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Neuro-linguistic programming with Maria Vamvouklis
Episode 53 • 15th May 2021 • Success Inspired • Vit Müller
00:00:00 00:53:14

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My guest today is In this episode I interview Maria Vamvouklis about effective use of NLP in business and personal life and how use of NLP can help reach better outcomes in communication with others.

Maria is an NLP Business Coach, Mentor and Trainer with over 15 years of experience in professional and personal development coaching. Trainer of Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), Time Line Therapy® and Hypnosis. 

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Highlights:

  • (00:00:16) - My guest introduction - Maria Vamvouklis
  • (00:03:18) - From Police force officer to an NLP practitioner
  • (00:07:36) - What NLP is and why you should know about it
  • (00:09:02) - Examples of NLP use
  • (00:11:55) - NLP In Summary, what to watch out for
  • (00:17:04) - Specific words to be aware in your communication
  • (00:25:10) - What is anchoring in NLP benefits & when to use this technique
  • (00:29:33) - What you tell yourself is important - Internal language & NLP to watch out for
  • (00:32:35) - Use of NLP for team motivation
  • (00:36:45) - What Maria believes to be true, that not a lot of other people agree with
  • (00:39:02) - Maria's entrepreneurial journey and challenges she's had to overcome
  • (00:45:02) - Maria's success in her business & lifestyle
  • (00:48:51) - How is Maria keeping herself at her very best she can be.
  • (00:50:32 - Key take away points from this episode
  • (00:52:04) - Final ending, contact details for Maria and Special offer

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Transcripts

Speaker:

Welcome to the success inspired podcast, a business and personal development podcast to help you accomplish more in life and realize your true potential.

Speaker:

And now here is your host Vit Muller

Vit Muller:

Hello everybody.

Vit Muller:

My guest today is NLP business, coach, mentor, and trainer with over 15 years of experience in professional and personal development, coaching

Vit Muller:

She has helped multiple individuals across various industries to truly make a difference in their lives.

Vit Muller:

And today she's taking some time out of her busy schedule to share some valuable information with you to help make a difference in your life too.

Vit Muller:

So please welcome to the show Maria

Maria Vamvouklis:

Thanks for having me on the shirt.

Vit Muller:

Thanks Maria.

Vit Muller:

Thanks for thanks for coming along on the show today.

Vit Muller:

I'm glad to have you on the show and look, I've already introduced you a little bit, but what's something that not many people know about.

Vit Muller:

You.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So I've, I like I've worked in many, various different industries, but one thing that most people don't know about me is that I actually

Maria Vamvouklis:

But it's definitely given me some foundation and backbone in terms of knowledge, to be able to work with individuals as to where I am now.

Vit Muller:

So that's a, that's a big change from police force to what you do now.

Vit Muller:

Why did you make that change?

Vit Muller:

W what made you decide to make that swap?

Maria Vamvouklis:

I've always had a desire to be able to create a difference within certain, you know, within individuals that I interact with at the

Maria Vamvouklis:

And it got to a point where I felt like it was quite limited in being able to do so.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So I I decided to pursue a new business path in being able to help individuals create change with their health.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Because before I was in a place, I was actually a personal trainer and a naturopath.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So I was helping people on a health aspect.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So that, so therefore I left the police force and I decided to be able to dive deeper into the psychology of individuals to create a much more sustainable and profound change.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And that's led me to where I am today and helping business owners do that on a business scope and business scale.

Vit Muller:

I love it.

Vit Muller:

When we talk about psychology, NLP is something that plays a big part in that, right?

Vit Muller:

And you probably already had some psychology training as a police officer as well.

Vit Muller:

Right?

Maria Vamvouklis:

Absolutely.

Maria Vamvouklis:

The basis of police training is knowing how to communicate with individuals.

Maria Vamvouklis:

But the funny thing, actually, what I, what I learned being in the police force is that majority of police officers actually do not know how to communicate very well.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So, that was great insight in terms of being able to ha know how to approach people and problem solve, because in that particular job

Maria Vamvouklis:

So communication is very imperative.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So, that was a great insight in terms of knowing how to build upon in creating exceptional communication with individuals to know how to problem solve very effectively.

Vit Muller:

And so she took some of that experience from being in the police, transitioned into running your own business now, and as an NLP coach, tell us about that journey.

Vit Muller:

How do you transition and how did you start it with your business?

Maria Vamvouklis:

Yeah.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Sure.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So, the transition with the police, I got really I learned a lot in terms of leadership communication, as well as knowing how to work basically as a team.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So when I decided to relieve and start my own business, I had to think about what kind of characteristics and attributes that I

Maria Vamvouklis:

And that was a really great foundation in terms of building upon business structures systems, how to put systems in place and also how to delegate which is one thing.

Maria Vamvouklis:

I find that with a lot of business owners that are going into business that don't know how to do, because they're like, I'll just do it all myself

Maria Vamvouklis:

So having that foundation and knowing how to be able to create, great time management nine, how to outsource, delegate as well as create solid systems and structures in place really

Vit Muller:

Because certainly you can start also just bootstrap and starting your own and say, I'm going to do it all by myself, but like you're right in saying

Vit Muller:

So, D w how, how did you, can you tell us specifically, how did he go about, did you, and when you decided that you want to leave police, did you decide it and you plan for it, you save a bit of cash

Maria Vamvouklis:

Absolutely.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So, when I decided I had been, I was already running a business part-time while I was in the police force as a naturopath.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So I was kind of delving into it, but I wasn't a hundred percent in it.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So, and it wasn't really going anywhere.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So when I decided to go all in, I made a plan to be able to make that transition.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And that means having to save X amount of dollars over say a six month period of income.

