Mastering NLP, Discipline, and Obsession with Jimmy van der Ham

In this first episode,  Pollyanna Chavez one of the cofounders of NLPI,  sits down with Jimmy van der Ham, an NLP trainer and change work specialist based in the Netherlands, known for his deep study of NLP and his commitment to mastering real practitioner skills. Jimmy shares how he began learning Neuro Linguistic Programming through books, how he tested NLP techniques in real life, and why meeting Dr. Richard Bandler, co creator of NLP, fundamentally shifted his understanding of skill, discipline, and results.

 We discuss the difference between techniques and skills, why repetition and practice matter, and how discipline and obsession when used correctly can become powerful tools for transformation.

If you are looking for a place to practice consistently, develop real NLP and hypnosis skills, and grow inside a supportive global community, the Next Level Pro Institute is where practitioners come to sharpen their skills. Weekly practice sessions, live trainings, Q and A calls, and immersive bootcamps are designed to help you move from understanding NLP to truly living it.

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Transcript

 Mastering NLP, Discipline, and Obsession

Mastering NLP, Discipline, and Obsession

[00:00:00] It's so many hours, so many things you have to do and so many energy that you have to put in there, but the result is will come later. There are a lot of things you have to do in order to get there, but also there are so many things you don't not should do if you want to get there.

Okey dokey. Hello? Hello? And here. I am with Jimmy Vanderham. And Jimmy, I know that you've been doing NLP for seven years now, and you know, like I know that you're probably the person that has read it, in my opinion. All the NLP books ever existed. Maybe there's some that you haven't read yet. [00:01:00] So I know that you started, uh, your NLP journey by reading books of NLP.

So, and then you went ahead and, and just finally you met Dr. Richard Bandler, the co-creator of NLP. So, so when, so what's the difference for you between reading books? About NLP and then suddenly being learning directly from Dr. Bandler. 

Well, hello Ana. Thank you for this interview. Well, it was definitely a big difference because reading the books was very interesting to me, and I think one of the things that worked very well for me is that when I read the book, and especially because with NOP, we have a lot of very clear techniques, like step by step you can do this.

So first I would apply them to myself, and once it works, I would find other people, like very good friends of mine. Like my first client was one of my best friends back then. He was very, very afraid to speak in front of a group of people, and he had to do that a lot on school [00:02:00] back then. So, and I was going to, you know, to parties, all that kind of stuff with him.

And out of the blue, I call him and say, Hey, how are you doing, brother? He's like, oh, I'm doing good. I said, do you still have that fear for speaking in front of a group of people? He's like, yes. Yeah, man. And in two weeks I, I have to do this again, and I really don't want to do it. And he was so afraid the last time that before he was going to school, he was drinking alcohol, so he's coming to school.

He did his presentation. He was too drunk, so the school called the police. So he run out of the school, back home and the police had to go to his home to pick him up. So he was really afraid. So just by reading the book and reading the steps, I called him. I was like, Hey. I am now a neurolinguistic programmer.

I can help you get rid of this fear. And he is like, Ginny, come on man. Shut up. You, you can't do this now. I was like, I promise you. So I had to use my sales skill to get him in. So eventually he came and I just had the technique. It was like 20 minutes. [00:03:00] And in 20 minutes I helped you to get rid of that fear.

Two weeks later. He was going to school and I called him of course afterwards like, Hey, how was it going? How was the presentation? He was like, Jimmy, it was so crazy. I was not even nervous. 

Mm-hmm. 

Do the presentation the way I wanted to do it, but this is the moment I knew I had gold in my hands. Yeah.

Because he told me, it's not only when I do the presentation, but it's literally when I go out and I want to talk to girls. When I go to the gym, when I go to my work, I feel just. A sense of more confidence when I do all these other things in my life. So I was like, oh my God. So just by reading a book and just a short exercise, 20 minutes, I can, I can accomplish all that.

So that's the moment I decided, okay, I need to figure out who created this. And then I found out that Dr. Banter was still teaching that the first thing I found out, he is still alive, which was great, and that he was still teaching. And now I think two and a half [00:04:00] years ago, he did an event in Germany and I'm from the Netherlands.

