Welcome to Episode #161 of NLP Around You

🧠 Thoughtful Thought

“Nobody gets through life without going through it.” — Thoughtfully Yours

For your daily dose of Thoughtful Thoughts, get your Thoughtful Calendar here.

💬 NLP Quote Corner

“Perhaps when we find ourselves wanting everything, it is because we are dangerously close to wanting nothing.” — Sylvia Plath.

⏳ One Minute NLP – The Power of Letting Go

Sometimes, the heaviest thing we carry is not the situation… it’s the story we keep repeating about it.

In NLP, letting go doesn’t mean forgetting or ignoring. It means releasing the emotional charge attached to an experience.

Think of a past moment that still bothers you. Now imagine placing it in a box, gently closing the lid, and setting it down. Notice the space that opens up within you.

Ask yourself, “What am I holding onto that no longer serves me?”
And more importantly, “What would I gain by letting this go?”

Peace? Clarity? Freedom?

Letting go is not weakness. It’s wisdom. It’s choosing your present over your past.

In NLP, transformation often begins not by adding more… but by releasing what you no longer need to carry.

🔮 Meta Magic – What Does Your To-Do List Mean to You?

She came into the session with a familiar frustration. “I don’t understand what’s wrong with me,” she said. “I make to-do lists. Proper ones. Structured. Prioritized.” A pause. “But I don’t finish them.”

Every day ended the same way – unchecked boxes, carried forward tasks, and a quiet sense of failure.

“I feel disciplined when I make the list,” she added. “But by the end of the day… I feel like I’ve done nothing.”

Most conversations here would go toward productivity systems.

Time-blocking.
Prioritization matrices.
Focus techniques.

But something in her language stood out.

So I asked, “When you look at your to-do list… what do you feel?”

She didn’t answer immediately.

“Pressure,” she said finally. “Like I have to finish all of it. Or I’ve failed the day.”

I nodded. “Let me ask you something,” I continued, “when you write your to-do list… who are you trying to satisfy?”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Is this list coming from your capacity… or from your expectation of who you should be?”

Silence. Not confusion. Recognition.

She leaned back.

“I think… it’s who I should be.”

There it was.

So I went a step deeper.

“Pick one task from your list,” I said. “The one you’ve been carrying forward.”

She named it.

“What stops you from doing it?”

“It feels heavy,” she admitted. “Like it’s important… so I should do it perfectly.”

I smiled. “So it’s not a time problem,” I said gently. “It’s a meaning problem.”

She looked up.

“What if,” I continued, “this task didn’t mean ‘prove your capability’… but simply meant ‘make progress’?”

Her shoulders dropped.

In that moment, something shifted.

Not in her list. In her relationship with it.

Her to-do list wasn’t a tool.

It had become a silent judge.

Every unchecked box wasn’t just a task undone, it was a verdict on her identity.

And that’s why she avoided it.

Because we don’t avoid tasks.

We avoid the emotions attached to them.

Her breakthrough landed softly:

“Maybe I don’t need a better list,” she said slowly. “Maybe I need a lighter meaning.”

Exactly. Because productivity isn’t about managing time.

It’s about managing the story behind the task.

So here’s a question worth sitting with:

Are you not finishing your to-do list… or are you avoiding what your to-do list makes you feel about yourself?

📖 Hook from the Book

“Sometimes life calls for a pillow fort. And sometimes you just have to build that fort yourself.” — Libby Page, This Book Made Me Think of You

🎬 Movie Motivation 

“Jab hum apne aap ko achhi tarah samajh lete hain, toh doosre kya sochte hain, itna farq nahi padta.” Translated to: “When we understand ourselves well, what others think doesn’t matter much.” This dialogue from the movie Dear Zindagi reminds us that self-awareness reduces dependency on external validation.

 

🏆 Popular Post of the Week

When The Third Chair belongs to “Evergreen Curiosity”

📢 Last and Final Call of the Week – TABLE FOR THREE

✨ Pre-orders for my first Fiction book TABLE FOR THREE are now open.