Maria Vamvouklis:

If I was to leave the place from there, I, even though I had been in business before, I still seek out a mentor and a coach to be able to guide me and give me

Maria Vamvouklis:

So that was probably the biggest game changer.

Maria Vamvouklis:

No, a lot of people that do go into that transitioning, but do it all on their own and sometimes go in blindsided and not knowing how to create a really strategic planning being able to do so.

Maria Vamvouklis:

The one thing I really learned though so that was really the biggest turning point for me was having the right mindset in being able to go into

Maria Vamvouklis:

It was great.

Maria Vamvouklis:

It was a bit of a struggle.

Maria Vamvouklis:

However, I was running a lot of, of running off a lot of Low self-confidence not really being, having that self belief within myself to know how to really do that effectively,

Maria Vamvouklis:

But it's actually just as important in being able to make a greater impact in what they're trying to do.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So having that coaching and mentoring and being able to shift and adjust my mindset as I go make such a big difference in being able to get that success from the beginning.

Vit Muller:

And is that then when you've discovered that NLPs is the way to do that?

Maria Vamvouklis:

Absolutely.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So the coach & mentor that I had was he was actually a trained psychologist, sports psychologist, and he was trained in NLP and he

Maria Vamvouklis:

And I actually observed the changes that were happening in within myself.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And I was like, wow, I really want to learn that as well.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So then I explored and delved deeper into what this is.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And then I went along the journey and getting trained and now eventually becoming a trainer and a master coach

Vit Muller:

as well.

Vit Muller:

I love it.

Vit Muller:

I love it now for, for those that are listening for this, to this episode, maybe this podcast for their very first time, they might be curious, what is this NLP?

Vit Muller:

Can you elaborate?

Maria Vamvouklis:

Yeah, sure.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So NLP stands for neuro-linguistic programming and what this is, is that the neurons.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So we actually store all emotions, limiting decisions, and all our psychology is stored, not in the brain, but specifically in the nervous system.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And what happens is, is that programming, which is part of the NLP section.

Maria Vamvouklis:

The programming is that we actually program ourselves based on how we actually language and talk to ourselves.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So the linguistics of what we actually say internally actually produces the behaviors and the results that we're producing in lights.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And what NLP does neuro-linguistic programming is it identifies the programming, the linguistics that are used and being able to create change using the

Maria Vamvouklis:

And.

Maria Vamvouklis:

NLP specifically works on creating success and excellence in individuals.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So we don't fix people.

Maria Vamvouklis:

We look at ways to be able to enhance and improve people's performance.

Maria Vamvouklis:

That's the difference between NLP in and other modalities that are out there.

Vit Muller:

Now, can you give us some examples because this is very conceptual and it might be a bit tricky to properly understand the concept.

Vit Muller:

Any examples in real examples of how NLP can help in either in both sorry, personal and in business dealings.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Absolutely.

Maria Vamvouklis:

To give you an example, and some of you may know Tony Robbins and or Anthony Robbins he's actually a very well-known authority figure within the personal development space.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And he uses a lot of NLP techniques.

Maria Vamvouklis:

He doesn't disclose it.

Maria Vamvouklis:

However, as being trained, you can actually identify that now.

Maria Vamvouklis:

A lot of business people actually have been trained in NLP to be able to enhance their success.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Some of these people are.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Barack Obama, which is a politician Oprah Winfrey also people like Richard Branson's also been trained in NLP.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And all, actually this is great insights.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So all the government and all the politicians, all their speeches that are actually being written have been written by people that are trained in

Maria Vamvouklis:

So that's one, one example.

Maria Vamvouklis:

A lot of sports individuals have been trained in NLP Tiger Woods,

Maria Vamvouklis:

he's he's been trained and what this does, it actually enhances their performance, so rather than just training or running through a particular presentation that they're actually doing, they

Maria Vamvouklis:

There was actually a study that was done on a group of basketball players, three, three different teams.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Right.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And what happened was one team just practice.

Maria Vamvouklis:

They practiced you know, shooting their goals and making sure that they could shoot.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And I did that for every coaching session.

Maria Vamvouklis:

The other team did nothing, absolutely nothing.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And then one team actually just visualized the process of shooting those balls into the hoops.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And what they found was that The team that did nothing had no improvement.

Maria Vamvouklis:

The team that actually physically practice shooting the balls into the hoops actually did improve.

Maria Vamvouklis:

But what they found was the ones that actually visualize that process and practiced at the same time, they coupled the two together

Maria Vamvouklis:

So there's a really distinct link in knowing how to be able to implement, but also how to be able to have the, the right mindset in being able to link the two together, to be able to create.

Maria Vamvouklis:

In the gap between the strategy of how to do it and the mindset of actually thinking about doing it together to create profound results.

Vit Muller:

So in summary, NLP, as an example, it's, so it's incorporated in how we talk internally to ourselves, as well as how we talk to others in order to influence them

Vit Muller:

So through speech.

Vit Muller:

Then we talk about visualization, combining visualization with practice being the best combination.

