I myself am curious as to why I put this in the Fight Club section. Possibly because it can be interesting to see where others will take this subject.

One of my biggest hangups when starting out for myself was my age. I first entered the world of NLP/Hypnosis/Personal Development when I was only 20. I loved what I learned and went on to become what I like to call an 'aggresive learner'. I began applying what I had learned and helping people to make changes. I found myself creating better results when working with others than most of the practitioners i knew. Some of these people were supposedly highly experienced and had many credentials and fancy certificates. I knew I could do it but I really got wound up at myself because I had a young face and it led many of my clients to guess about how the session would go.

Second was entering the world of Stage Hypnosis at 23 (which is my age now), I am constantly questioned by others as to how i could possibly be the hypnotist. Exact same scenario, this is something I just ignore these days.

Many believe that with age comes experience, I do too, however, I also believe that ability is not affected by age providing the person in question has done their homework. Spurred on by Ozzy G commenting on how ridiculous it was to see a 20 year old mentioning their strategies for changework with clients, I felt it was important to find out what others opinions where on the subject of age, be it in therapy, on stage, or any other area in the field of personal development and change.

Looking forward to reading your replies

Age does indeed make a profound difference!

The best hypnotists I've ever seen were between 0 and 6 years of age, The informal trance inductions and crazy behaviour shifts they effortlessly elicit from all the adults around them are incredible(!), not to mention their gifted ability to utilise everything in their environment (watch a 5 year old manipulate an adult for a few minutes if you don't beleive me).

So, you could say I've spent my entire adult life trying to be as effective a hypnotist as I was when I was 5.

Be Well,

Michael Perez

Hi William......age , like sex , race and background......do make a difference.....but only if you let them !

With age , comes experience and knowledge.....but that does not mean to say , that somebody who is younger , cannot have more experience than an older person.

Most successful people , start their journeys when they are very young.

To be young , is to have fresh ideas , courage of conviction and less limitations , of us older folk !

Enjoy your youth ! Enjoy your journey ! Enjoy your learning experience !

And surprise everybody !

Be hard as nails..be soft as putty !

Have the wisdom of Solomon.......and the patience of Job !

Enjoy your life......learn from all your experiences ........

Focus on the positives......eliminate the negatives.........

Be entertaining....have fun......Aim for the highs.......But be ready for the Lows.....

Never give up trying......Always aim to win !

Listen to all the advice you are given.......and choose what you use !

Good Luck Bill , Best Wishes Peter Walsh

It's an interesting point. I held myself back for quite a while because I believed I couldn't credibly train or coach people older than me.

I've never heard that from a client though. In fact, the opposite is often true. I think my age is a USP at the moment -- it's perceived as a benefit by many younger clients, and it can be a convincer for older people to: I must be good if I'm getting referrals from people twice my age, right?

To riff on Chris' last point, I think there will be some people for whom it may be an issue. Obviously those people will not be your market/clients/audience. The important thing might just be to make sure that you are not among the people who hold that opinion...

Be Well,

Michael Perez

Yeah, I agree with Michael there.

One distinction that I find it useful to make is that there are often two factors involved in how well people perform in professional contexts: a) skill, and b) heuristics (professional instincts, intuitions, rules of thumb, etc).

Developing skill takes commitment and practice.

Developing heuristics takes live experience in the real world.

So there's a popular idea that wisdom comes with age. I disagree. IMO, wisdom comes with experience - and experience may or may not come with age. Who do you think might have better intuitions about dealing with other human beings: an 80 year old man who has spent his entire life living in a shack up on a mountain and only ever talked to people three times a year, or a 30 year old woman who's been tending bar at local pubs for ten years?

Cheers,

James

James , I hope you're not suggesting , that Billy , has been masquerading as a 30 year old barmaid for the last 10 years !

I think , that's stretching things a bit far ! I think ! ........I hope ! haha !

Mind you.......LOL ! It is after all Fight Club Billy !

Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps please Billy !

Yep, he's got seven years to arrange a sex change operation and get really good at pulling beers. It's the only way to become truly skilled as a hypnotist ...

James , you'd have to shave your moustache off.....(though I don't know though )LOL !

Me , I'd have to make myself look older ! Haha ! :cool:

We could open a Pub , and call it the "Hypnotist's Arms" ! Or should that be Hypnopissed !

Think I'd be a bit of a "slapper" though....."Look into my thighs....not around the eyes.....into the thighs....! Haha !

<~~~~~thinks Peter might be Hypnopissed now! :s
hmmmm...
I just hallucinated James in a bar in a tight dress, long haired wig with pool cue in hand
.......
back to topic quickly... i believe age makes a difference but i am nearer 50 than 40. If i was 23 i am sure i would be searching for a different answer

I dicovered NLP when I was 20 and although it changed my life I was still sceptical, after all... if it's so easy why aren't all the 'older adults' using this stuff. I mean, we even had some of Bandler and Grinder's books in our university library!

In the last two years I've gained the wisdom that a lot of people in this world are hardly conscious of how they act in every facet of their lives; money, health, relationships. So I guess I've gained the wisdom with age to trust my own intelligence and intuitions.