✔ Signed hardcover edition
✔ India-only shipping

Dispatch begins from 19th April 2026 – Akshaya Trithya

👉 Get your copy here: https://tableforthree.in/

 

PS: Missed the past issues of NLP Around You? Find them all here: https://w3coach.com/nlparoundyou/

Thoughtfully Yours,

Welcome to Episode #160 of NLP Around You

📢 Announcement of the Week – TABLE FOR THREE

For the past few days, I’ve been asking you:
Who sits in your third chair?

Your answers were powerful.
And now, that question has become something more.

“Table for Three” is my new book.
A collection of 33 stories where two people sit at a table…
and the third chair holds more than just a person.

Sometimes a memory.
Sometimes a moment.
Sometimes… you.

✨ Pre-orders are now open

✔ Signed hardcover edition
✔ Exclusive early access
✔ India-only shipping

👉 Get your copy here:
https://tableforthree.in/

🧠 Thoughtful Thought

“Everything is fixable as long as you are flexible.” — Thoughtfully Yours

For your daily dose of Thoughtful Thoughts, get your Thoughtful Calendar here.

💬 NLP Quote Corner

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” — Albert Einstein.

⏳ One Minute NLP – The Meaning You Give

Events are neutral. Meaning is personal.

Two people can go through the same situation—one feels defeated, the other feels driven. What’s the difference? The meaning they assign.

In NLP, we understand that it’s not what happens to you, but what you make it mean that shapes your experience. A delay can mean frustration… or preparation. Feedback can mean criticism… or growth.

Try this the next time something doesn’t go your way. Pause and ask,
“What meaning am I giving this?”
Then ask,
“What’s a more empowering meaning I can choose?”

That small shift changes your emotional state instantly. And when your state changes, your response changes.

You may not control every event.
But you always have a say in the meaning.

And in NLP, that’s where your power begins.

🔮 Meta Magic – Who Is The Most Intelligent Person?

A chef wanted to make frog soup. Someone told him to take live frogs and put them in boiling water. So he boiled a pot of water and dropped the frogs into it. The moment the frogs touched the boiling water, they immediately jumped out of the pot and escaped.

Why did they escape so quickly? Because the danger was sudden and obvious. Their survival instinct reacted instantly.

Then the chef tried something different. He filled a pot with normal water and placed the frogs inside while the water was still cool. The frogs felt comfortable. They swam around calmly. Nothing felt dangerous.

Then he slowly started heating the water. Very slowly.

As the temperature rose little by little, the frogs kept adjusting to the change. The water felt warm, but not dangerous. They adapted. They stayed. They did not realise that the environment around them was slowly becoming dangerous.

The water kept getting warmer.
The frogs kept adjusting.
They did not jump out because the change was gradual.

And by the time the water became too hot, the frogs no longer had the strength to escape. They had adjusted for too long.

So my question to you is – Where in your life is the temperature rising so slowly that you’ve stopped noticing it? Sometimes the biggest dangers in life are not sudden disasters. They are slow changes that make us comfortable in places where we do not belong.

📖 Hook from the Book

“Change often starts with the smallest of whispers. Like-minded people building it up to a roar.” — T.J. Klune, The House in the Cerulean Sea

🎬 Movie Motivation 

“Every problem has a solution. You just have to be willing to look for it.” This dialogue from the movie Argo reminds us that the brain becomes creative when it assumes a solution exists.

 

🏆 Popular Post of the Week

The Seed Was Planted That Day – #TableForThree

 

PS: Missed the past issues of NLP Around You? Find them all here: https://w3coach.com/nlparoundyou/

Thoughtfully Yours,

Welcome to Episode #159 of NLP Around You

🧠 Thoughtful Thought

“Confusion is the wakeup call to clean up the mind for clarity.” — Thoughtfully Yours

For your daily dose of Thoughtful Thoughts, get your Thoughtful Calendar here.

