Categories
Travels

Arrived in Istanbul

I did not get much sleep prior to leaving for Turkey, waking up at 3:30 am, knowing that I had a taxi to take me to Heathrow airport at 5 am to catch the Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul.

I had a talk scheduled for the staff at Vodafone (Turkey) at 5:30 that afternoon, and I was tired, I needed sleep and rest. I think I got some on the four hour flight, interrupted by the serving of breakfast, the crying young babies, and the endless throbbing noise from the engines and air conditioning.

Upon arrival in Istanbul, should I take a coach into the center of Istanbul, to my hotel in Taxim Square, The Seminal Hotel, or should I take a taxi. The coach should be 15 Turkish Lira compared to say 30 Turkish Liar for a taxi? I was getting late, 1:30 pm, I needed to get to Vodafone for about 4:30pm to prepare myself and the venue. Taxi was the only answer.

I quickly got into the standard public yellow taxi (34 TDH 59), and in broken English the taxi driver made some conversation with me, playing some Hip Pop CD music, and wearing some wrap-around sunglasses.

Then I heard the words, “Traffic, Istanbul, problem.”

Whenever I hear those words I know that the driver will take me a long route. so that the meter will charge even more.

Oh well what can I do? I need to get to Taxim Square, and there is no other way. There was nothing else to do but to relax, stay calm and enjoy the ride. And, it was a great ride, because it is the 3rd International Tulip Festival of Istanbul, and along the road they had planted thousands of tulips, now fully in bloom. I could not capture the true wonder and splendor of the colour.

2008, 3rd International Tulip Festival, Istanbul 2008, 3rd International Tulip Festival, Istanbul, from taxi 34 TDH 59

Sure enough, when it was time to leave the coast road to head into the center of Istanbul, he said again, “Traffic, Istanbul, problem.” I could see a queue of cars, and said OK as he headed straight on, following the coast road.
 
All was well until we hit another queue of traffic. He lost his temper, hitting the steering wheel and shouting in Turkish.

Me? I just laughed and said “yavaş, yavaş.” This means “slowly, slowly.”

We edged slowly forward, him complaining, me looking at the ever increasing charges on the meter. There was nothing to do but keep my cool, stay calm and centered. (Mustapha, Fred, Antonio).
 
It was then as I glanced out of the side window overlooking the Bosphorus that my eye caught a dolphin breaking surface, its’ dorsal fin and tail fully visible. Then another dolphin, and another. They just kept appearing. There must have been fifty or more, obviously feeding on fish. A TV cameraman was trying capture to this sight. I had only my mobile phone to capture this scene, so believe me there are at least three dolphins in this picture. (see video of another view of dolphins click here)

Really there are dolphins in the picture not just TV cameraman  Realy there are dolphins in the picture not just TV cameraman


After 15 minutes watching this sight and crawling slowly forward, we came to a break in the central barrier, and without a word he sped quickly through it and raced back in the opposite direction, the meter still adding up, to join the queue he had originally tried to avoid.


Oh Poo Poo. Keep centered and strong Phillip. (Mustapha, Fred, Antonio). Nothing you can do.

Half an hour later we arrived in Taxim Square, and the meter read 43 Turkish Lira. Oh Poo Poo. I gave him a 50 Lira bank note.

He looked at me and said “OK?”

I was having none of it, I wanted my change and a receipt. And this was not the first time this has happened to me. (click to see previous article).

I had one hour to get to my hotel, and then start my journey to Vodafone , but I had seen some great sights, sights that those who have lived a lifetime in Istanbul have never seen.  see video

Categories
Travels

An Early Start


Today I have an early start to catch the 6:55am Turkish Airlines flight from London to Istanbul. Thank goodness it is not British Airways, with all the trouble with the new Heathrow Terminal Five. Knowing my luck, my bags would arrive in Ataturk airport and I would be in New York.

There is a lesson to be learned from the BA move into Terminal 5. It is a lesson I learned from my days in computers.

Never buy something that has just launched, the product or service has not bedded down, has not been snagged, that is, had all the faults identified.

