In a previous article I mentioned that the modeling done in NLP distinguishes itself from other forms of modeling in significant ways. In this article we'll explore this distinction more deeply. NLP Modeling is incredibly exciting and rewarding. It leverages the behavioral learning skills that all of us used as small children to develop our first abilities. Unfortunately, most of us lose access to those skills after we grow up. But it's never too late to bring them back.

Let's first get a sense of the steps involved in NLP Modeling. There are six of them.

Step 1. Identify a model

This first step requires that we choose a top performer. Maintain as your most important criteria to choose someone who produces outstanding result or results consistently. For instance, you could model a soccer player's unique way of dribbling. Or you could model a top salesperson's closing skills. Or you could model a clinician who has an unmatched record for helping patients recover from illnesses. Find someone who can get a result you'd like to produce time and time again, consistently without fail.

Step 2. Assimilate their behavioral patterns unconsciously

Whereas in most modeling methods the modeler acts simply as an outside observer, NLP Modeling demands that the modeler actually step into the shoes of the outstanding performer. Through repeated imitation and practice, you will unconsciously absorb his or her behavioral patterns.

This is the crux of NLP Modeling. So let's talk about this some more.

When using other modeling methods, you'd be constantly trying to figure out how the top performer is achieving those results. You'd be analyzing his movements, his behavior, his words, his tonality, and so forth, trying to understand consciously how he produces those astonishing results.

NLP Modeling is different. When doing NLP Modeling, you're supposed to imitate the genius without trying to figure out what's going on. Just do as he does. Or do as she does. Copy him. Mimic her. But not in a caricatural way. Do it in a genuine way, trying as best as you can to let that person mold you so you become just like her.

As an example, imagine you'd want to model an outstanding tennis player's serve. In Step 2, you'd actually pretend to be the player, going through the same motions over and over, seeking to emulate the player's behavior.

For how long should you do that? You do it all the way until you...

Step 3. Produce results similar to those of the top performer

You know you've unconsciously assimilated the behavioral patterns of the top performer when you produce similar results in roughly the same amount of time. Depending on the modeling project, this may take minutes, hours, days, weeks, months or even years. It all depends on the complexity of the skill you're working on acquiring.

In the case of our example, you'd know you've unconsciously assimilated the other player's serve once you were able to consistently produce a similar quality of serve.

Step 4. Clean up the pattern

In anyone's behavior, even that of a top performer, there will always be "white noise". This simply means that certain parts of their behavior will not be necessary to produce outstanding results. In this step, after you've demonstrated that you've absorbed the pattern by producing outstanding results, you start testing what actually needs to be included in the pattern and what can be left out.

Let's go back to our example:

Imagine that you were modeling an outstanding tennis player's serve. One piece of the player's behavior is to bounce the ball three times on the court prior to starting his serve motion.

During Step 4, you'd actually test serving without bouncing the ball three times on the court to verify whether that piece of the pattern is essential to maintaining the serve's quality. You might discover that it's absolutely necessary and you might also discover that it's completely dispensable.

Step 5. Build a model

Once you've cleaned up the pattern, it's time to figure out what's going on and to create a description of what you and the outstanding performer are doing. The key here is to describe this in a way that anybody truly committed to mastering the pattern can do it.

Step 6. Pass it on

This is where the rubber meets the road. The last step and master purpose of the modeler's job is to transfer or teach the pattern to someone else. In this step, you'd take the model you created in Step 5 and transfer it to a new person. If this proves difficult, you might find it necessary to modify the description you created of the pattern until transferring it becomes easy.

The most elegant models can be absorbed very quickly by a committed learner.

Conclusion

There you have it! The 6 Master Steps of NLP Modeling. If you're interested in furthering your comprehension of NLP Modeling, read Whispering In The Wind by John Grinder and Carmen Bostic St Clair. The distinguishing characteristic of NLP Modeling exists in Step 2. In most other forms of modeling, the modeler acts as a mere observer. In NLP Modeling, the modeler gets deeply involved in the modeling process.

When I started my career as a freelance translator, the most difficult aspect was finding work.

I didn't have a solid network of clients and building that foundation was sometimes very disheartening. However, finding work is becoming easier and easier thanks to technology, and especially the Internet.

The Internet has enabled all kinds of new communication tools that are both convenient and cheap. No more having to flip through the phone book calling potential clients. Now you can send emails to people needing your services. No more taking an ad out in the Yellow Pages. Now you can have your own website promoting your services to a larger audience for a lot cheaper.

So, what is the best way freelance translators can used this technology to find work and build their network of clients? Most translators continue to say that translation agencies are the number one source of translation work.

If contacting translation agencies is one of the more productive ways of getting the word out about your translation services, then the only thing that is left is finding those agencies. Thanks to the Internet, that is a lot easier than it used to be.

One of the ways that translators find translation agencies online is by using a search engine and typing something like "translation agency" and "freelance translators" in the search box. This can be a little tedious, but once you get in good with a couple of translation agencies, they will be more likely to regularly send you work and the time spent contacting the agencies will be well worth it.

The technique of modeling dough had its beginnings with the Classical Romans, Greeks and Egyptians when they would pay homage to their gods with offerings of figures made from dough. Later in nineteenth century Germany salt was added to stop mice eating the creations.

Today modeling is particularly suitable as a craft idea for kids of any age. It is soft, safe, non-toxic and great fun. Although the children can use polymer clay and self hardening clays salt dough clay is great fun to make.

You will need very little for this craft idea for kids and will probably have most of the items in your home. Items such as paint, varnish, pastry cutters, moulds, bowl and rolling pin will probably be enough. For the actual bread dough recipe you will need plain flour (not self-raising), salt and water.