💬 NLP Quote Corner

“Let me live, love, and say it well in good sentences.” — Sylvia Plath

⏳ One Minute NLP – The Power of Small Wins

We often wait for big achievements to feel good about ourselves. A promotion. A breakthrough. A major success. But NLP reminds us that confidence is not built in big moments, it’s built in small wins.

Every time you complete a task, keep a promise to yourself, or take a step forward, your brain registers it as progress. And progress creates momentum.

Try this simple practice. At the end of your day, ask yourself,
“What are three things I did well today?”

They don’t have to be big. It could be finishing a task, handling a conversation better, or simply showing up when you didn’t feel like it.

When you focus on small wins, your mind starts to see yourself as someone who follows through. Confidence grows quietly, but steadily.

In NLP, success isn’t a single moment. It’s a pattern of small wins… repeated until they become your identity.

🔮 Meta Magic – Who Is The Most Intelligent Person?

Albert Einstein was once asked a question in an interview, “Who is the most intelligent man you have ever met?”
People expected the name of a scientist, a mathematician, maybe a philosopher.
But Einstein calmly replied, “My driver.”

The interviewer was confused. “Your driver? How can your driver be the most intelligent person you’ve ever met?”

Einstein smiled, then recounted a real incident from his life.

He said that once he was travelling to deliver a lecture at a school. His driver was accompanying him, as always. During the journey, Einstein suddenly developed a severe headache. It became so bad that he could barely concentrate. After a while, he told his driver, “I don’t think I’ll be able to deliver the lecture today. Maybe we should cancel the program and go back home.”

The driver thought for a moment and then said carefully, “Sir, may I suggest something? If you are not well, I can give the speech on your behalf.”

Einstein was surprised. He looked at him and asked, “How can you give the speech on my behalf?”

The driver replied with complete confidence, “Sir, I have accompanied you to more than a hundred lectures. I sit in every lecture and listen very carefully. I have heard your speech so many times that I almost know it by heart. I know the topics you talk about and the way you explain them. If you allow me, I can deliver the lecture.”

Einstein thought about it and realized that nobody at the venue had ever seen him in person. They only knew his name. So he agreed. They swapped clothes. Einstein wore the driver’s uniform and sat in the front seat, and the driver wore Einstein’s suit and went in as Albert Einstein.

When they reached the venue, the driver was escorted to the stage with great respect. He began the lecture, and to Einstein’s surprise, he delivered it brilliantly. He explained the theory of relativity clearly and confidently. His communication, his confidence, his body language, everything was perfect. Einstein sat in the audience disguised as the driver and listened quietly, feeling impressed.

Then came the question-and-answer session. Reporters and students started asking questions one after another. The driver answered many of them very well. But then someone asked a very difficult question, so difficult that even Einstein felt the driver would not be able to answer it.

For a moment, the driver paused. But instead of panicking, he smiled and said calmly,
“Such an easy question! Even my driver can answer this. Why are you asking me something so simple?”

Everyone in the hall was surprised. “Your driver can answer this?” they asked.

The driver nodded and said, “Yes, of course. Driver, please come and answer this question.”

And that’s when Einstein stood up from the audience, came to the stage in his driver’s uniform, and answered the question perfectly.

Einstein ended the story by saying,
“That day, I realised something very important. Intelligence is not just about knowledge. Without presence of mind and smartness, intelligence means nothing. And that is why I say, the most intelligent man I have ever met was my driver.”

📖 Hook from the Book

“Everybody’s got a hungry heart. The trick is to learn when you’re eating to fill the heart instead of the stomach. Feeding the stomach, she said, is easy. That’s just diet. It’s learning how to feed the heart that’s hard.” — Coco Mellors, Cleopatra and Frankenstein

🎬 Movie Motivation 

“Why do we fall? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up.” This dialogue from the movie The Dark Knight reminds us that there is no failure, there is only feedback.

 

🏆 Popular Post of the Week

Who Sits on the Third Chair

Stay tuned for an exciting announcement coming up this week. Yes it is in the context of Table for Three.

