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Milton model or vague language in NLP helps you induce others by creating an interest to do a specific task by influencing the unconscious of the person. Because it’s not possible to persuade others to do a task that they’re not interested in. Therefore the Milton model or the vague language which is one of the NLP techniques is used to motivate people to do the specific task.
Milton model or vague language is the result of the study of dr. Milton Erickson’s hypnotherapy ( hypnosis treatment). NLP co-founders Richard Bandler and john grinder found that Milton Erickson, the most famous hypnotherapist, used a kind of vagueness in his treatments which was very successful and effective. To understand the Milton model better, we first provide a brief explanation of how Dr. Milton’s method works.
There are two states of consciousness called downtime and uptime. Uptime is when our senses are focused on the external world while downtime is when we are focusing deep on the internal world and less aware of the external stimuli. Trance is a kind of downtime state in which we can access the unconscious mind. Trance is considered useful to overcome problems and treat diseases. Because in trance the conscious mind is distracted and the unconscious mind is used. In hypnosis trance is also used to resolve a person’s issues.
As mentioned, Dr. Milton Erickson used vague statements in his hypnosis. This generalization and ambiguity gave the hypnotized person the opportunity to make personal interpretations of his words. the person interpreted the words in a way that was in line with his own mental framework. In this way, Dr. Erickson could overcome the mental resistance of the hypnotized person and more easily access the deeper layers of his mind.
Bandler and Grinder modeled his approach and presented it in the form of NLP. In this way, others can use this method in different situations. This method was named in honor of Dr. Milton Erickson, Milton Model.
Although words only play a 7% role in communication but it directly affects the results. This effect is not transmitted only through the words themselves But the wording and structure of what is said is also decisive. One of the skills of politicians, leaders and managers to influence speaking is to use the Milton model.
How is this influence created? The key aspect of the Milton model is that it is created through trance. That is, by using vague language, the conscious mind is distracted and the unconscious mind is accessible. Therefore, the listener is more receptive to your words than ever before so convincing people is easy. In this case, the listener tries to have his own perceptions of what is being said. This will make your words more enjoyable for the listener. Since there is no conflict between you and the listener thus by making his mind in line with you, you will be able to implant the desired goal in his mind.
Be sure to keep in mind that vagueness can confuse people and make others believe that your mind is superficial and immature. For this reason, with vague language you should be careful how and when you use it. In general, it can be said that the Milton model is a way of using language to induce and maintain trance in order to contact hidden resources of the other person’s personality. This method is very similar to the way the human mind works naturally. And to use it properly it requires training.
In this language we selectively delete pieces of information. We must do it in our communication to leave others to fill in the gaps based on their experiences. This is mostly done so that the audience can ask questions and create their own answers. Deletion in the Milton language also takes several forms.
In simple deletion, the most important points in the sentence are deleted. For example, the narrator of the phrase “We are going today” does not exactly say when, where to and with whom.
In this case, the points will be removed comparatively, for example, the speaker says “our teacher is better” but does not determine in what areas and from whom he is better.
Verbs that the speaker doubles as a noun. For example, “the game is not good” that the game covers a wide range and the listeners themselves choose what to make of it.
Verbs are expressed in these sentences, the details of which are not clear, and the listener adds details according to his own opinion. Such as: Our goal is customer satisfaction. Given how and by what means this satisfaction occurs and the basis of evaluation is not known, so the listener enters the details into his own mind.
We distort things in different situations under the influence of our past experiences and according to the circumstances that may exist.
When you use combinations such as ” mean” and “make”, you make a connection between two actions. Example: Seeing this month’s prices makes you more pessimistic to the rest of the year.
Sometimes there is no direct connection between the two things, but the use of words such as “when”, “because”, “as” distorts the semantic relationship between the two things.
The words “and”, “with”,” etc.” can connect unrelated expressions and make connections between them. Example: We change the decoration and increase sales.
In this pattern, two sentences are connected to convey a concept to the listener. For example, “You have no information about this and can not comment on it.”
In this pattern, words are used that indicate generality. With this pattern you can also influence people who are not aware of their thought patterns effectively.
Words that have a negative connotation to the sentence and add the meaning of opposition to the meaning of the sentence. Like “this solution doesn’t always work”
Words such as “have to”, “must” and ,etc. which are used in the meta-model of intensive words, often have grammatical functions, such as “You will eventually have to do a project.”
