This blog is supported by awesome readers like you. Some of the links on this site are affiliate links, meaning we may earn a commission if you click and buy at no extra cost to you.
Ever felt overwhelmed by the complexity and uncertainty of life?
Struggle to cope with the challenges and changes that come your way?
Wish you had more control over your outcomes and experiences?
If you said yes to any of these questions, then you might benefit from learning about the law of requisite variety nlp and how it can help you improve your communication, personal development and psychotherapy.
The law of requisite variety nlp is a principle of cybernetics, the science of systems and feedback. It was formulated by W. Ross Ashby, a British psychologist and pioneer of cybernetics, in the 1950s.
W. Ross Ashby
The law of requisite variety states that for a system to be stable, the number of states that its control mechanism is capable of attaining (its variety) must be greater than or equal to the number of states in the system being controlled.
In other words, the more complex and unpredictable a situation is, the more flexible and adaptable you need to be to deal with it effectively.
For example, imagine you are driving a car on a busy road. The road is the system being controlled, and you are the control mechanism. The road has many possible states, such as traffic jams, accidents, detours, pedestrians, etc. To drive safely and reach your destination, you need to have a variety of responses, such as changing lanes, braking, accelerating, turning, etc. If your variety of responses is less than the variety of states on the road, you will not be able to cope with the situation and may end up in trouble.
The law of requisite variety nlp applies not only to physical systems, but also to psychological and social systems. For instance, if you want to influence someone’s behavior or attitude, you need to have more options and strategies than they have. If you want to overcome a fear or a phobia, you need to have more ways of coping than the fear has ways of triggering you. If you want to achieve a personal goal, you need to have more resources and solutions than the obstacles and challenges you face.
This is where Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) comes in handy. NLP is a set of principles and techniques aimed at enhancing self-awareness, increasing confidence, building communication skills and motivating positive social actions. NLP was created by Richard Bandler and John Grinder in the 1970s. They derived many of their techniques from modeling successful people and their strategies.
NLP can help you increase your variety by helping you understand how your mind works and how you can change it to achieve your desired outcomes. Some common NLP techniques that can help you increase your variety include:
- Anchoring: Associating an external or internal trigger with a healthier response until it becomes automatic
- Belief changing: Replacing negative thoughts or beliefs that prevent you from achieving your desires
- Reframing: Putting a situation in a different context to elicit an adaptive reaction instead of following the same maladaptive behavioral patterns
- Visualization: Forming a mental image of something you want
- Visual-kinesthetic dissociation: Guiding yourself in reliving trauma by evoking an imaginative out-of-body experience
By using these techniques, you can expand your repertoire of responses and become more flexible and adaptable in any situation. You can also model other people who have achieved what you want and learn from their strategies.
The law of requisite variety nlp is a powerful tool that can help you gain more control over your life and achieve your goals. By increasing your variety, you can reduce your stress, improve your performance and enhance your well-being.