I'm here living in Leiden, so Germany is not that far away. It's like a few hours drive. So I saw he was going to do an event and LP Strategies for Success, that's how they called it. So I was like, okay, this is a, a nice way to start getting teach by Dr. Benter. So I picked up my car and drove over there, and that's the first time I met Dr.

Benter and got like real life teaching. And of course. As you know, it is very different than by reading out of a book or really being there and learning it from him and from John Lavell and from Kathleen Lavell and all the other trainers there. My second event, that's where I met you, Ana. 

Yeah. It was 

Secret Advanced Strategies for Change.

Well, it, it, it's just such a big difference because when I was reading the book and I had to put somebody in a good state, like, for example, confidence with my, with. Best friend back then, and I had to anchor it because I read, okay, you press on the [00:05:00] shoulder, press over there to anchor the feeling of confidence, but you don't know how hard to press or how soft or how long or all these different things.

And when you are in person and you learn it over there, they, they teach you literally, and they can of course show you. Like how specifically you have to press it. How long and how hard. Because most of the times when you only read the book, you're like, okay, I'm gonna anchor them. And you press like this, right?

And like, ah, come on man. Relax, relax. But you can do it a lot softer, a lot more gentle. 

So how much are you enjoying this episode? Imagine leveling up every week. Join next level Pro Institute where our motto is, practice, practice, practice. This is the place where you will gain real tools, deeper skills, and a community that will accelerate your growth.

I will see you there. Click on the link and we'll see you soon. 

That's funny. No, and that's true. And it is interesting [00:06:00] that you mentioned a little bit your background in sales, right? Because is that what you were doing when you started doing NLP? Is that like when you got into NLP you were working in sales?

Is that what it was? It 

was around the, around the same time. So I read some books before I started. Doing sales. And after that I started doing sales, which was great because the NLP worked very well with it. 'cause it's neuro linguistic programming, right? Linguistic is the middle name. And with sales, you need to make sure that you are in the right state.

Right. And use your language in a way so you can convince people to buy whatever you are selling there. Of course. So it was great and I gave a lot of, um, a lot of sales training there. And I had no background in sales, so I didn't really know. All the techniques and stuff, but I did know a little bit about NLP and how to get myself into the states.

So I would give mostly training how to get people in the right state. So I would teach our people that, like how you, if you change the way you think, like Dr. [00:07:00] Ben's favorite quotes, you change the way you feel and therefore you change what you are capable of doing. I had a one time, I worked for like three months, uh, door by door sales.

And I 

did it very well, so they asked me to become like the manager of the, the company over there, so became the manager. I did it for like one and a half years training all these people, and then I quit because I was done with it. I wanted to do something else. But just before I was going away, I wanted to go back door by door again.

I wanted to go back in the fields. I wanted to show everybody there that I can still do it. So I remember the first day when I came back, you have five hours to go door by door, first hour, zero sales, second hour, zero sales. That was probably my worst day ever. Even my first day was better and I was like, oh my God.

And everybody of the whole company thought I was making a joke. They all thought I was making S seals, but I let nobody know about it because we will put it in the group chat every time you have a S Seal. But I [00:08:00] wasn't, so I called like my, uh, second Father Beth is his name, and I called him. It's like, Beth, I don't know what is going on.

I should be really good at this, but I, I'm still at zero and it's now three hours in. He's like, Jimmy, you know what you need to do. I, I worked for Ika and for Make A Wish. It's for child foundations who are sick and you want to get money for them so they could do something very nice one time. So. He said, Jim, just sit down, um, somewhere, uh, by the roads where, where you're walking, grab your phone, put on YouTube and watch a video from Make A Wish, how to use the money so they can get a kid who's very sick and fulfill his wish or her wish.

So it's like, okay, you know, I just do whatever he says. So I grabbed the phone, I sit on the walkway, however you call it. I watch the, the YouTube video like three, four minutes. I was like, oh, this is very nice. This is very nice. I walked to the door, I was ready three, three and a half hours in now. First door, I ring the bell, boom.