Vit Muller:

And the key being here is that it's a tool that can, they can make that shift in, in the mindset for both individuals and groups.

Vit Muller:

So you mentioned successful celebrity successful politicians.

Vit Muller:

It's very interesting about the politicians and the speeches and, and influencing that.

Vit Muller:

But with that also comes an interesting question about responsibility, because this could be used for good things, as well as for bad things.

Vit Muller:

And for people that are in the audience, listening to some politicians, speech, or on a TV or whatever, they're listening them from.

Vit Muller:

They, they have they can really impact someone's life in either in either way.

Vit Muller:

Right.

Vit Muller:

So how do we, how do we, how can we tell.

Vit Muller:

If it's been used ethically or not, is there a particular words that we should watch out for or particular things they say?

Vit Muller:

Any, any examples on that, Maria?

Maria Vamvouklis:

Great question.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Great question.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And it's always the intent in how we how we talk to people and people that are trained it's it's, you know, it can either go one way, one way or the other.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And my biggest thing when I work with people and I teach people, these techniques is using these techniques with complete integrity, because it's the intent that's behind it.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Are you using it to the, or to influence, but also empower that other person to create change?

Maria Vamvouklis:

Or are you using it in a way that's disempowering?

Maria Vamvouklis:

So thinking about how you're actually using language.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Is is the intent behind it.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Now I love the question, how you asked about how do you identify if someone's actually doing it now?

Maria Vamvouklis:

We have this thing in NLP where we train people about using hypnotic language patterns.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And what happens is, is that this can put someone into a trance.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And for those of you who don't know what a trance is, it's thinking about it as a way when you're just about to fall asleep when you're watching TV,

Maria Vamvouklis:

That is a state of trance where you're slightly daydreaming in a way.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So the language that's used of nowadays, is especially on TV, Is is done in a way to put people in a trance to be able to influence individuals now to be able to understand when that's

Maria Vamvouklis:

That would probably be the best way for an individual that isn't trained in this specific in hypnosis or NLP to really understand how that is happening.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Questioning everything is to be able to go, okay, what is being said, is this true?

Maria Vamvouklis:

How is this different to something else?

Maria Vamvouklis:

Or what do I need to learn from this that I don't really know.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Or already.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So questioning is key and self observation is key knowing how to be able to identify if this is happening.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And this is very common in the business world, right?

Maria Vamvouklis:

Traditional salespeople are trained to be able to influence other people to, to buy essentially now you've got two types of salespeople where they

Maria Vamvouklis:

Or you've got salespeople that actually influenced to buy based on a well-informed decision that they actually feel good about.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So that's the difference between the two d you know that by the certain feeling that it's created meeting your own self when you are dealing with these kinds of different people as well.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So that's a really good indicator too.

Vit Muller:

So the key takeaway point from this is that NLP is not a bad thing and NLP is very effective method.

Vit Muller:

But when used VIN intent and complete integrity to empower, that's when it's for, for good.

Vit Muller:

What about relationships and particular Because I've, I've done a little bit of an LP.

Vit Muller:

I'm nowhere near on your level, but you know, I've done some courses in our opinion are curious about the topic and you know, for me, I've also been a personal

Vit Muller:

Right?

Vit Muller:

And, and when you talk to a client in a gym and you wanted to influence them and power them to do the extra rapport or do something when, when they, you know, walk away from the gym

Vit Muller:

So empowering them and working on their on their mindset.

Vit Muller:

There are particular words that I remember from, from one of the one of the courses that I did such as the word 'and' if you want to you know, praise somebody,

Vit Muller:

And things like that.

Vit Muller:

Any other goods or keen to elaborate more on that.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Yeah.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Sure.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So that's actually a really great example that you gave in terms of how to use linguistics differently.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Because the, but actually does it deletes everything that was said previously before that?

Maria Vamvouklis:

So, we use 'and' words to be able to link 2 statements to be able to get them to feel empowered.

Maria Vamvouklis:

The other thing that I really want to be able to to share with you is when you are speaking with people, it's really important to find out what actually motivates them

Maria Vamvouklis:

And the way that you actually do that is by understanding and finding out what their values are.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So, for example, in the context of health, let's say you can ask them, why is it important for you to come to the gym?

Maria Vamvouklis:

What's the most important to you about coming to the gym, what's most important to you about youralth, and they will tell you what that is specifically, and as a coach

Maria Vamvouklis:

You feedback those specific values back to them in order for them to be motivated and feel good about themselves in doing what they're doing.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So for example, if someone comes to the gym and they say you ask them, why, why do you come to the gym?

Maria Vamvouklis:

What's most important to you about coming to the gym and you say to feel good?

Maria Vamvouklis:

So as I can be healthy so my partner can look at me and feel great about me and you get - okay.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So, about you come in tomorrow and you do this program because I know that this is actually going to get the results and you can feel good about yourself.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So when you go home, your partner can look at you and they'll go, yep.

Maria Vamvouklis:

You look great.

Maria Vamvouklis:

But the plan that I gave you to it, you know, for the nutrition plan, it's really imperative because what happens is, is if you do follow that, you'll actually

Maria Vamvouklis:

So I just re established all those key values in that sentence by feeding them back to them.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So when you do, they actually go actually, yeah, that, that I really, really want to do that.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So they're motivated to go and do that.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So that's really important as a coach to do that, essentially throughout the training or the programming, working with them to maintain that rapport

Vit Muller:

That's great.

