META-DETAILING Zooming In and Out, Up and Down

I first introduced the term meta-detailing in 1997 in the book, The Structure of Excellence, which is now titled, Sub-Modalities Going Meta (2004). It was in 1996 that, along with Bob Bodenhamer, I worked out the fact that sub-modalities are not “sub” that is, they are not smaller details of the sensory representational modalities. The so-called sub- modalities are themselves actually categories and if you look closely, you’ll notice that most are nominalizations— distance (close or far), brightness (high or low), dimensions (two-dimensional flat pictures or three-dimensional pictures, etc.). So nominalizations like these cannot be smaller pieces of representational systems.

The big secret that we discovered back in 1997 was that these features of representational systems actually worked symbolically and semantically. That is, if a person used “distance” for a code that would mean “real” or “not so real,” then the closer an object, the more real and the greater the distance, the less real the object would seem.

Consider the nominalization “brightness.” Originally, NLP taught that if an object was “bright,” it inevitably was more compelling and emotional. Yes, that makes sense. But if we’re talking about a romantic evening at a nice restaurant (a particular context), then making that picture “brighter” might actually reduce the sense of romance. And strange enough, making it “dimmer” might make it seem more romantic. What gives?

The fact is that the cinematic features of our representations do not contain meaning in and of themselves. They work symbolically. They stand for some meaning (semantics) that we attribute to them. The so-called “sub-modality” is actually just a symbol. Originally before they were called “sub-modalities” Todd Epstein named them psycho-graphics. As graphics or pictures (cinematic features) that made a distinction in the modality (visual, auditory, etc.), they had a psychological effect, hence psycho-graphics.

All of this is the background for meta-detailing. A detail like a cinematic feature (a sub-modality) operates within a larger framework— something meta to it. I originally got the idea of meta-detailing from several sources—the key one being Robert Dilts’ work in modeling and his three books on The Strategies of Genius. In modeling Walt Disney, Robert noted that Disney had the ability to take a large level idea (a meta-frame) like “charm” and detail it down into specifics like big eyes, rosy cheeks, human-like expressions, long eye-lashes, etc. and thereby make a mouse charming! The meta-frame of “charm” as a concept is made real by identify some cinematic features by which we semantically construct the idea of “charming.”

What is meta-detailing? Meta-detailing means accessing and holding a meta-level idea (a belief, decision, identity, understanding, permission, etc.) and simultaneously being able to identify the specific sensory-based details that actualize the meta-level idea. The term meta-detailing is at the same time a holistic systems word that unites general and specific (global and details). It ends the polarization of thinking in either-or terms and creates a synergy of the two. In the book Inside-Out Wealth, this holistic skill is one of the most important skills for succeeding at wealth creation. In my new book which is due in June (2018), Executive Thinking, I have put meta-detailing as one of the critical thinking skills.

When you learn to meta-detail, you hold in mind a relevant meta-frame which you thereby commission to operate as your relevancy frame and over-arching frame-of-reference. Then, as you do that, you dive down into the details of that frame. This enables you to energize the critical success factors of that frame and it simultaneously prevents you from getting lost in irrelevant details.

A nice example of a cosmic zooming in and out can be seen on youtube. While it is not the same thing as meta-detailing, it does provide a memorable way to think about zooming in and out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfSNxVqprvM

May you meta-detail to bring richness and fullness to whatever you do!