PS: Missed the past issues of NLP Around You? Find them all here: https://w3coach.com/nlparoundyou/

Thoughtfully Yours,

Welcome to Episode #158 of NLP Around You

🧠 Thoughtful Thought

“Your emotion plays a key role in your promotion or demotion.” — Thoughtfully Yours

For your daily dose of Thoughtful Thoughts, get your Thoughtful Calendar here.

💬 NLP Quote Corner

“I am made and remade continually. Different people draw different words from me.” — Virginia Woolf

⏳ One Minute NLP – Managing Your Energy, Not Just Time

We often try to manage time better. Plan more. Schedule more. Optimise more.
But what if the real game is not time… it’s energy?

In NLP, your state determines your output. Two hours of low energy can feel exhausting. One hour of high energy can create magic.

So instead of asking, “What should I do next?” ask,
“What state am I in right now?”

If your energy is low, don’t push harder. Reset. Move your body. Breathe deeply. Step away for a moment.

When your energy shifts, your thinking sharpens. Your decisions improve. Your actions become more effective.

Time is constant. Energy is flexible.

And in NLP, those who learn to manage their energy… end up mastering their time.

🔮 Meta Magic – When One Answer Is Not Enough

A young man walked into a quiet workshop where an old locksmith was working. “I’ve tried everything,” the young man said, placing a small locked box on the table. “I have two keys. Both fit. Both turn. But the box won’t open.”

The locksmith picked up the box, examined it gently, and asked, “Show me.”

The young man inserted the first key. It turned smoothly. Nothing happened.He tried the second. Same result.

“See?” he said. “Both work. Still nothing.”

The locksmith smiled. “Use them together.”

The young man frowned. “Together?”

“Yes.”

Hesitantly, he placed both keys in their slots and turned them at the same time.

Click. The box opened. Inside was a simple note:

“Some doors don’t open with effort. They open with alignment.”

The young man looked up, puzzled. “Why make it this complicated?” The locksmith replied softly,

“It was never complicated. You were just trying to win with one key at a time.”

Meta Magic Insight:

Sometimes it’s not about finding a better answer.

It’s about combining what you already know.

📖 Hook from the Book

“They say that a person’s personality is the sum of their experiences. But that isn’t true, at least not entirely, because if our past was all that defined us, we’d never be able to put up with ourselves. We need to be allowed to convince ourselves that we’re more than the mistakes we made yesterday. That we are all of our next choices, too, all of our tomorrows.” — Fredrik Backman, Anxious People

🎬 Movie Motivation 

“Bhagwan par bharosa karne se pehle, khud par bharosa karna seekho.” Translated to “Before trusting God, learn to trust yourself.” This dialogue from the movie Guide reminds us that Self-belief is the gateway to accessing inner resources.

 

🏆 Popular Post of the Week

A Dhurandhar Masterclass

PS: Missed the past issues of NLP Around You? Find them all here: https://w3coach.com/nlparoundyou/

Thoughtfully Yours,

Welcome to Episode #157 of NLP Around You

🧠 Thoughtful Thought

“To listen is not just to hear. It is to be here!” — Thoughtfully Yours

For your daily dose of Thoughtful Thoughts, get your Thoughtful Calendar here.

💬 NLP Quote Corner

“You are, in fact, a mashup of what you choose to let into your life.” — Austin Kleon

⏳ One Minute NLP – The Power of Micro Shifts

Big change can feel overwhelming. That’s why most people wait for the right time, the right mood, the perfect plan. And while they wait… nothing changes.

In NLP, we focus on micro shifts. Small, almost invisible changes that quietly reshape your behaviour.

One deeper breath.
One better question.
One kinder thought.
One tiny action.

It may not look like much—but your brain notices. It begins to build a new pattern. And patterns, repeated over time, become identity.

Don’t underestimate the power of small shifts done consistently. You don’t need a massive breakthrough every day. You just need a slightly better direction.