I make [00:09:00] a seal. After that, I made nine seals in one and a half hours. If you make five seals, perfect, you're good. You can go back home. And I make nine in the last one and a half hours. Mm-hmm. Because by watching that video. I start changing the way I was thinking about making the sales. I remembered why I was walking there.

Mm-hmm. So it changed how I feel and I start changing completely how I was doing the sales process. I mean, you know, it's like we human beings influence each other all the time. So when I change my state, other people, they have no choice to go with us. Right? It's one of the first, uh, things we always learn.

If you work on, if you want somebody to go somewhere, you have to go first. 

Yeah, I, it's, it's very cool because that happens in business always, right? You really need to kind of like be in love with the product that you're selling. You really need to believe in it, right? Being a training, being, you know, what you were selling there, the information you were selling for the wish, and then also anything, you know, [00:10:00] so you have to know and love and believe in the product that you're selling that.

Basically, yeah, that's good. And I know that because I know you that you are someone that, um. That really likes to compete and wants to be at the top of your own game. You like to always be better and better. And I know that you have, uh, in your past, or actually really right now, you're also working on your bodybuilding.

I'm know, are you doing it now as a hobby or, but before you used to be very serious about bodybuilding. Is that right? 

Yeah, I used to be way more serious when I was younger. Like I had like one big goal in my mind back then. I wanted to be the best bodybuilder in the world. That was it. So I would train like four times a day.

I would eat seven meals and then two, uh, in between meals, you know? So, and you have to imagine like making all these meals, buying it, making it and eating [00:11:00] it, and then training. It was like a food day job. Yeah. And I wanted the gym, so I had designed my life the way I wanted it. So it, it, it, it was doable.

It was a lot of hard work, but I mean, what I learned from it. Which I always think is very important to learn from your experiences is a lot of discipline. Yeah. And if you really want something, you can get it. But the thing was with bodybuilding, I want to become the best body in the world. So your first thing you have to do is become a pro professional bodybuilder.

So it's going to a gyms called Steel Works, uh, in, uh, D Hague. It's now close, so I can say the name. And you had like big bodybuilders, like real serious bodybuilders. And I was like, oh man, I want this too. And the owner of the gym, he came to me, he is like, Jim. I will train you for free. I will give you all the meal plans for free.

So I will help you out if you go on stage and tell everybody that you train with us, that you train at my gym. It's like a marketing thing, right? But then I found out that if you want to become a professional bodybuilder, you have to use a lot of [00:12:00] steroids, CRO hormone, all that kind of stuff. I was like, well, if I'm gonna do that, I'm not gonna be very old, you know?

Or at least I'm not gonna be healthy and old. That's not gonna happen. So that's one of the reasons I, uh, I, I quit that part. So I am not as serious as I was back then with bodybuilding, but I'm still training like five, six times a week. I still eat my muse, but instead of seven, I ate four Muse right now, but I still weigh all my food.

So if other people see me living, they're like, man, this guy is crazy with his food and training. But to me it's like, Hey, you have no idea how I was back then. This is like, this is kindergarten. 

Yeah. And so how does that bodybuilding discipline translate to mastering NLP for you? What's that connection between this physical optimization and also this mental neural optimization?

Yeah, well, if you want to get big and muscular, it takes years. I mean, you can go today, you can go to the gym and have the perfect workout. [00:13:00] Today you can eat perfectly, and tomorrow you wake up and you don't see any of it. But you could do it for a week and maybe you see a little little change if you do a month a little bit.

But if you do it over a year, you're like, oh my God, my, my chest became bigger. This became bigger. Mm-hmm. So it's so many hours, so many things you have to do, and so many. Energy that you have to put in there, but the result will come later. What I think is interesting, and it's the same, I believe, with other things you wanna become really good at or you wanna master, right?

The, the path of mastery is, there are a lot of things you have to do in order to get there, but also there are so many things you do not should do if you wanna get there. So, for example, bodybuilding, you don't wanna drink alcohol. Yeah, you don't wanna stay up all night because the next day when you wanna train it is not gonna happen.