Vit Muller:

That's great.

Vit Muller:

I love it.

Vit Muller:

I love it.

Vit Muller:

Because if you break that down, what you said, right.

Vit Muller:

You're, you're essentially empowering them.

Vit Muller:

You're coaching them.

Vit Muller:

You not telling them what to do.

Vit Muller:

You've asked them initially you've asked and they gaveright?

Vit Muller:

You've asked them open, ended on a question.

Vit Muller:

What, what what's most important to you?

Vit Muller:

You got that answer.

Vit Muller:

You, you expand on that answer to reiterate back to them.

Vit Muller:

So that, and just clicks into them because I mean, it's their own words, so they're not going to be, they're going to be congruent with you

Vit Muller:

Right.

Vit Muller:

And then, and then, and then you match with an important word because I've noticed that as well, because I've been really paying attention to language since I've been, you know, looking into

Vit Muller:

The reasoning provide the reasoning.

Vit Muller:

Cause whatever you say after the word, because that's the reasoning for whatever you said prior to the war, because is that correct?

Vit Muller:

Am I saying it right?

Maria Vamvouklis:

Yeah, absolutely.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So, because whatever said is after, 'because' what that does is it instills a command to what we call is it's what we call an embedded command.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So it, it gets them to take action based on the last part of that sentence.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So they think about that and they go, and you go because you give them them reasoning and they go, actually, that makes sense.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Logical sense just as what you just mentioned and they'll go, okay, I'll take action on that.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So it gives them the motivation and the reasoning.

Maria Vamvouklis:

If you just tell someone what to do, not, no one will do it.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Yeah, they may do it, but they may not.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So by giving them that extra reasoning after that sentence, it establishes a why for them to be motivated to go and take action based off that, yeah.

Vit Muller:

This is why I love coaching so much because you can, you can truly help somebody from A to B.

Vit Muller:

Actually.

Vit Muller:

I love the word coach.

Vit Muller:

I'm somebody tells me, you know, the word coach where it counts from, or that may not sure if it's true, but it was an analogy in a way as well, where in, in us, they called buses coaches.

Vit Muller:

So when you jump on a coach, you're getting from an a, to a B.

Maria Vamvouklis:

I love that.

Maria Vamvouklis:

That's great.

Vit Muller:

So, yeah.

Vit Muller:

So what I really like about coaching and, you know, this is based on, you know, my own experience being in health and fitness industry, helping others, you're trying to get them.

Vit Muller:

You're trying to get an individual from a point of an eight to point of a B.

Vit Muller:

When I started, I was more directive.

Vit Muller:

I was like, okay, you're going to do this.

Vit Muller:

You do that.

Vit Muller:

I've been, I was struggling with making changes in people's lives, but only when I started incorporating some effective coaching questions, things started to shift.

Vit Muller:

So it's a, and so effective for any industry for anything that you guys do.

Vit Muller:

Those of you guys listening if you are struggling in life to, to influence positively influence others could be colleagues at work.

Vit Muller:

You, you know, employees, you're trying to launch something new and trying to get everybody on board with it.

Vit Muller:

You should really tap into coaching and, and effective techniques that come with coaching such as NLP.

Vit Muller:

Right.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Absolutely.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And just to just off the back of that in terms of coaching, there are coaches out there that do tell people what to do, but the best coaches that are actually out there are actually empowering the

Maria Vamvouklis:

So that's the most empowering state.

Maria Vamvouklis:

You can actually get someone in rather than just telling them what to do.

Vit Muller:

That's actually an important distinction.

Vit Muller:

You're right.

Vit Muller:

Because yes, there are coaches who will just tell you what to do, but you might just follow them blindly.

Vit Muller:

But it's not going to be your own true.

Vit Muller:

I'm trying to sound really smart now.

Vit Muller:

Can't figure it out anyway.

Vit Muller:

You guys know what I'm trying to say.

Vit Muller:

Now what are some of the other effective techniques that other than NLP that coaches are when it comes to coaching can be used?

Maria Vamvouklis:

Apart from NLP.

Maria Vamvouklis:

I okay.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Outside of NLP,

Maria Vamvouklis:

Good question.

Vit Muller:

Good question.

Vit Muller:

I got you there.

Vit Muller:

I think may be using stories as an analogy, but

Vit Muller:

that would say that

Vit Muller:

that is part of in our case.

Vit Muller:

We use metaphors.

Vit Muller:

So that's my life outside of NLP.

Vit Muller:

That's all good.

Vit Muller:

Well, I wasn't even sure myself, there was any other techniques that go into coaching, but, you know, I mean yes.

Vit Muller:

And I'll be covered so much.

Vit Muller:

So yeah.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So NLP is actually an amalgamation of all different techniques.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So it's not only anchoring, which has comes from you know, the story of Pavlov's dogs.

Maria Vamvouklis:

You've also got meta-programs, which comes from the T V Virginia Sattia values, which comes from spiral dynamics.

Maria Vamvouklis:

You've also got rapport, which isn't really traditional NLP, but it is a technique that is here is you've got strategies as well.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So there's a vast, different amount of techniques that I use with NLP.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So it's a collection of tools and techniques.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And what we call is NLP is a psychological technology that's used today.

Vit Muller:

Now out of all of me just mentioned the Paulos doc, that's the giving them a treat.

Vit Muller:

Right.