Also if you think of it from an "evolutionary / spiral dynamics / scientific revolution" perpsective then it's often going to be the younger generations leading the change.

At the end of the day it's not so much to do with age as your confidence in your own ability, intution and intellect and the courage to go against the norms of society. Who says young people can't teach the older generations as well as the other way round?

a handful of people in my first NLP prac class said they wished they'd learned NLP when they were 21...as I was then...8 years later...hmmm...experienced...dissappointed from progress due to lack of self application - although happy with present state - hmmm -

Isn't the purpose of modelling exemplars in NLP is to Save Time instead of learning through trial & error for years?

When my Daughter , was 16 yrs old, she knew everything and I knew nothing !

When my daughter , was 18 years old.....she had to admit , that I knew one or two things about life , but she still knew best ! :s

When my daughter was 21 yrs old , she was amazed by my knowledge and experience

.....and how much I had learnt , in those intervening 5 years !

As a generalisation I think age does make a difference. The longer someone has lived=more life experience. This doesen't take into account quality or breadth of experience though and so doesn't accurately reflect someone's knowledge, abilities or "wisdom".

Billy, you may be a good hypnotist and changer worker now, but just how much better will you be in the future?

SO summing up, I think cronological age is not a great indicator and experience would be a more suitable measure, but is more difficult to define.

I think age can make a difference as can talent, knowledge, personality and all the other stuff.

When I was 20 I was offered a job as a production controller (something I had never even heard of). I was working with guys who had 15 years experience in that role and felt as though I could never be "as good as them" even though I worked bloody hard, often doing 14hr shifts and trust me they helped with that belief. After a while (18months) I got the chance to move to buying, which I did - I had studied this, I felt I would be better at it.
It took 6 months for the Manager of the prod control team to come to me and ask me to go back as the head of the department - it turned out that I was great at production control, that I had in fact carried the rest of them and had been doing their jobs for them as well as my own! I was great at planning, organising, and persuading at 20 and at 33 I still am.

If you are naturally intuitive, have great, natural sensory acuity (same thing?), have stage presence and work bloody hard I expect you are great as a stage hypnotist and I wish you lots of success.

If being 20 is a problem for other people then tell them you are 30, their expectations will change and so will their experience of your show.

BTW at 25 I was a senior manager at a company, most people there thought i was about 35 (which obviously pissed me off at the time), they assumed this because of my role, my perceived experience, the way I presented myself... Age need not hold you back.

So go forth and dazzle

I started in NLP when i had 14 years old, in a sales NLP course, then i take the practitioner when i had 16 years old and when i had 17 years old i was a Master practitioner. I made myt first conference when i had only 16 years old for an important business company. In my experience the age it's not important to be a good comunicator or a good nlp practitioner or trainer. Everyone can be a good at any age.

I am very thankful with the people that believed in me, no matter how young i was or i am. Too much people open me the door, others believe that i was too young to make hipnosis or speak in public and close me the doors, but i never give up. Simply, i love to do NLP and i think that i have a mission to do, "teach the same thing that change my life"

Thanks for give me this space.
I am a young padawan, but a want to be, one day, a Master Jedi.

Carlos Mendoza

My daughter did her practitioner course when she was 16, the only problem she had is that many people did not take her seriously as they thought she was far too young to be able to help . Something she still has problems with, as although she is now in her early 20's she still only looks 16!

The only problem with age is that people perceive that a younger person will not have enough experience to help them, and in some cases I feel that this is true.

tranceformingtina wrote:

The only problem with age is that people perceive that a younger person will not have enough experience to help them, and in some cases I feel that this is true.

I never had this problem because i never take the things so seriously. But i think some people think "young=unexperience" and that is not a constant. I help to much people in this years and i am still young. When you know of something, the people feel it, and you can win the respect for others. I have too much experience in this thread because i live all the things that you mention, simply...i was too young. But i always saw people surprise with my attitude to learn much. I think that i have a resposability with others, teach people to live better lifes.

I am not the best, but i love what i do. NLP is part of my life.

Carlos Mendoza.

I am not the best, but i love what i do. NLP is part of my life.

Carlos Mendoza.

As long as you always do your best Carlos......that is the most important criteria....which I am sure you do ! The "I love what I do", statement says it all about you !

You will be (if not already) successful !

You gotta remember that we're always walking around in other peoples generalizations. If you're black, white or yellow you're in a generalization conscious or unconscious. If you're tall, short, ugly as a bulldog, or as good looking as a movie star on a good day.

Owen Fizpatrick taught me a brilliant pattern once for overcoming objections to do with other peoples perception of age. We also need to work on our own beliefs, most people sort people by self reference. if someone is younger or older than them. you gotta remember you could get hit by a bus tomorrow. Some alcholics are int hier 40's and 50's, and once you're 25 you're half way through life with all your strength.

You've got to strengthen your own beliefs so theyr'e unshakable convictions if someone is going to test you in an area.

Remember preframe objections before they happen.