How to anchor confidence for your life and/or business?

Would you like to be more in control of your state (e.g. a more positive state) for example when you need to give a presentation to a group of people, attend a meeting or meet a prospective client to make a sale? And of course you have said ‘yes’. A powerful technique you can use is anchoring.

What is anchoring? Anchoring is a process involving a stimulus and a response and when a specific stimulus is applied at the peak of an intense state then the two get linked together neurologically. The origins of anchoring go back to a famous study conducted by Ivan Pavlov when he worked with dogs and he performed stimulus and response tests. In these tests Pavlov would show a steak to the animal and then hit a tuning fork. The dog would then salivate. After repeating this number of times, he noticed that without the steak being present the dog would still salivate when hitting the tuning fork.

Did you know that in everyday life you have many anchors? Take for example the alarm clock in the morning, when you hear it, you get out of bed and start getting ready for work. The humble traffic light is an anchor, it goes red and you stop the car. Another one, the telephone rings; you get out of the chair and answer it. These are anchors in which there is a stimulus and then a response which results in your behaviour.

Why use an anchor? Well, imagine you have had a difficult morning and you must go and see a prospective client. You certainly want to have a positive state towards that client; otherwise there will be no chance of getting a sale. So by having an anchor you can change your state from being negative to one of being positive and empowered.

So how do I successfully create such an anchor?  To create an anchor remember the pneumonic device of ‘I TURN’ which stands for Intensity, Timing, Uniqueness, Replication, and Number of times. For the intensity of the experience, you must be fully associated in the experience (e.g. seen through your own eyes). For example remember a time, a specific time when you were fully motivated and see what you saw, hear what you heard and feel what you felt. The Timing of the anchor is important and you need to anchor it as you go into a state and release it just after the anchor peaks. In terms of uniqueness it needs to be a unique location on the body. A common place is the knuckle on the hand. However, if you anchor the hand, then every time someone shakes your hand, the anchor will be “watered” down and become ineffective.  The next step is the replication of the stimulus and this is all about being able to repeat it and in the same location. The last step is the number of times you anchor it. The more times you anchor it, the more effective and powerful will be the anchor.

As an example, here are the steps to anchor a state of being totally confident. You will need a partner and these are the steps you will apply to that person or vice versa. Firstly, get the person to remember an intense past experience when they were totally confident. Secondly, notice as they enter the state of being confident there will be a change in their physiology such as eyes, colour of face, skin tonus, lower lip size etc. As they enter the state of being totally confident then apply a stimulus (e.g. your finger will touch one of their knuckles and always get permission to touch them first). Thirdly as you notice the person leaving the state (as it peaks) then remove the stimulus (remove your finger from their knuckle). Now you must break their state or ask them to clear the screen or say ‘can they smell hot chips’! The last part of anchoring is to test to determine whether they return to the state of being total confident. So apply your finger to that unique anchor and notice them going into that state again.  You should apply the anchor many times, as more you do it, the more powerful the anchor will be. Any state can be anchored, give it a go and notice the changes in your life.