Recipe:

2 cups plain flour
1 cup salt
1 cup water

Mix together flour, salt and half the water in the mixing bowl. Knead the mixture adding more water gradually until it is smooth and firm. Do not add too much water as it will become sticky and sag. Remove the mixture from the bowl and knead for a further 10 minutes. It is best to leave the dough to rest for 30 minutes in an air tight container.

By adding 1 tablespoon on vegetable oil you will add suppleness to the dough or 1 tablespoon of wallpaper paste for elasticity.

Model the dough into desired shapes and bake at 120 deg C or 250 deg F until completely hard all over. It is important to place the finished craft objects in a dry atmosphere and not in a steamy or damp area as they may deteriorate. The dough crafts can be left natural, painted and varnished or the dough can colored with food coloring before baking. Anything that is heatproof can be used, such as broken china but do keep an eye on the kids near the oven.

Modeling back good speech is a powerful way to help children learn speech sounds and good grammar. In some cases it can even decrease the need for speech-language therapy.

For sounds:

* When your child says a word and “misses” a sound say the word back to them in a very positive way placing emphasis on the sound that they had problems with. Place emphasis by saying the sound louder, longer, by tapping your finger on the side of your mouth when you say the sound and by repeating it. If he said “The tat is nice” you could say “Yes, that is a very nice cat. I like cats. I think the cat likes you. Look the cat has a brown foot.” By repeating the word several times you are adding power to the modeling. Of course you would never want to correct your child in a way that would make them feel bad about how they are talking. Saying “No that’s not the right sound. Say it this way, say cat.”, only makes your child feel bad about their talking.

* Once your child has gotten fairly good at saying the sounds you could draw their attention to problem sounds a bit more by asking if they heard the right sound when they say a word. If he tried to say “spoon” and it came out “poon”, you could say, “Hmmm, I didn’t hear the snake (s) sound, did you? Lets try again.” Giving sounds labels such as “the snake sound” often helps younger children understand what you mean. Make sure to also point out times where your child has gotten sounds that he is working on right. Especially praise times where your child goes back and “fixes” sounds on his own.

For grammar:
* Use the same modeling idea of going back and saying words over in a very positive way, placing emphasis on words that were missed. For grammar place emphasis by saying the word louder and by repeating it. If you child said “Him is nice” you could say “Yes he is nice. He is fun to play with.”

The Maryland Aviation Administration received only two bids to run Baltimore/Washington International Airport's concessions, sources told The Daily Record.

MAA spokesman Jonathan Dean would neither confirm nor deny the number of bids the agency received on Oct. 31.

However, the agency structured its request for proposals for a company operating a developer model. Nationwide, there are three major companies that operate such a model, which usually makes most of its money on tenants' rents and does not operate any of the airport businesses itself.

The model used at most of North American's leading airports is called a prime model. It makes most of its money from sales and actually operates most of the airport businesses itself.

To lure a company operating a developer model, the MAA set up a favorable financial structure, which included decreasing guaranteed rent to the state by $27 million over the duration of the 10-year contract. Plus, the agency also reduced the guaranteed rent in the first year from $8.9 million to $6.25 million.

BWI's current concessionaire, Bethesda-based HMSHost Corp., paid the MAA $7.2 million in rent last year, according to Host, which operates a prime model and decided its operating model would not allow it to bid on the new contract.

The MAA also relieved potential bidders of a $2 million obligation related to the value of Host improvements at BWI.

House Speaker Michael E. Busch, D-Anne Arundel, wrote a letter dated Oct. 30 to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., asking that the MAA allow Host and other similar prime companies to bid.

More recently, he said the bidding process for BWI's concessions should be spirited, competitive.

I don't know if you're going to be able to attain that with just two people involved, Busch said. I'm not sure how that worked out. - Right now, it's in the hands of the administration.

Host has contested the MAA's request for proposals since it was issued, saying it precluded the company from bidding. The MAA, however, has denied that, saying the RFP simply established which business model it wants - the developer model.

Host is currently appealing the agency's denial of its protest against the RFP with the Maryland State Board of Contract Appeals, which is expected to make a decision with the next few weeks.

Also upset about the RFP are nearly 500 unionized employees at the airport, who said they were insulted that the MAA did not include any consideration or protections for their jobs.

The workers, who unionized earlier this year, began seeking signatures last week for a petition addressed to Ehrlich concerning the expected change at BWI's concessions. They intend to give the governor the petition early next month.

Ever wondered what happens to those sullen-faced models once they strut off the catwalk? Starting in a few weeks, you'll be able to see for yourself, if only from 6 to 9 p.m. each night on the Internet. That's when Modelslife.com's Webcam will be switched on in the New York apartment that is home to models working with the ID Model Management agency.

Think of it as the Real World, only prettier.

"It's going to be about the life of the model, which is what drives most of the fashion," explained ID president Paolo Zampolli. "But it's not only about the model apartment because that is only going to be a couple of hours a night. We'll have the girls there, maybe there will be a little talk show, things like this."

Zampolli said he also plans to show the inner workings of his agency on the Web. "By having a Web camera in the agency, we're also going to show how girls get a job," he said. "Then we can follow them during a shoot. It's model life."

Hence, the name.

According to a press release, Modelslife.com hopes to give the models a forum, albeit one based in their living room, "to break free and show that models are normal people."

"The show will be run by the models, talking about the issues that face young women struggling to break into the glamorous world of fashion." Said Zampolli. "We will be blowing away a lot of old stereotypes about the fashion world."

Zampolli stressed that the models have advised to participate in the Webcasts and that they live with a chaperone. "The shows is about youth and fun and coming to the big city to be a star," he said. "Anyone who is looking for a cheap thrill can get somewhere else."