Because in NLP, transformation isn’t about giant leaps. It’s about tiny shifts… repeated until they become who you are.

🔮 Meta Magic – You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

The watchman worked at a large villa. Every morning his boss drove out in a luxury car, and it was the watchman’s duty to open the gates and greet him.

“Good morning, sir,” he would say faithfully.

But the boss never responded.

Not once.

One day the boss saw the watchman opening garbage bags outside the villa, searching for leftover food to take home. Yet, as always, the boss drove past without reacting, as if he had not seen anything at all.

The next day the watchman noticed a paper bag lying at the same spot near the garbage area. It was clean, and the food inside was neatly covered. Fresh vegetables and groceries. It looked as if someone had just bought them from the supermarket.

The watchman didn’t question it. He simply took the bag home, grateful.

The same thing happened the next day. And the day after that.

Every day there was a paper bag in the same place, filled with fresh vegetables and food. It slowly became part of his daily routine. The watchman fed his wife and children with those groceries.

Sometimes he even wondered, half amused, who the fool could be who forgot a bag full of fresh food every single day.

Then one day something unusual happened in the villa.

There was commotion everywhere. Guests kept arriving. The watchman was told that his boss had passed away.

That day the paper bag did not appear.

He assumed one of the guests must have taken it.

But the next day it was missing again.

And the next.

Days turned into weeks. Without the groceries, the watchman struggled again to provide food for his family. Finally he decided to ask his boss’s wife for a salary raise, or he would have to quit the job.

When he spoke to her, she looked surprised.

“You have never complained about your salary in the last two years,” she said. “Why is it suddenly not enough now?”

He tried to give excuses, but she remained unconvinced.

Eventually he told her the truth. He explained about the mysterious paper bags and how those groceries had quietly become his family’s daily provision.

She asked him one simple question.

“When did the bags stop appearing?”

He replied, “After your husband passed away.”

In that moment, the watchman realised something he had never considered before.

The paper bags had stopped exactly when the boss had died.

Which meant the person who had been leaving the groceries all along… was the same man who had never responded to his greetings.

The boss’s wife began to cry.

The watchman apologised quickly. “Please don’t cry, madam. I’m sorry I asked for a raise. I didn’t know your husband was the one helping my family. I will continue working here happily.”

But she shook her head gently.

“I’m crying because I have finally found the seventh person.”

She explained that her husband had quietly supported seven people every day by leaving them groceries. After his death she had managed to find six of them.

The watchman was the seventh.

From the next day onward, the groceries started arriving again. This time the boss’s son personally brought the bag to the watchman’s house and handed it to him.

Whenever the watchman thanked him, the young man never replied.

Just like his father.

One day the watchman said “THANK YOU” very loudly.

The young man smiled and replied softly.

“Please don’t be offended when I don’t respond. I have a hearing problem… just like my father.”

Meta Magic Insight

How often do we judge people based on what we think we see?

A silence becomes arrogance.

A behaviour becomes a story.

Yet the truth behind someone’s actions may be very different from what we assume.

Before concluding, there is always a wiser step.

Ask.

Because everyone you meet may be fighting a battle.

Or carrying a kindness.

That you know nothing about.

📖 Hook from the Book

“If the unexamined life was not worth living, was the unlived life worth examining?” — Paul Kalanithi, When Breath Becomes Air

🎬 Movie Motivation 

“Jo log apni zindagi nahi jeete, woh doosron ki zindagi jeete hain.” Translated to “Those who don’t live their own life end up living someone else’s.” This dialogue from the movie Guide refers to the unconscious patterns that arise from borrowed beliefs.

 

🏆 Popular Post of the Week

Scientific Studies That Prove NLP Techniques Work for Influence & Persuasion

PS: Missed the past issues of NLP Around You? Find them all here: https://w3coach.com/nlparoundyou/

Thoughtfully Yours,

Your W3 Coach

Mehernosh 

Welcome to Episode #156 of NLP Around You

🧠 Thoughtful Thought

“Your trauma is not your fault, but healing is your responsibility.” — Thoughtfully Yours

For your daily dose of Thoughtful Thoughts, get your Thoughtful Calendar here.