Vit Muller:

Ringing, ringing the bell.

Vit Muller:

They would know.

Vit Muller:

Okay, treat's coming.

Vit Muller:

I think that's something like that.

Vit Muller:

It was how can that be used in a, in a good way as a coaching technique?

Maria Vamvouklis:

Absolutely.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So I use anchoring all the time in terms of with my clients and also I, when I train people and one of the biggest ones that I do use is is auditory, which is sound, sound anchoring.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So you can use music, you can use a clicking of the fingers.

Maria Vamvouklis:

You can also use certain words.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So if you're in a partnership with someone or a business partnership, let's say using certain words to trigger a certain emotional state, because we create pictures within

Maria Vamvouklis:

So it's really important that we have the right picture with the right emotion.

Maria Vamvouklis:

That's linked to that.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So when we create an auditory or a sound anchor or a visual anchor, you can do this with colors.

Maria Vamvouklis:

You can do this with different posters.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So you might find that certain business people wear certain colors all the time.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Right?

Maria Vamvouklis:

Example, my business colors are black, white, and gold.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So I'm always seen in these particular colors when I'm actually teaching or when I'm presenting, because it anchors those certain visuals to

Maria Vamvouklis:

So Richard Branson is a really great example of that.

Maria Vamvouklis:

He has actually anchored the visual color of red.

Maria Vamvouklis:

He is also what's her name?

Maria Vamvouklis:

Naomi Simpson from red balloon.

Maria Vamvouklis:

She has also anchored red to her business.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So whenever they see her, they know who she is, what she does and what she's about.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So, that's a visual anchor in terms of, in the business context.

Vit Muller:

So she wears red right all the time.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Absolutely.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Yep, because that's part of her business branding colors.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Another example of that is words.

Maria Vamvouklis:

We can use a language to be able to create anchors.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And this is you find, you may find this in sales or in a presentation context where certain words are repeated a number of times to be able

Maria Vamvouklis:

So if you've got a group of people and you say a joke, right, and they're in a really great mood, they're in a really great state.

Maria Vamvouklis:

You say a particular word to anchor that, that particular moment at that particular time.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So as you're presenting through the rest of your presentation, you just randomly bring that word in and a triggers that emotional state that they were in previously, to be able to do that.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So that's really powerful and that's done covertly in a way to be able to empower an individual.

Vit Muller:

I'm going to have to go on YouTube and look up some standup comedians, because I can think of there's been used very effectively for standup comedians.

Vit Muller:

Right.

Vit Muller:

Because they, they got their got their joke and then they got to get, they have got to hit the line at the end and get, get the effect.

Vit Muller:

But that's, that's very interesting.

Vit Muller:

I don't never thought of that being used as a, as a good case for, for, for anchoring on NLP.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Yeah.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So I used it quite commonly when I was in the fitness industry.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So when someone hit, for example, a personal best or a yeah, personal best, I use a specific word to be able to say every time they did a great job.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So it instills that emotional state and then empowering states.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So when they go and do it again, or the next level up, they've got that particular emotional feeling and it triggers that at the end again.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So that's, that's using the health and fitness industry.

Vit Muller:

And then, so in that case, you also have to be careful not using it when they haven't hit the great job.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Yes.

Maria Vamvouklis:

That's correct.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Being conscious about how you use language.

Vit Muller:

It could easily put them in a false belief, that they are progressing where they're not.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Yeah.

Vit Muller:

Now we've talked about how this can be used for an interaction with other people, influencing other people.

Vit Muller:

Let's talk about an individual because it's been, it's been shit last year.

Vit Muller:

Right?

Vit Muller:

They see COVID, it's happening all around.

Vit Muller:

We're all, we're all, some people are more isolated than others, but yeah, in a nutshell, it's been challenging for many, many people.

Vit Muller:

So how does, how does one figure out what is holding them back?

Vit Muller:

How can they utilize NLP in their own internal language?

Maria Vamvouklis:

Excellent.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Great question.

Maria Vamvouklis:

How does one in how does one identify if they're being held back and limited is thinking about what their current goals are and what is actually preventing them from actually achieving it?

Maria Vamvouklis:

So when we set goals, we're actually problem solving towards getting that particular goal.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Now the people that actually find that they are being inhibited or challenged, we'll find that.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Okay.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So just to backtrack a little bit.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So when we actually.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Feeling challenged.

Maria Vamvouklis:

We're actually falling into a space where we're not conscious about what's happening within ourselves.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Our emotional States, our emotional thinking what we're saying to ourselves and we fall unconscious is what we call it.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So by having a moment of self observation and really identifying what's your self talk, what are you saying to yourself?

Maria Vamvouklis:

Are you empowered by what's happening or you disempowering yourself by what you're saying to yourself?

Maria Vamvouklis:

How does your environment support you?

Maria Vamvouklis:

Because your environment will influence the results that you create.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And most people think that, okay.

Maria Vamvouklis:

I just have to change myself and that's it.

Maria Vamvouklis:

But the fact is that you've also got to be able to evaluate what the environment that you're in currently.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Does it support your goal or where you're heading or your outcome in what you're wanting to produce?

Maria Vamvouklis:

Because that will also influence how you motivate yourself in going about doing that.

Maria Vamvouklis:

The other thing is, is what are your limitations, self limitations?

