Transcription
Is it possible to rewire your identity in just minutes? There's a process in neurolinguistic programming (NLP) called the switch pattern. It works, and it works fast.
If you've learned the switch pattern in an NLP training, what they didn't teach you is that the process is actually a piece of identity work. Even some of the top NLP trainers in the world are teaching this pattern incorrectly because they don't know what you're going to get by the end of this video.
If you're into identity shifting but don't know NLP, the swish pattern is unlike anything you've ever seen. It's easy to learn in about 10 minutes, and you'll get immediate results. You'll experience the shift in real time, and you don't even need to know NLP to do it. Something inside of you will just click into place.
If you want to get started today, I will give you a free resource that you can use to walk you through the process step by step. This isn't the same old prescription for shifting your identity like journaling, affirmations, and fake it till you make it. This process is exciting because you don't have to wait around and hope that it works. You'll see it for yourself right away.
The switch pattern is typically used to stop unwanted behavior like smoking, biting your nails, and overeating. If you think about it, what else is getting in the way of you being who you want to be other than unwanted behavior? Is procrastination getting in the way of you becoming an entrepreneur? Is fear stopping you from meeting someone you want to share your life with?
The swish pattern might not be the tool for every problem, but give it a try. Just having a clean ideal self-image, which I'll explain more about in a moment, will help you tremendously to shift your identity.
Before we get into the details, I know that some of you watching may have never heard of NLP, or if you have, you might have heard some negative things about it. NLP does have a controversial reputation. So, let's get that out of the way quickly before diving into the swish pattern.
Some people call NLP a pseudoscience. I've addressed this in detail in other videos linked in the description, but here's the short version. The creators of NLP never claimed it to be a science. It's a model, a way of mapping human experience, similar to math and language. So, if the people who created it never claimed it's a science and have never tried to pass it off as a science, how can it be a pseudoscience?
The other controversy is that NLP is manipulative. The truth is, anything powerful can be misused. Think about martial arts. A bully could learn a martial art and use it to hurt people. But does that mean martial arts shouldn't be taught? Of course not. NLP is the same. It can be used to deceive, but in the hands of normal people, people like you and me, it becomes a tool for freedom, growth, and transformation.
Now that we've cleared that up, let's talk about the swish pattern. The switch pattern gets its name because you literally swish an image of your ideal self into the space of an unwanted habit. That sudden flip disrupts the old behavior and redirects your attention toward becoming the person you want to be.
Take binging on sweets, for example. There's an unconscious process that drives that craving. And because it runs outside of your awareness, it feels almost impossible to resist. The swish retrains your mind to move you toward the direction of being who you want to become. Instead of falling into the bad habit, your ideal self automatically and without having to think about it appears and redirects your behavior. That instant shift interrupts the craving and pulls you toward choices aligned with your highest ideals.
When I first learned this pattern in NLP trainings, it never really worked for me. If you're an NLP practitioner and you're honest with yourself, you probably haven't been able to make it work either. You're about to find out why.
When Steve Andreas mentored me, he told me to read his book, Transforming Yourself, which lays out his self-concept model. Throughout the book, he referenced the swish pattern. I found this surprising, to say the least. After attending several NLP trainings and learning the swish pattern multiple times from multiple teachers, I couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. I stopped using it altogether because it never worked. Yet, Steve was saying it inspired him to create the most powerful model for transformation. How could that be?
As I kept reading, it didn't get any better. Steve wrote that the swish pattern is identity work. When you envision your ideal self, you see a version of you who has solved all of your problems and who is living your highest ideals, rather than seeing yourself in a particular context engaging in a particular behavior. Not only did this instruction not seem right, I didn't even know if it was possible to envision my ideal self that way.
What this means is when you make the ideal image of yourself, you don't see yourself doing any behavior, nor do you see yourself in any particular context. The image is simply you, the you who no longer has the problem. The you who embodies your highest ideals. No working out at the gym scene, no image of you high-fiving your co-workers, no behavior, no fixed backdrop, just you.
