Mentor Technique

The Mentor Technique is a powerful method for seeking guidance in a current situation or for reflecting on your behavior. Additionally, this technique can be effectively used to establish new beliefs.

You can carry out the Mentor Technique step by step as follows:

Technique Process

Step 1

Find a Topic:

Identify a problematic situation in your life where you feel helpless, confused, or overwhelmed—and where you would now like to create change.

Step 2

Access the Experience:

Re-live a key event from this experience in an associated state (1st position). Install a floor anchor for the problematic situation.

Step 3

Reflection from Meta:

Move into a Meta-position (3rd position) to dissociate from the problem. Observe and distinguish the messages and meta-messages contained in the experience.

Step 4

Select Mentors:

Choose 1–3 mentors who have positively and significantly influenced your life. Think of someone (or something) that embodies a specific strength or quality that you need right now. These mentors should be role models for the behavior or mindset you wish to adopt—so you can model them.

Step 5

Receive the Mentors' Advice:

Step into the position of each mentor (2nd position), one at a time, and fully identify with them. Describe what advice or message each of the three mentors would offer you for the problem situation.

Step 6

Find the Meta-Message:

Step into a Meta-position again and identify the overarching, unifying message from all three mentors (the Meta-Message).

Step 7

Validate the Meta-Message:

Test the validity of the shared message by stepping into the position of each mentor (2nd position) and speaking the Meta-Message aloud—with the aim of doing so congruently and authentically.

Step 8

Integrate the Messages:

Integrate the advice/message: Stand in front of the mentors and imagine feeling their hands on your shoulders. Internally hear the shared message spoken in a unified voice. Visualize the message as light, melody, or warmth entering and spreading through your body. Set an anchor to store this new resource.

Step 9

Transfer into the Problem Context:

While still experiencing the shared message—hearing, seeing, and feeling it—return to the original problem context. Notice how your perception of the situation has shifted and how the message and Meta-Message have transformed it.

Step 10

Future Pace:

Project the shared message from your mentors into a future situation. Observe how your behavior will change as a result.