NLP Setting an Anchor Process to Get Back Motivation for Losing Weight

A client recently wrote saying, "When I was losing the weight I felt so good about my exercise and weight loss I actually considered going into the health field. I want to get that [feeling] back!"

It can be easier than you think to "get that feeling back." That's exactly the type of situation when you'd want to use the NLP process known as setting an anchor.

How to Set an Anchor

Start by just daydreaming about how it felt back then. Jot down notes if you can. Then answer these type questions (feel free to ask any questions you like).

How did it feel overall? Is there anywhere on your body you felt it strongly? What kind of feeling was it? Strong, mild, fluttery, tingling? What? Do everything you can to recreate exactly how it was for you back then.

How were you sitting or standing? How did you carry yourself?

What did you hear from others? Compliments? Encouragement?

Do you remember anything negative? Write it down.

Do you recall what you saw? Were you in a certain place? Was the sky a certain color, etc. Get every detail you can as vividly as possible.

You considered going into the health field? What type of work, exactly?

Write down every detail, and when you really feel it, just like you felt it back then, reach down and squeeze your knee.

That's creating an anchor. Then, try again, all the same steps as above, ask yourself the same questions and then this time, remembering as intensly as you can, squeeze your knee again. It may sound silly but it really works.

To test if it's working, stand up, shake it off - think of the last movie you saw (think of anything else, just to get your mind clear). Get all the thoughts out of your mind, and when your mind is a blank, sit down, and squeeze your knee. Your thoughts will probably go to the good feelings, and memories of what it felt like when you were getting in shape that time.

That's how you "set an anchor."

Anchors like this are how you switch thoughts from negative to positive in the blink of an eye. If you are feeling bad, you just say, "Hey, this isn't right," reach down and squeeze your knee, and whoosh, you have those memories again.

The memories are something that can help put those feelings front and center for you again, and that's what you want, to get back those feelings. Once you have those feelings, even if just a bit, you'll become motivated to do what it takes to produce those feelings more and more, and maybe even pursue that a career in a health field.