So, tomorrow night, I am giving a talk to Vodafone (Turkey).

I am well rehearsed, and my translator knows me well. So, I am looking forward to a great night, and the start of nearly one months training. 

Categories
Recommendation Travels

Did I upset you? Unwanted telephone calls.


Am I sorry that I upset you?

No I’m not, if you were the man who telephoned me from Weatherseal, the British double glazing, replacement window company.

I am fed-up to the teeth with unwanted telephone calls, offering me free holidays, phones, loans, replacement kitchens, insurance, or “Do I mind if I answer a couple of questions?”.

If I want something, I will go on-line, go on the internet, or I will go to the shops. Thank you.

        Ring. Ring. Ring. “Can I speak to Mr Holt please?”

If I hear an Indian accent, I can feel the hairs starting to stand-up on the back of my neck. I know it is a call center in India wanting to sell me something.

        “What are you selling?” I ask.

        “Oh nothing sir. Can I ask you some questions? Do you have a mortgage?”

That is it.

        “No I do not have a mortgage, I am 95, and paid it off years ago. But I tell you what, I have some money
         to spare, would you like a loan from me, I will only charge you 4% APR, instead of your 16% , and ……….”

The phone goes silent, as my reply is not on their script. They are stumped. NLPers? Pattern interrupt.

Or I will reply :-

        “Do you give loans to bankrupt people?”

I just asked a question, there is no need for them to put the phone down on me.

But Mr Weatherseal Windows, why does your company keep interrupting my day? On your Weatherseal computer database, you can see that we have had windows installed only a few years ago, and because of that, why should I want to have them replaced again?

If I did know people in the rest of the flats here in Norbiton Hall, (click to read about), why should I recommend you, a company that keeps calling me up, intruding into my personal space.

All I said to you was :-

        “We have your windows already thank you, but I might be interested in a conservatory.”

to which you replied :-

        “We do conservatories.”

I could tell from the tone of your voice you were suddenly interested in me.

        “Yes I know, but we are on the second floor.”

There was no need to say back to me, “Ha. Ha. Very funny”, and put the phone down on me. I do want a conservatory installed, but not here.

Norbiton Hall, Kingston upon Thames from the rear.

So Mr Weatherseal Windows, you lost yourself a potential sale.

Then we get the silent calls. No-one on the other end. I end up shouting down the phone, but no-one hears me except for the neighbours and the shoppers across the road.

Yes for those of you who have similar problems, there is a service here in the UK called the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) (click to visit web page). This is an opt out service or register. It is a legal requirement that all organisations (including charities, voluntary organisations and political parties) do not make cold calls to numbers registered on the TPS unless they have your consent to do so.

But they still keep coming. Perhaps the call centers in India do not know about it, or even know where Britain is.

So Mr Weatherseal Windows and the many cold callers who interrupt my day and evenings, I am going to have fun with you. Please don’t put the telephone down, as I do know you have a job to do, and my fun may be a waste of time to you, but then, so is your call to me.

Oh yes Mr Weatherseal Windows, do you install the conservatories in Malaysia?

Still you continue, see the article – Weatherseal Windows, do you think I am stupid?

Categories
NLP Travels

A Hospital Visit – Time Distortion


I had to go to my local hospital here in Kingston upon Thames, (see some views), a very large place and expanding all the time.

Part of Kingston upon Thames hospital, Main Entrance 
Part of Kingston upon Thames hospital, Main Entrance

I suppose I am becoming like an old vintage wine, I need to be turned, or like an old car, I need attention and some of my parts, oiled and overhauled, with tenderness, love and affection.

I collected a numbered ticket – 78, so that I knew when it would be my turn to be seen, and sat in a waiting area, watching the other patients and members of staff. There seemed to be a representative from nearly every country in the world there, from the Far East, South East Asia, Asia, Africa, Europe, but I did not hear an American accent.

Britain does seem to be less British and more world with every day that passes. As I walk around the shops, I hear so many languages, Polish, Pakistani, Korean, so many I have no idea where they are from. The shop assistants have a foreign accent, waiters and waitresses in the restaurants seem to be there to learn English.