You won't perform as you shoot. And I think that discipline of literally eliminating all these [00:14:00] distractions and focus on one thing for like a long, long time, even if it's sometimes really boring, like I love NO. But many times when I read these things again and again, because some books, some videos I watch like 30 times.

It's not that it's very fun every time, but when you read them out. But I just know if I put in the hours, if I put in that repetition, it's gonna pay off that it, it's that focus, it's that concentration. Right. I like that Dr. Benton says like real good hypnosis is real good concentration. So actually I'm just in the trends all the time.

That's good. 

Yeah, you're in a really focused trance. And, and I do have to attest that yes, he does watch videos like 30 times. Yeah. Yeah. At the beginning, um, we were accountability partners for learning language patterns. Uh, Jimmy and I would be like writing the language patterns, and he told me, you need to write each language pattern a hundred times, and then we take pictures and send it through WhatsApp, and oh my gosh, I'm like.

He was like, [00:15:00] I did a hundred more. I'm like, what's wrong with you? I could barely do my hundred. I was like, yo, he you. That's one thing I admire about you, Jimmy. You always go above and beyond. I mean, you bring, I can see it. You bring this. You know, focus and desire to be better to anything that you touch, you know, so that's, that's a very cool, so that is so interesting.

And, um, going back to when you were, you know, doing NLP before meeting Dr. Bandler, you've, you, I mean, you've been, what, like four years before meeting Dr. Bandler or something like that and, and you were. Absorbing this information. Was it only from books or were you, uh, going some other learning from other teachers of NLP.

Good question. So mostly books. I, I would actually what you said at the beginning, I would literally just buy every book that I saw on Amazon Bulb would come. I was like, Hey, NLP sounds interesting. I just buy it. I start reading it. A lot of them I don't really like, but a lot of them were, were [00:16:00] amazing. Um, somewhere like super complicated.

At the beginning I was like, what the hell is this? And then when you read the books on Dr. Ben, I'm like, oh, it's not that d It's not that compli complicated, but some people like to make it very complicated. Um, but then I also followed the training, uh, here in the Netherlands, in Amsterdam. 

Mm-hmm. 

Um, uh, by the Npe Institute for Netherlands.

And that, that was pretty good. That was actually my first time I had like, training in real life, but I read so many books before it, so nothing was really new to me. All the information already knew because I already read everything. So a lot of times people would say that to me. Like, Jimmy, it's amazing how quickly you learn all these things.

You could do it without the book all the time. 'cause we would do exercise with the book like this. Um, 

oh no. 

You know, that's never gonna happen by Dr. But that's how we learned it. But I didn't need the book. I was like, well, I've read this thing already like 100 times, so I know it outta my head. And I will constantly tell them, [00:17:00] no, no, no, no, no.

It's not that I'm this smart, but I have just read so many books before this and like, eh, Jim, 'cause they couldn't believe how many books, how many hours I already read NLP. Right. I mean, that's one of the most, uh, important things. So I have one training to get the, the intro short and a lot of books. Yes.

No, but I mean, when, when we met, that's something that stood out, you know, that you really knew. The stuff. It was very interesting. And, and of course, you know, I, I think when we met in Dallas, we barely talked during the training. I think we just met at the end. You scared the crap out of me when 

you No, no, no.

In the elevator. I know exactly 

how

public record, how it happened. Yeah. 

Oh, you know the lady from the podcast, the interview. Like What? Me? No, no, no. I was like, okay, maybe my mistake and you were amazing. 

Okay. I had no idea. See, I had done this [00:18:00] interview with Dr. Bandler and I had no idea he was already out. So I had no idea that you had seen it.

And so when you're like, so imagine you're in this little elevator and this man that is like double my size. It's like, Hey, you are. And I was like, woo. Who is this person? Yeah. We were not in very good control of our state then, then, but yeah. No, it was funny. Why was, um, yeah, that's how history happened, you know?