💬 NLP Quote Corner

“To go wrong in one’s own way is better than to go right in someone else’s.” — Fyodor Dostoevsky

⏳ One Minute NLP – The Power of One Word

A participant once shared something interesting during a session.

“I keep telling myself I have to finish this project.”

“Have to?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said. “If I don’t, everything will collapse.”

I asked him to pause for a moment and repeat the sentence.

“I have to finish this project.”

Now I asked him to change just one word.

Instead of have to, say choose to.

He tried it.

“I choose to finish this project.”

Something subtle shifted in his expression.

The same project.
The same deadline.
But a different internal experience.

You see, the phrase “have to” creates pressure.
It feels like force, obligation, even resistance.

But “choose to” creates ownership.

And ownership activates motivation.

In NLP, we often say:

The words you use are not just communication.
They are instructions to your nervous system.

So the next time you catch yourself saying:

“I have to do this.”

Pause.

Replace it with:

“I choose to do this.”

The task may remain the same.
But your relationship with it changes instantly.

Sometimes transformation begins with just one word.

 

🔮 Meta Magic – Are You Solving Problems… Or Quietly Creating Them?

He entered the session with the confidence of someone who had built a reputation for being dependable.

A senior team leader.
Efficient. Trusted. Always the one people turned to when things got complicated.

But that morning, his frustration was visible.

“My team isn’t stepping up,” he said bluntly.
“They come to me for everything.”

Everything.

Small decisions.
Routine approvals.
Problems they should easily handle themselves.

“I’ve tried empowering them,” he continued.
“I keep telling them to take ownership. But somehow the responsibility still lands back on my table.”

Most conversations around this topic go in familiar directions.

Team capability.
Delegation frameworks.
Accountability structures.

But something about the way he described his role in the team felt different.

So instead of analysing the team, I asked about him.

“What do you usually do when someone comes to you with a problem?”

He didn’t hesitate.

“I solve it. Or I guide them immediately. That’s my job as a leader, right?”

“Immediately?” I asked.

“Yes. I don’t like leaving things hanging. It slows down progress.”

I nodded.

“Let me ask you something,” I said.

“When someone comes to you with a problem… do they usually leave with the answer?”

“Of course,” he said. “That’s why they come to me.”

“And when they face a similar problem next time?”

He paused.

“They come again.”

The room went quiet.

Not uncomfortable quiet.

Reflective quiet.

I continued gently.

“If every time they come to you, they receive the answer… what are they being trained to become?”

He leaned back slowly.

Not defensive.

Just thinking.

“Dependent,” he said after a moment.

Exactly.

His intention was to help.

But his speed of solving had quietly trained the team to outsource thinking.

He wasn’t managing a team that lacked capability.

He had unintentionally created a system where answers lived with him.

The shift wasn’t about pushing the team harder.

It was about asking better questions before giving better answers.

Sometimes leadership isn’t about being the fastest problem solver in the room.

Sometimes it’s about being the last one to solve the problem.

Because the moment you stop answering immediately…

someone else starts thinking.

And that’s where real ownership begins.

So here’s a question worth sitting with:

Are you solving problems for your team…
or are you unknowingly training them to stop solving them themselves?

📖 Hook from the Book

“If you have an idea you’re excited about and you don’t bring it to life, it’s not uncommon for the idea to find its voice through another maker. This isn’t because the other artist stole your idea, but because the idea’s time has come.” — Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way of Being

🎬 Movie Motivation 

“I’ve delivered a million passengers safely over 40 years in the air, but in the end I’m going to be judged on 208 seconds.” This dialogue from the movie Sully reminds us that human perception compresses identity into single moments.

 

🏆 Popular Post of the Week

The Common Misconceptions About Persuasion

PS: Missed the past issues of NLP Around You? Find them all here: https://w3coach.com/nlparoundyou/

Thoughtfully Yours,