BACK TO GENIUS

The Art of Getting Lost and Forgetting ADD

It all began with the idea of “genius,” the focused state of intense concentration in which you are at your best with all of your resources available. DeLozier and Grinder worked on the prerequisites of genius using Gregory Bateson’s formulations and Dilts worked on strategies of genius. So in 1994 when I discovered the Meta-States Model, one of the first things I applied it to was the ‘genius’ or flow state where challenge and competency come together into a synergy that creates this incredible state.

That meant that the state of flow which we had been assuming was a primary state, because it was so direct, present, and intense, was really a layered meta-state. No wonder we were all mucking around and not finding the pathway to that flow state and how to gain conscious access to it at will. It was by modeling the hidden meta-levels of the genius state, the logical levels that Bateson spoke about and that DeLozier and Grinder played around with, that I was able to come up with the pattern for Accessing Your Personal Genius State. And afterward, I built the APG Training, as a Certification training in the Meta-States Model, with the immediate application for how to build a focus state that you can access at will and thereby step into “the zone” whenever you want to.

By re-modeling the work in Turtles all the Way Down (1983), Flow, and other works on the state of being “in the zone,” the Accessing Your Personal Genius Meta-State became the public face of the Meta-States Model and the APG training continues to be the flagship of Neuro-Semantics. My first personal experience with it was in late 1994 when I used it on myself for two “in the zone” states that I wanted—a genius reading and writing state. Up to that time staying focused on a page was sometimes really difficult and I’d end up having scanned the words of a page with my eyes without comprehending a thing I had read. So I would have to then re-read the page and “try hard” to concentrate. Up to that time also, I would often start writing an article and then have a bout of “writer’s block,” get stuck, and not get anything written.

Accessing Your Personal Genius Pattern ended all of that. That was the last time, in fact, that I ever suffered “writer’s block,” which whenever I mention that these days, I get teased mercilessly. “Yeah, we know. We can’t read your books and articles as fast as you write them!” Since then I have also run the pattern on about a dozen other states— states wherein I want intense focus and presence, states where for a period of time, I let the world and time and others and even self “go away” as I get lost in some particular engagement.

That’s what the “genius” state is all about—lost in an engagement. It is not genius in the sense of being an Einstein, or Immanuel Kant, Walt Disney, and so on. Although when you are all

there, fully present, focused, and engaged and “in your zone” your intelligence will be at its best and most creative. The “genius,” or mastery zone state, is so central to everything we do in Neuro-Semantics. We use it not only in APG, but also as a fundamental state for Coaching, so the Coaching Genius state; for training, the Training Genius state; the Leadership Genius state, and so on.

The genius state is ideal for any time or situation where you need an intense and singular focus. As such it is the antidote to ADD ... which most of the time is not attention deficient at all, but intention deficient. It is precisely because of your intention deficient that you find it so hard to pay attention and hold attention! That’s why in APG we build up the genius state with multiple frames (meta-states) to protect it and to set self-organizing processes that make the genius state dynamic and self-sustaining.

If you could use a genius-flow state for various activities in your life, there is now a proven methodology by which you can create an intense focus state. It is not rocket-science, it is the neuro-semantic science of managing your meta-states, your self-reflexive consciousness so that the frames you set are frames that unleash your highest and best!

For more information, check out the articles on the Genius State on the Neuro-Semantic website (www.neurosemantics.com), click Writings, then APG Articles. Also for Videos of the APG training, contact Tom Welch, [email protected] or see his website, www.nlp-video.com also www.ns-video.com. And there are also the books on this subject: Secrets of Personal Mastery (1997) and Meta-States (2007).

And for The Psychology of APG, a set of videos made in 2010 at NSTT, go to www.neurosemantics.com, click Products, then Other Videos, then you will see The Psychology of APG.