Maria Vamvouklis:

And a lot of people don't know what they are, right.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And the easiest way to be able to establish this is to actually do some self observation, introspective communication with yourself.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Let's say to ask yourself, what's actually challenging me personally, internally, not outside of me, but within myself, that's preventing me from actually getting my goal more quickly than what I want.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Now the thing is right.

Maria Vamvouklis:

People set goals and they have these big audacious goals.

Maria Vamvouklis:

However, a lot of the time when they're not really knowing what's limiting them or inhibiting them, it actually prevents them from actually achieving that goal.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So let me ask you this right?

Maria Vamvouklis:

How many times have you set a goal and you haven't achieved it?

Maria Vamvouklis:

We all have set plenty of goals and we have, we haven't achieved it.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So it's really knowing about what are your own limitations.

Maria Vamvouklis:

That's actually preventing you from getting from A to B much more quickly to be able to clear those limitations up in getting there much more effectively.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So NLP is a way to be able to do that.

Vit Muller:

I love that.

Vit Muller:

That's great.

Vit Muller:

Now let's talk about work environments.

Vit Muller:

How can what would be like some of the most effective ways to get people motivated to do things together and know effectively.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Yep.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Great.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So I've worked with a number of sales people, sales teams as well.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So this is really common in terms of how do you get everyone wanting to achieve the one goal, the one result the biggest thing what you would need to do is establish what

Maria Vamvouklis:

The only way to be able to one way, let's say to be able to really establish what motivates the individual in that team is to ask them what's most important to you.

Maria Vamvouklis:

For example, if they're in sales, what's most important to you about achieving your, your KPIs or what's most important to you about your, you know, about sales in this job.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And they'll tell you what the responsibility of the manager needs to do is to be able to feed back those values to each individual.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Because what happens is, is we tend to motivate other people based on how we like to be motivated, not how each individual is motivated.

Maria Vamvouklis:

This is the biggest error in a lot of team work and getting teams motivated is the manager must know how each individual thinks and operates in order

Maria Vamvouklis:

Because not everyone is motivated by, the same way.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So, that's another way, the other way is to be able to create a great team culture, that's empowering.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So weekly meetings or bonding time, whether that be outside the context of what they're currently working in, this is pretty cliche, but it's quite overlooked.

Maria Vamvouklis:

In terms of, you know, working with teams, the other thing is, is knowing how to set goals.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So, so a lot of the time in organizations or corporate world, we have these quarterly quarterly goals, they'll have quarterly goals, but what are the weekly goals and what are the daily

Maria Vamvouklis:

sense?

Vit Muller:

Oh, absolutely.

Vit Muller:

And then that's an interesting, actually one, because you might have big audacious quarterly company goals or monthly goals that you, you are focusing

Vit Muller:

They are the ones that are done daily, the small little repetitive tasks, right.

Vit Muller:

That's really like review everyone's day to day performance because even deviation, but 20% of performance can result in, you know, and it's not in, it's not linear, like

Vit Muller:

Right.

Vit Muller:

And so companies really need to focus on those micro as well as not micromanaging, but micro assessing every now and then.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Absolutely.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Absolutely.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And You know, it, it's a great thing that you brought up.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Is this micromanaging?

Maria Vamvouklis:

No, not necessarily because if the actual manager or the business leader knows how to be able to empower each individual person, they will know that they will actually achieve that result.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So allowing the person to work with autonomously, but also checking in, in an empowering way to get them to where they need to be, for

Vit Muller:

and that can be a fine balance finding out how it can I do it so that I don't come across as a micromanaging annoying guy right?

Maria Vamvouklis:

Absolutely

Vit Muller:

Personal question, Maria, tell me something that's true.

Vit Muller:

That almost nobody agrees with you on?

Maria Vamvouklis:

Highly controversial.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So, not that okay.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So this may not be something that everybody agrees with me on, but it might be something that not a lot of people know about in terms of what I do.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So the Conscious CEO is, has been built based on helping business owners build their psychology and also business strategies.

Maria Vamvouklis:

But one biggest component that I bring in is the spirituality aspect of an individual because and a lot of business owners would probably not agree with

Maria Vamvouklis:

Evolving consciousness is one thing that constantly happens throughout one individual's life.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And as a business owner, they can actually, when they tap into this particular space, it creates a much more bigger holistic approach in how an individual

Maria Vamvouklis:

And one of these components that I bring into when people do get curious, because you know, life is all about being curious and looking, being, having curiosity in

Maria Vamvouklis:

So.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Expanding consciousness is something that I believe is quite a profound and imperative process for any individual.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Now, if you take this to a CEO, that's traditionally in a corporation, they'll go, Maria, that's a bunch of fluff.

Maria Vamvouklis:

What are you talking about?

Maria Vamvouklis:

So they may not agree with me, but I do believe that that is one of the missing pieces of the puzzle of being an individual in humanity in, in today's society.

Maria Vamvouklis:

That I think.

Vit Muller:

So how do you get that message across for them to understand it?

Maria Vamvouklis:

That in order to be conscious, one must know how to be able to listen to themselves cautiously and also create change continuously.

Maria Vamvouklis:

It's a lifelong process as an individual on this, on this journey in life.

Vit Muller:

So now I want to ask a couple of personal questions regarding your, your entrepreneurial journey.

Vit Muller:

Because this show is about inspiring success and whilst what we've already covered does tap into that too.

Vit Muller:

It's also, you know, we talk about, we talk about stories, personal stories, how people can sort of relate to that.

