Getting a Permanent Change with Neuro Associative Conditioning (NAC)

           There is a myth that any change takes a long time and it undergoes lots of struggle. WRONG! Change is in an instant and out of pain and you can change anything you wish at any moment. Let me be a little bit in face and tell you that every change that you have made in your life actually happened in a moment, didn’t it? If you are lighting a cigarette right now and I put the gun on your head and say “You have got to put off your cigarette right now or else I will fire off!” I am sure that you would throw off your cigarette, wouldn’t you? Therefore change is not the matter of capability; it is the matter of motivation and willingness! I am going to share with you a knowledge that I learned to create a consistent change. 

Before I share with you this invaluable knowledge, you must adopt these beliefs. The first belief to make a long lasting change is that you must know you can change anything right now, in an instant. In fact, it is the not change itself that takes time. So why not make it at this instant? Secondly, you must know that you are responsible for your own change, not anyone else. Whatever happens, takes responsibility. I am glad that since the day I learnt and applied this knowledge, my life has been a bed of roses as my perspective changed.  So would you.

Neuro Associative Conditioning (NAC) is a human behavioral science founded by Anthony Robbins on the basis of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). It is a step by step process that can help you to condition your nervous system to associate massive pleasure with the things you want so that you continuously do whatever it takes to achieve them and also show you all the things or pain that you need to avoid doing to succeed continuously throughout your entire life. NAC provides six master steps and specific syntax to provide consistent and lasting change. These six fundamental steps are the basis of NAC and psychologists found that every change that human made in their life inevitably fulfill these steps. And here I stress, the essence of NAC is your practice.  Knowledge is only potential power when it comes into the hand of someone who knows how to get himself to take effective action. So if you have any behavior that you wish to change now, I challenge you to use the following NAC steps.

The fist step of NAC is to decide what you really want and what is preventing you from having it now. Most people when they are upset, they tend to focus on what they don’t want, instead of what they want. I don’t want to be sad, I don’t want to be lonely, I don’t want to be fat, I don’t want this, I don’t want that…STOP!!! If you keep focusing on what you don’t want, you will definitely get more out of it. Your outer circumstances are a reflection of your inner thoughts. So change your focus to what you want, to what you desire. State your outcomes in positive term. Be as specific as possible. I want happiness, I want to have friends, I want to be slim. Clarity is power. Next you have to be aware of what is preventing you from having what you want so that you could overcome these obstacles. Ask yourself, what benefits would I get if I still uphold this behavior? These are your obstacles that you have to get through. Awareness is a powerful tool.

The second step is to get leverage. There are the twin pillars which shape human’s life - pain and pleasure. All human’s behaviors revolve around the urge to gain pleasure or avoid pain. To get leverage is to associate massive pain to not changing now and to associate massive pleasure after you have changed it. To most people, change doesn’t feel like a must. It is something that they should do; they ought to do some day, not something they must do right now without wasting a second. So the only way to make your change is to create a sense of urgency that is so intense, that you can’t wait any longer to put it off. To create change we have to realize that it is not the question of we can do it, but it is the question of we will do it. So to associate pain, you can ask yourself, what does this cost me if I don’t make this shift now? You have to make this pain so real, so intense. Then start using pleasure associative question to help you link those positive feelings to the idea of changing. If I do change, how would I feel about myself? What would I have accomplished? How much happy would I be? The key is to get a lot of reasons, or better strong enough reasons to make your change.  Every long lasting change is made in your subconscious mind.

So up to this point, have you decided what you really want to change and know what is preventing you? Have you felt painful to your old behavior and linked massive pleasure of changing it? Is change a must to you? If you do, then we can move on the third step – interrupt the limiting patterns. We all share the same neurology, and this neurology is just like a compact disc (CD). If you want to play the 5^th track in your disc, you would just press the “5” button on the remote control and the song is played. If now I put a deep scratch on the disc and I press the “5” button, would the song be played? No because the link is broken. So it is the same to our nervous system. Interrupt your old limiting patterns on your neurology is like putting a scratch on your disc, so that your old behavior can’t be continued. So first and foremost, you have to realize what your old pattern is when it comes to your old behavior. Then disrupt it. To disrupt your pattern is to do something that is out of your expectation. Confusion is the most useful way to break your pattern. An example of interrupting your pattern when you want to smoke is to turn your cigarette over and use the lit part to touch and burn your lips. Then you will be reminded of this painful scene whenever you have the urge to smoke and thus you will put your cigarette away. Another example, if you want to lose your weight and u can’t resist over the delicious meal in front of you in a restaurant, I suggest you to jump up aggressively on the chair and shout “I’m a PIG!!!” Then the next time you feel like eating more, your nervous system will link the image and the pain of shouting “I’m a PIG” to your brain and you will immediately stop eating. Believe me, it works! It may be a bit awkward, but let me tell you that step 3 is of the utmost importance.

 After you have broken the patterns which are holding you back, you now have the open space to learn the fourth step – create a new empowering alternative. Most people fail to establish long lasting change is because they have nothing to replace the old pattern. Consequently, their change is temporary and sooner they will get back to their old pattern. Therefore you have to find a new empowering alternative to replace your old pattern while remain the pleasure of it. Every behavior must have its own positive impacts; otherwise you would not be doing it. For instance, once you quit smoking, you could come out with a new way like eating candies to relax and manage your stress or any other way that could provide the benefits you could get from smoke.

These four steps are absolutely crucial to create a new change, but to ensure that the change is constant and long lasting; you need to apply the fifth step – condition it. You have to reinforce the new pattern until it is consistent. Condition is the way to make sure your change is long lasting. You have got to rehearse the new pattern again and again with tremendous emotion intensity until the new pattern feels good to you. You have to reward yourself every time at the instant you make your change. For example, if you are determined to lose weight, you should reward yourself at the minute you push your plate away with the tasty meal on it, but not until you have lost 20 pounds! Immediately do something that can make you feel good of this new action. Don’t wait! The timing is critical. You have to associate the sensation of pleasure of changing it to your new behavior. Remember that you are not making an intellectual connection; you are making an emotional one. You need to give your brain a new association at the very basic and instinctive level. You want your nervous system feels great to your new change. You and I should not underestimate the power of conditioning. When your new pattern is conditioned, it is virtually impossible to get back to your old disempowering pattern. 

The final step of NAC is to make sure it works – test it. Test the new behavior for its effectiveness. There are five check points that you could use to test it. The first check point is to ensure that massive pain is fully associated to your old behavior. Ask yourself, when I think about my old behavior that I used to do and I used to indulge in, do I picture and feel things in a painful manner instead of pleasurable? The second check point is to ascertain that your new behavior is fully associated to massive pleasure. When I think about my new behavior, do I have the jovial feeling and sensation? The third is to make sure that your new behavior is aligned with your values, beliefs and rules. Is my new behavior consistent with my values, beliefs and rules?  Is it consistent with what I want to be in future? Values are your own private, personal, and individual beliefs about what is most important to you. Next you have to be sure that the benefits from your old behavior are maintained. Does this new behavior still allow me to gain the benefits and pleasure from my old behavior? The last check point is to make sure that your new behavior is long term and would bring benefits in the long run.

Now you have learned the six fundamental steps of NAC. But to master it you have to practice. My article would not compute if you do not practice. The best way to master it is to go through a professional course. Lastly, bear in mind that your neuro association takes control of your feeling and behavior. When you take control of your neuro association, you take control of your life.