This is where so many trainers and students get it wrong. They imagine themselves acting out a behavior in a particular location, like exercising, giving a speech, or resisting temptation. But if you attach it to a behavior in a context, it's not identity work because the shift is dependent on fixed external factors. In other words, it will only work if certain elements you don't control happen to fall into place, which means you're leaving way too much to chance for this to work.
The real power comes when the image is behavior-free and context-free because then it becomes part of your identity. And if you haven't realized it yet, you take you with you everywhere you go. So the ideal image applies anywhere, anytime. It's you at 3 p.m. in the office, 3:00 a.m. in the kitchen, or on vacation halfway across the world.
Your identity is a feed-forward system. Who you believe you are now pulls you toward the future and reinforces itself as you live it. Like a self-fulfilling prophecy, when you shift your identity, it doesn't just change who you are, it changes what you do because who you believe you are dictates your behavior.
When you see your ideal self-image from the outside, it generates attraction. Your unconscious instantly recognizes, "That's who I want to be." That attraction shifts you away from unwanted behavior and toward making choices that are aligned with your ideals.
When I had learned the switch pattern in NLP trainings, they taught me to tie the ideal self-image to behaviors and context, which is why what Steve wrote puzzled me. So, I emailed Steve regarding my confusion. He was surprised by my questions and thought maybe I had misunderstood my teachers because he knew them personally. I assured him that I was taught exactly what I described to him. Hours later, he emailed me back confirming I was right. All of my trainers had been teaching the switch pattern wrong for years. I even found an old video of Tony Robbins teaching it incorrectly.
When I tried it Steve's way, without behavior and without context, it suddenly worked. For years, I was overeating and couldn't maintain the weight that I wanted. It kept fluctuating up and down. I switched it, and not only did it work, I got six-pack abs out of it. By then, it made complete sense to me why the switch pattern had inspired Steve to create such an ambitious model like the self-concept model, the ultimate model for identity transformation. That was the missing piece.
The ideal self-image must be free of behavior and context so it can generalize across all situations. Otherwise, you risk breaking the pattern. For example, switching smoking to an image of yourself at the gym only works if the gym is available. What happens if you want a cigarette 10 times a day? You're not going to go to the gym 10 times a day. If you wake up at 3:00 a.m. wanting a cigarette and a swish appears of your ideal self working out at the gym, you're going to grab for the cigarette.
An ideal self-image with no behavior attached to it and no context would empower you to make a better choice based on the options you have available to you.
Let's go through the switch pattern step by step. I'll give you a high-level overview here, and you'll find the full process in the free PDF linked below.
Step one, identify the unwanted behavior. Pick something that feels compulsive like smoking, overeating, biting your nails, or procrastination. Notice the image or thought that triggers the behavior. The moment right before the point of no return, the moment you feel sucked into the unwanted behavior.
Step two, notice the submodalities. These are the fine details of the image: brightness, size, distance, movement. Pay attention to how the trigger looks and feels.
Step three, create your ideal self-image. This is you without the problem. Confident, purposeful, aligned with your highest values. Remember, no behavior, no context, just your identity.
Step four, switch the images. Place the trigger image in front of you. Put the ideal self-image small and dim in the corner or below the trigger image. Then quickly swish. Shrink the trigger image down while making the ideal self-image big and bright and compelling. Repeat this seven to 10 times.
Step five, test it. Break state. Then think of the old trigger. If the ideal image pops up automatically, the switch has taken hold.
Step six, check for objections. If any part of you resists, integrate that resistance first. Otherwise, the shift won't last.
Step seven, practice until it's unconscious. The goal is for the switch to happen automatically without effort. That's when it becomes identity-level change. If the switch happens automatically, don't continue to practice it. Allow it to become unconscious. It's more powerful when it's unconscious.
Important tip: Never switch backward when doing step four. Don't practice flipping between the images. Always reset the screen between repetitions, or you'll train your brain to yo-yo back and forth.
If you want to go deeper, download the free PDF guide in the description. It walks you through the exact steps. And if you're serious about mastering NLP as a whole, check out my next video, "How to Go from Beginner to Mastery in NLP." You'll find it right here on the screen.