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enrick Cleveland easily ranks among the most effective practitioners of NLP. NLP, or

Neurolonguistic Programming examines how

linguistic patterns influence behaviour.

Among Kenrick’s esteemed body of research, one will discover the

existence of powerful words, known as presuppositions. Kenrick crafted a list of eighteen powerful words of persuasion which is used by hundreds of NLP practitioners in their quest for influence. Presupposition carry supersonic persuasive impact and could penetrate the mind like a stealth fighter. You will learn dozens of such powerful words in a few moments.

Now, analyze the following command:

“You will find good reason to accede to my request once you understand the benefits”

A listener, given that command, will hesitate a bit, wondering whether he should follow. Commands that sound blunt and blatant create resistance. As we are aware, commands restrict our liberties; hence we resist commands.

Rewording the command yields a more palatable directive:

“Naturally, you will already begin to find good reason to accede to my request once you understand the benefits.”

Isn’t the second version far easier to follow? You will immediately find less internal resistance to accede to the suggestions.

The words naturally and already begin are presuppositions which made it very easy for you to accept the command. How does this work?

Presuppositions presuppose the existence of some fact.

When the word naturally is tacked on to the sentence, you are told that whatever follows the word naturally is natural. Hence, the propensity to question what follows diminishes. All this occurs on the subliminal level. You don’t even detect that there is an attempt to blind you to a blatant command.

Presuppositions are like stealth fighters that sneak messages under your radar in order to deliver the payload. Presuppositions increase your ability to issue orders by eliminating resistance to them.

When do you use presuppositions? You always use them to mask direct commands. Essentially, all persuasive effort consists of suggestions and commands. Presuppositions allow you the flexibility of delivering volleys of directives under the guise of being simple statements of fact. People always agree to facts, and not always to directives. Facts don’t give you a choice. You accept them at face value. With presuppositions, a directive transforms into a statement of fact.

In the English language, scores of presuppositions exist. NLP practitioners neatly divided these presuppositions into six primary categories. These include:

Category Examples

Adverb/Adjective naturally, immediately, easily, automatically, unlimited, truly, already, readily, obviously, begin

Awareness aware, realize, experience, fell, consider, discover, understand, wonder

Cause and Effect cause, allows, justifies, forces

Temporal and Time after, before, first, second, until, during, eventually, while, when

Spatial beyond, enlarge, further, expand, under, only, around Command stop, now

Note: for a more complete list of NLP presuppositions, refer to the works of Bandler and Grinder. These eminent doctors are the founders of the NLP system.

Throughout this book, I liberally sprinkled presuppositions to ensure that the statements I made seep into your mind faster. What were actually implied directives,

appeared to be facts, hence you accepted them without question. Hunt down these little stealth bombers if you can.

Observe, now, two rules in deploying presuppositions:

Use a presupposition immediately before a command. Everything that follows a presupposition is assumed to be presupposed. That means that the mind will accept them without question. Placing a presupposition after a command dilutes its effect.

Use as many presuppositions within a statement and a paragraph as possible. The more presuppositions, the greater the effect and the more influence you generate.

Presupposition + Command/Directive = Stealth Command

Now that you have the basics, observe how I use presuppositions in the following statements to induce greater agreement.

“Already, you will begin to realize the importance of developing your persuasive skills. Only with a well-honed ability to persuade can begin you triumph in your business negotiations.”

The statement dropped a load of presuppositions! However, that same command will lose power if you strip off the presuppositions. Observe.

“You will see the importance of developing your persuasive skills. The well- honed ability to persuade lets you triumph in business negotiations.”

Here’s another example:

“You will immediately realize your life improving after maximizing your persuasive abilities. That sudden awareness allows you to study your skills all the more!!”

Strip off the presuppositions and realize, now, how the power disappears in a flash.

Here’s a powerful example using the presupposition allow. Observe how you can use this simple structure in daily conversation. With allow, you can transform antagonism into cooperation

“You know what, Michael, your strong disagreement to my proposal allows you to immediately realize how both of us are better off working together, instead of against each other. Is a gradual awareness of how such cooperation will help us beginning to sink in?”

My favourite example:

“Now, stop… and begin to realize the wondrous benefits that await you as you gain mastery over people”

Didn’t that make you pause and marvel at your growing abilities?

Discussing in-depth the power of presuppositions exceed the scope of this book as reams could be written on the subject. For further studies, I urge that you purchase any book by Bandler and Grinder or peruse through Kenrick Cleveland’s Maximum Persuasion 2000 ™.