a) the nature of maladapted behavior—what constitutes a problematic response;

b) the nature of growth, choice and generative behavior;

c) how to identify, in sensory specific terms, a specific outcome, set or class of outcomes;

d) how to identify and represent, in the appropriate sensory modalities, the elements (resources, external and behavioral) involved in achieving that outcome;

e) the representation of the forms and rules of interaction between these elements that identify, generate and predict the desired outcomes; and

f) how to identify and represent the present state of progress or development so that it may be used to provide the individual, family or organization with feedback on where they are with respect to their outcomes.

Our claim is that if any individual or group displays any sequence of behavior which others find useful, we — employing the tools and principles of NLP — can chunk and punctuate that sequence into units that can be practiced and readily learned by any other member of the species.

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NLP is a new way of thinking — a new model — which involves the use of changing patterns dependent on contextual conditions and upon feedback within and between behaviors observable in your ongoing experience. While both formal and systematic, the NLP process is held rigorously accountable to the evidence of sensory experience—yours and that of others who use the process. As a model of the modeling process, it is constantly changing and growing on the basis of feedback from its own discoveries. (For a further elaboration of this discussion, see our forthcoming book Modeling.)

1.6 Modeling Elegance

In the modeling and reproduction of strategies for eliciting outcomes, we are also extending another evolutionary trend in the development of behavioral models with NLP.