That's how we met. Um, yeah. No, but it, no, it was very cool to, to talk to you. I mean, that's the one thing that, you know, I think bonded us because we were like obsessed with. P we were like, everything was NLP, and, and it was very cool to spend time talking to you about it and, and everything. So thank you, you know, for being there, like a good sounding board and a good conversation partner about that.

Because many times when we are in our own fields, in in our own countries, you're now in the Netherlands and here in the US it's, [00:19:00] it's sometimes, uh, hard to find people around you to talk about that, you know? And, um, 

you always said. And I know there's not officially pure NLP, but we always said we are pure NLP 'cause all the psycho B we are like, no, no, no, no, no.

We don't believe all that stuff. That's not true. We are just like pure NLP. Yeah. In fact, that really Well, 

well, and I, I'll say that it's a trademark from that side nlp, you know? Um, but yes. Yeah, no, I, I like your full-time focus and how you've been able to, to do this career so fast because you. With Dr.

Bandler and when you started your proper training in NLP, that was. In 2023, then I think, uh, you met Juan Antonio. You accelerated your training with a mentorship with him. Um, but truly you did all the official training in 2024, right? And suddenly you're the trainer. 

I'm a very 

good one at that. [00:20:00]

It was going really fast.

Yeah, because I remember, uh, the second NLP petitioner I did. And you were also there. And, uh, I was, I was telling a story and I told everybody, so I'm now, uh, officially an NLP trainer, a licensed NLP trainer for two years. Ana was like. Jimmy. Jimmy, you're not Two years Like, what do you mean three years?

Like no one year. I was like, oh shit. That was only one year. That was very funny. Time flies when we having fun. 

Yeah, it's called time distortion. I. But I can see that, I mean, because you're so focused on the things you, you like and you love NLP and you're really dedicated at it. And so, um, during your, uh, NLP career, I know that you've helped a ton of people.

And, and can you tell us a little bit how you're using NLP in your business, for example, and what is your business? Uh, outside of training and lp 

Yeah, so, so mostly what I focus on, you could call it change [00:21:00] work. 

Yeah. 

Right. So if people have, for example, um, things they call depression, burnout, panic attacks, fears.

Insecurity, things like that. That's mostly what I work with, help people overcome that. But for example, yesterday I had a client and he, uh, had like a lot of, uh, skin stuff, like, and a lot of, um, how you call this when you wanna itch, like a very itchy, right? So like his neck, his face was all red, his eyes, like on his back, it was like, oh.

Open because he was itching so much. So even things like that, like physical, of course, I, I cannot always promise people like that, that, that I can help them, but I always like to change, to take the challenge. Right. Put 'em in the trance and see what we can do. But mostly that kind of stuff. Yeah, mostly change work.

Yeah. And you work with, uh, young adults as well there in the Netherlands. Right, and, and I know that they're, uh, young adults that are like in a very risky situation or in a very bad situation there. And, [00:22:00] and is that where you were, uh, learning or you already knew and, and you were applying what you had learned?

Yeah, so there are companies in the Netherlands. Who have, like Ana said, young adults who have like psychological behavioral problems and like they had a very bad background, you know, like no parents or drug use or all that kind of stuff. So when I started working with that group of people, there was not necessarily where I earned a lot of money.

What was very, very cool is that you can get great results with them. And I learned so much there. I've watched so many videos with Dr. Bandler and so many times he had those stories about clients who had the crazy panic attacks and problems. I was like always mesmerized by it, like, oh my God, this is amazing.

And when I started working with those kids, that's where I met people with those for the most, people like crazy problems, like, how the hell does this work? So I learned a lot there. Yes, for sure. 

Yeah. No, it's, it is, [00:23:00] that is, I mean, I, I find that I always learn from my clients, you know, my clients, they have unique ways of creating things and I was like, well, I had not thought about doing it that way.

I would be very scared as well if I did it that way, you know? Um, but it's very cool that we have the tools to be able to just. Shift things around and, and I think we, the other day, we were, you and me were talking about something very simple, right? Like spinning feelings and how we use it in, in many areas and how powerful it is.