Today a Government report by a House of Lords Committee chaired by Lord Wakeham on recent mass immigration into Britain concluded that there has been little or no positive impact on the living standards of the existing population, and suggests an “explicit and reasoned” limit should be set for net immigration from outside the EU.

It seems that there is a figure of nearly 200,000 net immigrants into Britain each year, that is those seeking to live in Britain, and those leaving, yes, the Brits leave the shores of the UK to become immigrants to other countries. A figure of 200,000 would make a very large town every year, and those are only the “official” figures, it does not take into consideration the illegal immigrants plus their families.

I sat there, watching the second hand of a clock going what seemed to be backwards, time was going so slow, just like standing in a queue in a bank, time just stops. My ticket number 78 was a long time away.

Patient number 60 gets ready to be seen in Kingston Hospital
Patient number 60 gets ready to be seen in Kingston Hospital

I then began to remember great times, when at a party, when I was a small boy playing, when giving a course. Time just went so fast then. In fact I remember being with a girlfriend, being totally absorbed, then looking at my watch to see that it was not 9pm at night, but mid night.

Where had time gone?

How did time pass so quickly?

It is only our mind that distorts time, makes it go quickly or slowly.

My strongest memory of time going so slow was when I was a student at the Staffordshire College of Commerce in Wednesbury, sitting in a history lesson. The teacher was bad. He did not give me any enthusiasm, he did not light my candle. I sat there watching the second hand of the big clock on the wall facing me, tick, tick, tick away, I can even remember seeing the sight movement of the minute hand. Oh time went so slow waiting for the end of lesson bell.

So sitting there in the waiting area, I got my mind to go back and remember a time where time had been so fast, and that I will keep to myself, and relived that time, seeing everything I saw, hearing everything I heard, and feeling all the good things about that time, all over again. I fully associated myself into that time.

Oops. It is my turn to be seen, ticket 78.

Doesn’t time fly if you are having fun?

Download a desktop timepiece by Maurice Lacroix. Click here.  Download a desktop timepiece by Maurice Lacroix

Categories
Exercises NLP

Strategy Elicitation Notation

When modeling or undertaking a Strategy Elicitation in NLP, we need to write down in an easy way what we have found, so that we can use the strategy again in the future or to make changes to it.

The standard NLP Notation can be coded thus :-

The Representation System used.

            V    –    visual
            A    –    auditory
            K    –    kinesthetic
            O    –    olfactory
            G    –    gustatory

Internal or External Processing

            Is what is happening to them their thoughts, their feeling taking place their minds or body, or 
            is there some other outside stimulus, i.e. they remember some incident would be internal, notated 
            by a small “i”, (i), whereas seeing something actually happening would be external, notated by a
            small “e”, (e). Having butterflies in the tummy will be an kinesthetic internal, (Ki), whereas feeling
            the quality of cloth would be kinesthetic external, (Ke).

                Ve    –    visual external                Vi    –    visual internal
                Ae    –    auditory external            Ai    –    auditory internal 
                Ke    –    kinesthetic external        Ki    –    kinesthetic internal 
                Oe    –    olfactory external           Oi    –    olfactory internal 
                Ge    –    gustatory external         Gi    –    gustatory internal

Remembered or Constructed

            Has the person remembered something from the past, or are they constructing for example what
            they would look like wearing a certain suit? The representation for visual remembered can be 
            notated by a small “r“, (Vir), here meaning a visual internal remembered, whereas for a visual
            constructed, imagining what they would look like by a small “c“, (Vic).

Other Notations

                _m_        about the previous step when linking steps. “m” standing for meta. For example getting a feeling about some stimulus.

see example soon

Categories
Exercises NLP

Strategy Elicitation

Strategy Elicitation is the how an NLPer models how another achieves excellence or how they do something using internal representational systems and external influences.

Knowing what strategies are being used in oneself and other people, can result in powerful changes, resulting in the change in a response to situations.

