after a few inquires, i decided to finally post this story. I'm currently 18 and almost done with high school.

I'd been learning a bit about NLP through watching Darren Brown youtube videos (look him up) and their breakdowns by other people. Subsequent to that, I also bought this book [link] which is a really really good introduction to NLP. hence, "introducing NLP" ahah. Anyways,

we had an essay due on a thursday on a book I had read up until the...front cover. as in, i hadn't even opened this book. In this class, I had worked hard on my essays before and only got B-'s even when i really committed myself to them. So this time, i thought "what the hell? why not give this NLP business a try." Also, understand, this teacher and I weren't on particularly good terms. But out of my observations of her, and noticing how open minded she was, I thought her to be a good starting candidate as my first NLP experiment because she seemed to be easily suggestible.

Come Wednesday, the day before it was due, I planned out a brief set to run on my teacher after class. The bell rang and I approached her.

The set was to go like this: Build rapport, put her in a frame, give her suggestion.

Me: "Scuse me, Ms.X, I wanted to-oh, hang on. (I noticed a sapphire ring on her finger, and sapphire is the birthstone for September) were you born in september by any chance? I noticed you're wearing a sapphire."

Ms.X: "Oh (she smiled and held her ring hand up and started rubbing/caressing it with her other hand) no-this was from my grandmother, she was born in september." (this was unexpected and gave me a lot to use: she obviously had fond memories of her grandmother and had already pretty much set up an anchor for those memories, which was rubbing/caressing the ring. really terrific for me)

Me: "ohh i see, how nice! So listen, (matching her smile and mirroring her body language, another rapport building technique) I wanted to know something. What's the most important part you focus on when you write good essays? Because I want to use that in my essay, which you'll get tomorrow." (i didn't care about the actual technique, I just cared that A) I was eliciting fond memories of success from her while B) she projected them onto me. My goal was, she would have the idea that i had followed her own successful techniques, so in a sense, she wasn't grading me, but herself.)

Ms. X: "Oh well good commentary is really really important. Thats what i focus on most."

Me: Okay. Now I'm going to tell you something (taking a completely square body posture towards her, making strong eye contact, I began using the anchor she had already expressed, and put up my own hand and started caressing my ring finger like she had done). Tomorrow the essay is due, and everyone in this class is going to turn one in. The best essay in class is going to receive an A. I'm going to get an A on my essay."

Ms. X: Okay, cool.

(whole conversation took less than 30-45 seconds.)

To make double sure that my grade was going to be determined by the set I ran on her, and not by actual content. I waited. Until eventually, it was 10:00PM. but no, i waited some more. until eventually, it was Midnight. But no, i was a bit tired. so i slept.

I woke up the following morning-still never read the book, no summaries, 0 words written, and it was due in an hour. So I started typing away, trying to imbed subtle anchors, like using the word 'best' frequently or twice associating it with the word "ring," in different meanings. I finished an hour later, and held the shittiest 3 page piece of shit i had ever shat in my hands. I had deliberately made certain to write utter crap so I was able to make sure that if I did score highly, it was the work of the NLP and not actual effort or content. I tried to write like as much of an idiot as i could-no big fancy words, fragmented sentences, poor grammar use, ect..
I walked into class, late 20 minutes out of 50 minutes, and confidently smiled, walked up to her, (almost like following the three second rule) and handed her my paper, and as i retracted my hand, caressed my ring finger subtely just one more time.

Now I began getting nervous over the next few days, because i had realized that i had just jeopardized an entire essay, on a whim, to toy with this NLP stuff I'd had virtually no experience with before. My afc side surfaced and told me how fucking stupid i was to try this, and to probably tank my grade in that course for the rest of the term. It was a pretty big essay, worth more than the final. I started having serious regrets, and paid absolutely no thought to how well the set had actually gone, and all the positive feedback cues i'd gotten from her.

2 weeks later, she places a paper on my desk during class. it was the essay. I got an A. one of the highest scores in the class. All the girls behind me who knew i didn't read or know anything about the book teased me and jokingly got mad at me because of their lower scores, which they'd tried so hard for.

to eloquently sum up the multitude of emotions and sentiments which that moment entailed: "LOL FUCK IT WORKED AHAHAH"

thats my story. very beginner, had some luck, but best of all, had the most triumphant feeling of the month knowing i had made my teacher think that i had written the best essay in her class without having even written it. NLP has a ton to offer, but now after pursing it further, i see that its damn hard stuff to learn, let alone, use! I've got a long ways to go, but hopefully you can benefit a bit from this story, and then help explain some of these nonsensical theories to me haha.

Cheers,
Ali.