Simple, what we can call technique, but what is the for you? Because one, one thing that we make a difference about is technique versus skills. You know, and so what we are training and what we practice every day is, are our skills, right? And the technique will work until it stops working like the, uh, John Laval says, right?

Uh, so in your experience, you know, how do you keep your skills [00:24:00] well tuned? 

Yeah. So the way I learned it from Dr. Bensler is like, NLP is a few things, and one of the things NLP is it's an attitude. Yeah. 

Mm-hmm. So 

you wanna live NLP. So wherever I'm going with whoever I'm talking to, I always think about using my skills.

So even when I talk to my mom or to family, I'm always very conscious of what words I'm using. I'll never talk about pain, right? I always get health. So I always going to the direction of where we want to go. So I think it's just using these skills all the time. Like, just like you said, I had, uh, I did my mentorship, uh, with Juan Antonio and after that it became like a great friend, like family.

And I stayed with him like many times at his, at his house. And I really learned from him that when we would go to the grocery store or anywhere where we would go, you know, I mean, Juan would take me to the freaking nail salon man. There, there was nothing but so, but even when we would go there, he would use his skills.

He would make a joke and he would anchor it. [00:25:00] He would, you know, he would use anchor with his intonation, all these different things. I was like, oh my God, you can really use it everywhere. So I think that's the, the big secret. It's to, you can, you can literally practice with everybody. 

Yeah, 

because 

many times you, you hear that, right?

Like, I don't have clients to practice. I mean, first of all, you should be practicing with your clients.

You should be doing it with your clients. 

But yeah, you hear that a lot. And then, um. So bringing it back to, um, NLPI, you know, the next level Pro Institute, you are one of the trainers there, also the owner, and you know, like, uh, tell me a little bit more about what is, uh, next Level Pro Institute for you and how, you know.

How it's, how is it, um, what is it that we do? I know we, we've explained that every Saturday we get together and we practice. We have Wednesday q and as. But from your point of view, you know, what motivates you to keep coming here and [00:26:00] doing it? 

Well, the first thing, uh, is a easy one for me because I, I like NLP and hypnosis so much.

So I like to talk about it a lot. But also we, and especially you started with this, of course, have created like a great community. 

Of all these 

people every Wednesday they come back, every Saturday they come back and you it. It's very cool to notice that when we answer questions, for example, or we teach new techniques on Saturday or new ways of doing things, and then afterwards we ask, so what did you do with the client?

Like, well, I think what you did blah, blah, blah, and a work like this. So it's like we can teach them so they can become better, but they are literally also improving lives from other people. Right, exactly. It's like a ripple effect. So that's, uh, that's very cool. And if people talk about, you know, where can I practice my skills?

Well, the Saturday is perfect for practicing your skills and getting that community. And also people, they go out on their own and practice, uh, together. [00:27:00] I mean, the more you practice, the better you get. 

Yeah, because that is true. I've noticed that the students have been also connecting and getting together and being accountability partners to each other and, and creating little groups, study groups, you know, outside of this, which is very organically, you know, growing into us.

Sometimes I join them. 

Yes, I know. They told me that here. 

I'm just checking on you. 

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or I think, I know Juan has popped in. What some of those Yeah, 

it's great. 

Yeah. No, and it's, it is, uh, it is something that I love what you said about community because we are all over the world. I mean, you're in the Netherlands.

I'm in the US Camel and Juan in the us but our students are from basically nearly everywhere in the world. In south 

of Africa. We have a few people. 

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. How cool 

is that? I always like that. Like I always like what uh, Dr. Ler says is that when he started modeling Virginia Satir Milton h Erickson, that [00:28:00] it was not his.

Purpose to get the magic out of it. But that magic, like his first book, that magic has a structure. So if he could model it, he could teach other people to do more magic. That's how, how I think about it. Most of the times I think what we do is magical. And I think it's very cool to teach other people to do more magic so we can spread this word through the world.