Firstly, get into rapport (the “t” is silent when spoken in English) with the client, and explain that you will be asking questions on how they do what they do.

It is important during the strategy elicitation that the person eliciting the strategy, keeps out of the situation, does not involve themselves in the process by saying such things as, “Oh yes I do that as well“, or “Oh I do it this way“. They should only aim to keep the person on-track in the process they run.

Notation of the strategy will use the modalities, VAKOG, rep systems, along with other coding. (Click to see list). Only write down the notation, not notes nor sentences.

  1. Ask the person to fully associate into the thing they have/will do, the strategy, as if they are doing that process now. You can keep that person associated in the strategy by asking present tense language questions, “What is the next thing that you do?”
  2. Ask the person “What is the first thing that happens?” and “How do you know?”
  3. Continue through the strategy, step by step, by asking “What is the next thing that happens?” and again “How do you know?”.
  4. Keep looking for clues which will help you identify which modalities, VAKOG, they are using, by observing Eye Accessing Cues (click to view), body language, hand movements, language patterns along with their predicates (click to view).
  5. As you notice the representation system being used, VAKOG, write it down in the notation described.
  6. Do not get involved with the content of the strategy. You do not need to know how many eggs or how many grammes of flower are needed to make a chocolate cake, just the representational systems in use.
  7. Keep asking the questions in item 3. “What is the next thing that happens?” until you find the EXIT or the trigger that tells them that the strategy has ended, that they have completed. What is the modality that tells them it is complete? “How do you know?”
  8. Be aware of the TOTE Model, Test, Operate, Test, Exit. (click to view).

KISS the strategy elicitation process, that is Keep It Simple Stupid, do not over complicate the process, only look for the main rep’ systems.

Categories
Electronics Travels

Norton 360 v Kasperski Internet Security

I have written about may problems with the Internet security, virus and spam software offered by Symantec called Norton 360, of how the software would not stay active, protecting me against virus and spam attacks in previous blogs. See entries My ‘annus mirabilis’, A day of travel , and I hate Computers .

An old friend, Nick Milonakis, a Greek national, A blast from the past , sent me a recommendation for a new software called Kasperski.

I have loaded and used Kasperski internet security now for over a month, and all my troubles with Norton 360 have disappeared. Thank you Nick. I can now go to the airport, get on the WiFi and surf the internet, download my emails.

I had never heard of Kasperski before Nick told me about it. But walking around a local PCWorld shop, I spied a display of the software. On asking an assistant about Kasperski software, he said that in his opinion, and the awards it had received, it was the best on the market. He added that one offering had dropped in popularity, (Mcfee) as they were not keeping-up with protection against new virus and spams, and that Norton 360, seemed to have lost the plot, that they had problems which were not being resolved, whereas, Kasperski were on top.

Why then were PCWorld still promoting Norton’s software on every shelf?

Why were PCWorld offering half price deals on Norton 360?

Perhaps they have a special deal from Norton, giving them more profit.

Perhaps they have a contract to sell so many packs.

Perhaps there is more commission to be earned by the sales people.

Perhaps they know that the general public often do not complain if things do not work.

Perhaps they know that Norton will bring out a replacement in a few months, so the problems will disappear.

Perhaps they know that the vast majority of purchasers will not realise that the software does not protect their computers as the package purports to do.

Perhaps they have buried their head in the sand, hoping the problems of Norton 360 will disappear.

I recommend Kasperski internet software from my own experiences, and you can by it from Amazon, or download it from Kaspersky.

  Buy from Amazon                                  Download from Kaspersky

Categories
NLP

Strategies


A strategy in NLP can be defined as particular actions leading to an outcome, which can be reproduced repeatably by a sequence of thoughts, and or a sequence of internal representational systems and external experiences that lead to an outcome.

Whether we realise it or not, everything we do in our life will involve a strategy, and mostly the strategy will be at a subconscious level, that is, we are not aware at a conscious level that we will be running a procedure/strategy.

