

The other two senses, gustatory (taste) and olfactory (smell) are closely associated and seem to be less significant in general mental processing.

It is considered jointly as one linked with feelings. Reading into the theory and understanding just these 5 human sensory systems makes a huge difference how I perceive the world.

Once this is covered one can assist and support through coaching much more effectively.

I would like to share a specific example to explain the way I use VAK during coaching sessions.

The key is motivating self-awareness. I ask the question what goals do you want to reach in life. Most of the time people do not think about this question. They just go to work, perform the duty and have a way of working without focus. To reach the goals in life you need to be available to other people and get connected.

We need to be able to react, connect and interact with other people to reach our own goals. It happens to many times that when we communicate to people we do not listen to the person across. Our minds get distracted, we look at other things and do not pay attention. I advise my students to take time to listen and understand the other person in a conversation. When communicating, people can be visual, auditory or kinesthetic. When you are not of the same sense you need to put more effort to listen and understand to have a better perspective of the person in question. After explaining the theory, I give my students the assignment that when they leave the coaching session they need to follow the theory with the first person they meet.

So, my advice:  be productive no matter where you are!

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