I think everybody, I think every school should learn a little bit of NLP. Yes. How do you think you have an image here? You, you talk to yourself. Just change this to, I don't know, to a funny voice. Shrink this image down. Put a new one here. Like you said, with the spinning feelings. I sometimes have clients who have like problems for I don't know how many years, and then when they talk about it, then I see this hand going like this all the time.

I just don't know. It just feels so bad. Okay, good. So there's bad feeling. Where do you feel it, right? I think here. Yes. Exactly. So put your hand here. Which way does it spin? Oh, forward. So spin it faster. Does it become [00:29:00] worse? Yes. Yes. Yes. Spin it slower, stop it, spin it backwards. And most of the times you get the opposite feeling, but people have fear and you spin it the opposite way.

Mostly it becomes curiosity. And sometimes I have clients for years, they feel bad. You just change literally the feeling how it spins and they're like, oh my God, I feel better now that you change the way they think about it. And if you do it fast enough, and of course with hypnosis and NOP techniques, we make sure that it stays that way.

That the new program, the new way of thinking, the new way of spinning your feelings becomes just as automatic as the old program did. So you don't have to constantly think about it. It just happens. Like your old problem just happens now. The new thing just happens. I think, uh, it's amazing. Everybody should learn a little bit about it.

I agree. I agree. This should be taught in schools, honestly. Yes, absolutely. 

If I would've known this in school, uh, that would be beautiful. It save me a few years. 

Yeah. Yeah. That's funny. Yeah, me too. Me too. [00:30:00] I'll say that and, and then, um. The, the funny thing is like, I, I love the perspectives that you were talking about, how we can, you know, we are spreading this magic through the world.

Right? And and that's what we wanna, it, it, you know, when you were talking about, um. You know, being taught in schools like, or the possibility of doing that, that, that started for me making, thinking about something like that. You know, how can we do that? How that's the next thing. I, I love that we are teaching, uh, the people that we're teaching, but we want to grow it to other places and yeah.

And all I see my, uh, younger kids, you know, that. I'm, I'm having some interactions and conversations with them. Um, not, not my child, my child's 19, but, uh, it is, you know, and, and I'm looking at them and they're so young and they catch the concept. Really fast. They are grabbing it like very fast. I, I had a visitor here and she would actually [00:31:00] tour them and I have a farm and they are afraid.

They're afraid of the dogs and they're afraid of the horses and stuff. Right. And it's really, they have a 

farm. 

Yes. And it's, it's really easy to help the child, you know. To get over those fears, especially if the parents are not interfering. I mean, they're there. And I was like, can you, can I work with your kid a little bit?

And it just takes like five minutes, you know, because it's just changing their state and they're like, oh. And uh, and it's so surprising to see them, uh, change so fast because they are really like what we call in cedar waves, you know, especially if they're less than seven years old. They're absorbing all that.

And, and uh, and you know, we are putting our seeds there. Wherever we can seed of magic, of light and hopefully like, I like what you said, the generalizes your first example about how you were able to change one thing in one person and it went to other areas. It's That's because that's how neurology works, right?

And 

Exactly. And you never know how that little [00:32:00] seed is going to grow. Exactly. And just a little seed can have. I mean, how many times you had it in your life that you maybe read a book or somebody told you something and just that little phrase just changed the way you were thinking about something, or literally changed the way you were making decisions about something.

Maybe you move to a different place. Mm-hmm. I don't know. Mm-hmm. Sometimes just something small can change like somebody's whole life. 

Mm-hmm. And, and, uh, one thing that I want to say about Jimmy is that when we were in one of the boot camps, um, my husband went there and it was his first time being the practitioner.

He was not happy to be there. Like the first few 

days, he was not happy, not 

happy at all. And. And I remember it was that Wednesday and he was working with you, and I have been asking you on phone, please help my husband because he's, he was really not happy about being there. He is like, Ana made me come, you know, you know, he forced me to come here and, and I wanted [00:33:00] him to come because I this see.

That obsession that you have. I had that obsession and my husband was not understanding what's going on, right? And, and I love him. I want him to be part of this world. And so I said, you do need to come to this training with me. You know, it's, it's all covered. Don't worry about it. Just come. And he was there.

