http://www.nlpco.

com/2014/10/presuppositions-of-nlp/#axzz4M7omP4iw
MAJOR PRESUPPOSITIONS OF NLP: The Top 13 Original Major
Presuppositions of NLP Defined
by Tom Dotz
October 7th, 2014
The Top 13 Original Major Presuppositions of NLP Defined
PRESUPPOSITION:
A form of Perceptual Filter An attitude, bias, point of view, perspective or set of
assumptions or presuppositions about the object, person or situation. This attitude
colors all perceptions of the object, etc.
There will be exceptions to all of these presuppositions, but they are a very useful
starting basis for communication and a very effective way to increase your awareness of
your personal perceptual filters (aka personal biases).
1. Communication is redundant. You are always communicating, in all 3 major Sensory
Modalities (visual, auditory, kinesthetic) in addition to words. (And the nonverbal
communication usually comprises 70 90%.)
2. The meaning of your communication is the response that you get. Communication is
not about what you intend, or about saying the right words. Communication is about
creating an experience in, and getting a response from, the listener. The bottom line is
the response you elicit. This is a useful way for each of us to think about what we do and
say. This means that if I write something as an author and you dont like it, thats the
response Ive elicited. Its more useful for me to think, I got a response I dont want.
How can I change my behavior so that Ill get a response I do want? At the same time
its more useful for you to think What can I do to either get the author to do things
differently, or to learn from this situation anyway, even if its not the way I want it?
3. People respond to their map of reality, not to reality itself. NLP is the science of
changing these maps (not reality). By changing maps, its possible to change peoples
responses.
4. Requisite variety: The element in a system with the most flexibility will usually be the
controlling element.
5. People work perfectly. No one is wrong or broken; its simply a matter of finding out
how you function now, so that you can effectively change how you function in that
context to something more useful or desirable.
6. People always make the best choice available to them at the time (but usually there are
lots of other better ones). However, there may be a wealth of better ones that we havent
explored yet.

7. Every behavior is useful in some context. Re-contextualizing behavior is a major

category of NLP intervention.
8. Choice is better than no choice.
9. Anyone can do anything. If one person can do something, it is possible to model it and
teach it to anyone else.
10. People already have all the resources they need. What they need is access to these
resources at appropriate times and places.
11. There is no such thing as failure, only feedback. Every response can be utilized.
Richard Bandler has often said that he has made more mistakes than anyone he knows.
Robert Dilts has an inventor friend who tries out a lot of things that dont work. When
Robert once asked him, Isnt that discouraging? he replied, Oh, no. I just realize thats
a solution to a different problem.
12. Chunking. Anything can be accomplished (by anyone) if you break the task down into
small enough chunks. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
13. Positive Intent.
Behind every behavior is a positive intent.