A strategy is how we process the actions that we do, these actions could be for making decisions, learning, remembering, doing our job, taking part in sport activities, being motivated. How do we do what we do, by using our internal representational systems (click for more information), and being influenced by external experiences.

Each person will use a different strategy than the next person, and it will explain why there are differences in peoples capabilities, how for example Gianni Golfera, the man with the biggest memory in the world, can remember more than other people. Has Gianni got a different brain than other people? Tests say no, he has the same brain structure as the next person, it is how he uses it, the strategies he uses to retain information that make the difference. http://www.c4memory.com

There are good decision makers, good leaders, and good sales people. Each will adopt or employ a strategy that works for them to achieve excellence in what they do,

It is a presupposition in NLP, that if anyone can do something, then you too can do it, by learning the strategy employed, and reproducing it or teaching it to others so you/they too can achieve the same excellence. I disagree with this statement, for example I am 95 years old and want to become a marathon runner. If I modeled or found the strategies used by Paula Radcliffe, a world marathon record holder, and ran the same strategies employed by Paula on myself, would I be as good as her? No. I am a man, I am older, and my physical build is not the same, but perhaps if the strategy is ecologically acceptable to me, I could achieve an excellence to my level.

We elicit strategies by modeling the internal and external representational systems of a person.

A strategy will always work to give an outcome or result. If that result is not what is wanted, then the strategy should be changed.

Often a person has only one strategy to achieve and outcome. If we can provide another alternative strategy to get the same outcome, then that person has choice.

Consider that the only way you know how to get to work is to drive your car, what would happen if the car broke down?

If I taught you how you could catch a bus to get to work, now you have two strategies or ways to get to work.

Teach you how to get there by walking, yet another. Riding a bike, another, so on and so forth.

It has been said that if a General of an army has one more strategy to fight the battle than the enemy, he will have more chance to win the battle.

Categories
Travels

The Fort of Gaziantep

 

On my last trip to Gaziantep in the South of Turkey to give training with Gap Consulting, we flew over the city as we came into land on a clear night. Down below, illuminated in a bright orange light, was the round fortress that once stood guard over Gaziantep from invaders.

To visit the fortress of Gaziantep was not on my timetable, nor in fact any sightseeing trip, but I found that I had a spare day with no training. A Sunday, with nothing to do, so I decided to go for a walk, just around the shops near to my hotel.

It surprised me that even though it was 11am, there were very few shoppers, and very few shops open, so I just walked and walked, taking in the sights, sounds and smells.

hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil, sit over a cafe in Gaziantep hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil, sit over a café in Gaziantep

I then noticed the fort in the distance, and aimed myself towards it, keeping track of the landmarks, so that I could find my way back to the hotel.

Turning a corner, there in front of me was the fort, sitting on top of a hill. I could see visitors on the battlements, and walking into the fort through a dark doorway entrance.

The Fortress of Gaziantep
                                                                   The Fortress of Gaziantep

I followed the road around the base of the hill and fort passing a mosque with a beautifully decorated minaret, until I came to the entrance to Gaziantep Fortress. It is obvious that in the near future, visitors will have to pay to gain entrance to the Fort, as they are building a visitor center and ticket booths, rebuilding the entrance, but today it was free.

A mosque with a beautifully decorated minaret at the base of the Fortress of Gaziantep  A beautifully decorated minaret at the base of the Fortress of Gaziantep  A mosque at the base of the Fortress of Gaziantep
                               A mosque with a beautifully decorated minaret at the base of the Fortress of Gaziantep

Perhaps the site of a drawbridge of the Fortress of Gaziantep
                                               Perhaps the site of a drawbridge of the Fortress of Gaziantep

Once passing the yet to be completed visitor entrance to the Fortress, I passed through a stone gateway and over what would have been a drawbridge to climb a steep set of stairs to the doorway into a dark corridor leading up and into the Fort its’ self.