Vit Muller:

So that's why I like to ask my guests some of their personal stories about their own journey.

Vit Muller:

What were some of the toughest experiences that you've had in starting and growing your, your business?

Vit Muller:

And this would be this business now that you have so far, how did you overcome these struggles and what did they, how, how did that experience of doing so, what did that experience do for you?

Vit Muller:

We have a two-part question.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Yeah, so, so the first part you asked what were my biggest struggles.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Yeah, sure.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So my biggest struggles were having the, my own self belief within myself that I can actually do it.

Maria Vamvouklis:

When I started out, I started out obviously doing it by myself.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So I felt quite alone.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And when you start business, you, if you're a solopreneur you it's a one man show.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So overcoming that isolation in not having that connection with individuals was quite tough in the beginning.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And also coupling that with low self-confidence and not having the self belief to put myself out there so many times, I try to be able to do business, but I unconsciously sabotaged at many

Maria Vamvouklis:

What would they say?

Maria Vamvouklis:

I can't do this, or I can't be like this.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So in the beginning I really had to discover who I was to be able to put myself out there authentically and not, and just do me and be me in how I do business.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So that was really challenging in the beginning.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And what I did is I actually worked with a coach to be able to assist me through that.

Maria Vamvouklis:

As time went on, I developed.

Maria Vamvouklis:

That confidence and that self belief.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And as soon as I did that, it was a complete game changer for me in terms of how I interacted with people, the type of clients that I attracted,

Maria Vamvouklis:

When I developed that confidence and that authority within myself to put myself out there and doing what I do, yeah.

Vit Muller:

So big takeaway from this is that, and this would be relevant to anyone's pursuit of success is you really need to tap into your own inner self and see if there are any limiting

Maria Vamvouklis:

Yeah, that that's actually definitely one aspect, but it also, what I found was without having that in knowing of who I was and removing that, and

Maria Vamvouklis:

The strategies that I was wanting to execute were they seemed pretty straightforward.

Maria Vamvouklis:

No, you just do this, you do that and you'll achieve this, but it felt like a constant, hard slug.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Every time it felt like I was pushing the you know, a rock up a Hill.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Once I looked at it and changed how I, my thinking around it and created a different perspective of myself and how I do business things started to

Maria Vamvouklis:

So, what I would suggest is for anyone that is starting out in business that is wanting to start a business or even is in business.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And they feel like things have started to plateau or stagnate.

Maria Vamvouklis:

It's not what's happening in the business.

Maria Vamvouklis:

You've got to look at what's happening, meaning you, in order to lead the business forward, to create the results that you wanting to create.

Vit Muller:

And this would be relevant also just for those that are listening, and they're more career driven that applies to their career as well, not just business.

Vit Muller:

Would you agree, Maria?

Maria Vamvouklis:

Absolutely.

Maria Vamvouklis:

If you'll wanting to, if you're already in a, in a job and you know, it's something that you love doing, but you're wanting to create more or you feel

Vit Muller:

And the one thing around all of this.

Vit Muller:

Is in a way we could, we could put it under one simple word and that is responsibility, you know, taking your own, taking responsibility

Vit Muller:

If you finding yourself you do that oftentimes then you stop because you're probably, there's something that you need to change offend

Maria Vamvouklis:

Absolutely.

Maria Vamvouklis:

We create our own reality.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So whatever we see outside of ourselves that we don't really like, or that's not happening, it's something that's not actually working within our own selves.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So, I love how you said take responsibility because it's easy to point the finger outside of ourselves and go it's this person's

Maria Vamvouklis:

But the thing is is that if you want things to be different, you've got to do something within your own self or do something differently in order to create a different, different

Maria Vamvouklis:

It all comes down to you as the individual.

Vit Muller:

And it all comes down to full circle to the start of the podcast, when we talk about mindset, mindset, this is why NLP is so powerful, tap into that guy, tap into that.

Vit Muller:

Now, tell us about those moments when you start to see success in your coaching business, how did that impact your lifestyle Maria?

Maria Vamvouklis:

I would have to say when I started seeing profound results within my own clients.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So when I work with people or even with students, they come to me with whatever problem that might be and I can already see what the result would be before they even start with me in that moment.

Maria Vamvouklis:

I know that I have, I can create such big impact and by having that complete volition being my own self and what I do, and the result that I can

Maria Vamvouklis:

Not only not only in what I do, but also financially as well.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Yeah, just, yeah, just having that self-belief and creating that change within the person because people come to you and they don't see it.

Maria Vamvouklis:

But you, as, as a coach or as a trainer, you can already say, or even as a personal trainer, they come to you with a problem or with what,

Maria Vamvouklis:

I know how that's going to happen even before they sign up with you.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And that's the same thing when, when I work with individuals and because I have that volition in myself and within the people that I, that I bring in as clients

Maria Vamvouklis:

So then they bring in more people and then I create that change and so forth.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So it's creates greater impact on, you know, on a bigger scale.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And

Vit Muller:

it's definitely very rewarding when you finally see that impact being made on someone else's life.

Vit Muller:

But I also found it very frustrating when I was starting out as a personal trainer, because just like yourself, like you said, when you see them

Vit Muller:

And, you know, I would talk to people who were, you know, just about clients and I would be like so excited for them because I was like, okay, we're going to do this.

Vit Muller:

You're going to debt.

Vit Muller:

We're going to debt.

Vit Muller:

And then they're not improving.

Vit Muller:

I felt so frustrated.

Vit Muller:

And obviously then later on he improved because I started incorporating coaching and, and better language and better just better way how I was able to influence them.

Vit Muller:

But yeah, initially it was very frustrating because especially, you know, I'm very solution, sorry, problem solving type of guy.

Vit Muller:

So I was always, okay, I gotta fix something else.

Vit Muller:

I gotta fix something else.

Vit Muller:

And I would just constantly blame myself for, for my clients you know, lack of progress.

Vit Muller:

But yeah, it was only then when I started incorporating coaching and realized, okay, you know what, it's actually, it's a really, it's a two-way street.

Vit Muller:

It's, you know, the hard thing for me was, you know, When, when you S it was a first thing when I started to charge this three digit numbers as a personal trainer, and then it's not just myself, but

Vit Muller:

That's, that's quite normal, you know, but for me it felt like, okay, well I'm being paid so much.

Vit Muller:

I go to, I got to do best I can to, you know, to help my clients.

Vit Muller:

And when they were getting results, I would blame myself.

Vit Muller:

And I felt like I'm not worthy of that money.

Vit Muller:

And it was only when I learn about coaching and incorporated coaching is when I realized that it's, you know, it's a really a two way street and I need to,

Maria Vamvouklis:

And that's a good, that's a great point.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And it goes back to the individual taking responsibility for the change that they want to create.

Maria Vamvouklis:

There's only so much a coach can do, but it's really up to the individual as well in terms of what kind of result they want to get as well.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So, yeah, like you said, a two way street.

Vit Muller:

Maria.

Vit Muller:

I've got a question for you.

Vit Muller:

This show is about inspiring others to be at their best.

Vit Muller:

What do you do to keep yourself at your best?

Vit Muller:

Do you work out?

Maria Vamvouklis:

Absolutely.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Yeah, I do.

Maria Vamvouklis:

I look after myself, health is very important to me, so that is one thing that can assist someone to be able to operate at their peak performance.

Maria Vamvouklis:

But ultimately mindset is the key thing in being able to really unlock the key to success and what I do is I Observe my thoughts, I'm conscious about what I'm

Maria Vamvouklis:

And I look at those daily to be able to really remind myself as to what I'm wanting to achieve and where I want to be, and also who I need to become in order to achieve those goals as well.

Vit Muller:

I love it.

Vit Muller:

I love it.

Vit Muller:

And when you talk about playing sport, what do you use?

Vit Muller:

Do you use like a visual boards or do you write it down in notepad?

Maria Vamvouklis:

I do various different way.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So writing down is really great because it actually takes it out from the unconscious mind and it brings it into the conscious awareness.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So by simply writing things out, things out daily I also have a visual planner that I have on my computer.

Maria Vamvouklis:

I use various different applications to do that.

Maria Vamvouklis:

But having that visual.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Reminder every day.

Maria Vamvouklis:

But also the written to-do list is also a key thing in getting me in keeping myself on track in terms of where I'm heading and what I'm doing.

Vit Muller:

Mm, I love it.

Vit Muller:

There's something really satisfying when you can check that box, isn't it?

Maria Vamvouklis:

Absolutely cross it off.

Vit Muller:

Now, in closure Maria we've discussed bunch of really good stuff today, NLP and mindset, and a whole heap of other stuff that, you know, it's

Maria Vamvouklis:

So number one is to be clear on what you want and where you're heading and by number two is, is also being aware of what your emotional are and thought processes are.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And if you catch yourself take a moment and.

Maria Vamvouklis:

Really observe what that means, and also knowing how to change that in being congruent or moving forward with complete volition in what you're wanting to achieve.

Maria Vamvouklis:

And number three is taking time and really looking after yourself because as business owners, we tend to work a lot in striving for what we want, but also taking time out

Vit Muller:

I love it.

Vit Muller:

I love it.

Vit Muller:

We definitely have to look after our body because that's how we perform at our best when we are physically and mentally at our peak, that's when we can make magic happen.

Vit Muller:

So thank you.

Vit Muller:

Thank you for being on the show.

Vit Muller:

I appreciate you for your time, sharing all the insights today and delving into the NLP and provided some real practical examples as well.

Vit Muller:

It was really valuable, like all the, all the bits about language.

Vit Muller:

There's so many, so many great things that you mentioned today.

Vit Muller:

So thank you for, for that.

Vit Muller:

And if anybody wants to reach out to you, how can people find you?

Maria Vamvouklis:

Yeah, sure.

Maria Vamvouklis:

So you can jump onto my website, which is mariavamvouklis.Com and I'm sure you'll have the spelling of all of that in the notes.

Maria Vamvouklis:

The other way to connect with me is on Facebook or on LinkedIn at Maria Vamvouklis or at the Conscious CEO.

Maria Vamvouklis:

I love it.

Vit Muller:

I love it.

Vit Muller:

And also for those of you guys listening, we're putting a special offer for you, so make sure you jump into the show notes on the successinspiredpodcast.Com.

Vit Muller:

There's something special waiting for you from Maria.

Vit Muller:

So make sure that you check in those show notes to find it under the bonus heading.

Vit Muller:

And thank you all again for listening.

Vit Muller:

Stay successful, stay inspired, pursuing that success and until next time, well until next time be great.

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