The dark entrance of the Fortress of Gaziantep                            The steep interior climb of the Fortress of Gaziantep
                                               The dark entrance and steep interior climb of the Fortress of Gaziantep

Once into the sunlight within the walls of the Fortress of Gaziantep, it is obvious that there is a lot of restoration work being undertaken, with one area covered by a corrugated steel roof. But there was not much to see, just an empty interior, with  what appears to be the foundations of what would have been buildings.

Views of the interior of the Fortress of Gaziantep                            Views of the interior of the Fortress of Gaziantep
                                                           Views of the interior of the Fortress of Gaziantep

Old guns, from what year I have know idea, were on display, and from the Fort walls, looking sometimes through cuttings/windows in the thick stonework, the views over Gaziantep were spectacular, the flat roofs of the houses and buildings, some of the old historical areas, and the newer buildings, plus the big football ground. I think there was a match on, and Gaziantep lost. The view also showed where some of the pollution was coming from. (click to read previous article).

Views from the walls of the Fortress of Gaziantep                            Views from the walls of the Fortress of Gaziantep
Views from the walls of the Fortress of Gaziantep

The History of Gaziantep Fort

The history of the site may be older than 6,000 years, but the first fortress of Gaziantep, having several towers but none to be seen today, was believed to have been built in the 3rd Century BC by the Romans.

In the 6th Century, the Fortress was repaired and expanded by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, with more towers added.

Further repairs were undertaken by the Egyptian Sultan Kayitbay (1481), and by Sultan Sulieman in the Ottoman period of 1557. Later additional buildings and towers were added by Melik Sahil Ahmet.

The Fort of Gaziantep has been used for defense, even up to and including Turkey’s War of Independence.

Categories
NLP

TOTE Model

The TOTE model was developed in 1960 (published in Plans and the Structure of Behavior) by psychologists Eugene Galanter, Karl Pribham and George Armitage Miller (click to see other works of Miller) to describe and explain human behaviour, and takes further the S-R or Stimulus Response model, or the work of Pavlov which describes human behaviour in terms of conditioning, that is a stimulus generates a response.

Everything that we do or undertake will involve a TOTE or a strategy, we will have a way of doing something, be it combing our hair, pulling on a jumper, creating a painting, baking a chocolate cake, and the TOTE model has been adopted by NLP to describe how we do, how we achieve, what we do, or our strategy of doing an action.

The acronym of the model TOTE, stands for :-

                                                        T      test
                                                        O     operate
                                                        T      test
                                                        E      exit

and anything we do will involve a TOTE.

Consider that we wish to travel from London to Rome, we will have a Present Position (PP), i.e. London, and a Desired Position (DP), i.e. Rome.
                                                                PP
                                                                     DP

What we are aiming to do is to make our PP (present position), equal to our DP (desired position), instead of being in London we want to be in Rome.

So when we are standing in London,




    1. We apply the first T (test), and the question could be “are we there yet?“. 

    2. No we are not, so we have to do an O (operation), start walking, catch a plane.

    3. We then as we journey along apply another T (test) and ask the question “are we there yet?”.

    4. We continue looping around steps 2 and 3, the Operation and Test, until we reach Rome, then,

    5. We E exit.

The same model can be used for state, PS present state to DS desired state.

Maybe we are in an unhappy state and want to be in a happy state. So :- 




    1. We apply the first T (test), and the question could be “am I happy?“. 

    2. No we are not, so we have to do an O (operation), start watching a comedy film.

    3. As we watch we apply another T (test) and ask the question “am I happy?”.

    4. We continue looping around steps 2 and 3, the Operation and Test, until we are happy, then,

    5. We E exit.

Then the Present State/Position will equal the Desired State/Position.

If (E) the exit is not reached, or the Present State/Position does not equal the Desired State/Position, then there will be a problem, the action will never be able to stop with satisfaction, and this can develop into a compulsive behaviour disorder, like continually washing the hand after visiting the toilet, or returning home to check if the door is locked, or the light is turned off.

To solve a compulsive behaviour disorder the NLP Practitioner will need to find an (E) exit or trigger that will give the client a resolve or satisfaction, to stop the action.

Eliciting strategies will enable the discovery of what can be changed to get resolve or satisfaction.