He was not understanding what was going on. I mean, he was not someone that wanted to be there. Um, but. Tell us, you know, how was it that you were able to, and you get, you're free to say this, you know about, uh, Travis, you know, how you were able to make him laugh so much and why is laughter such a powerful tool in our work?

Yeah, it was so beautiful. So, right. So Dr. Bender says this, a lot of times, it's, many times people say, well, you know, in a few months we can look back at it and laugh. And our policy is why wait. Start laughing about it now. One of the real diseases in human beings life is [00:34:00] seriousness. Yeah. If people are too serious about their problem, it becomes more real.

At the moment, people start laughing about it. They get a chance to be free of it, right? The more people laugh, they get more oxytocin and all those good brain juices like John Lavell says. And it's easier for people to make new neurocortical projections and neurocortical connections, so they can literally begin to change their brain.

They can change the way they think about what used to be a problem. So, uh, one of the cool things with hypnosis, hypnosis is an amplifier. 

You can 

make people, if somebody feels, for example, confidence from a, a scale to zero to, uh, to 100, and they can feel like 80 an hypnosis, you can make it go to two hundreds.

You can amplify things and deem, amplify a lot of things. So, I mean, your husband Travis at the beginning, he, he literally told me somewhere in the beginning days, I am afraid to laugh. 

Mm-hmm. Because Antonio 

makes everybody laugh. You're laughing your ass off and he did not. [00:35:00] Let fully go of laughters.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Like this. And he literally told me, I'm afraid to laugh. I've always been afraid to laugh. I don't do it. I was like, okay, good. Stick it in my mind. And I think Juan Antonio was like, okay. Like at the fourth day or something. Maybe you remember what day it was? 

It was the third day, yeah. 

Oh, the third day.

Okay. He, he put me with, uh, with Travis, like, you work with him. So I put him in the trends and I start making jokes. And of course when you see that little smile. You know, okay. We are, we are opening up a little bit, and one of the things we learned for San Antonio, if you make somebody. Tell themselves in their minds the things they tell themselves when they laugh about themselves.

So for example, if I make a mistake and I say, ah, fucking jimmy stupid, the thing they say to themselves at that moment that they start laughing. If you can recall that and make them say that to themselves at that moment. So they start laughing and of course, I mean we, we have a lot of jokes we use and you just need to crack it up.

And the moment you have him in trends and make him laugh, you can make him laugh so hard. And he started laughing. He started. Crying fall [00:36:00] laughter, and of course you anchored it and then you, we have sliding anchors. So you anchor the ER here, for example, and you say, okay, in a moment I'm gonna slide the anchor and you're gonna double this letter B, right?

And he start laughing his ass off. And the go stuff is this. Of course, when he starts laughing, releasing all that good brain juice, that's the moment you wanna take that feeling and connect it to the things in his future or while he is laughing so hard, connecting that feeding while thinking about the stuff that makes or used to make him feel bad in the past.

Right? So he begins. That feeling without that stuff. So if you make himself seeing himself being very serious about stuff while he is laughing very hard, then you begin to associate that feeling, that laughter with being serious. I mean, it was amazing. How was it for you? How, how did, how did you experience this?

Because I remember you were standing behind it. 

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was there. I was laughing so much. I mean, I, I could, I was first of all not believing how he [00:37:00] was crying, you know, like I could see the tears coming down. He is eyes because he was laughing so much. I loved it because it was like a blip. And then after that, the whole rest of the week, he was laughing and he was actually making everybody else laugh.

I remember, uh, one of our students from Canada, she, you know, sometimes we message and she was telling me, I still remember that week. And that was the most I had laughed in my whole life and, and I was like, well, you were with my husband. You guys were with like, like bouncing from each other and they were laughing so much and it was great to see it, you know, from that perspective of like, thank you, you know, this is great.

Because it was creating such a nice environment. It was contagious. It was like that spark. To everybody in the house and all of us were laughing about things, you know, it was like ridiculous. 

Exactly. And sometimes when somebody's like very [00:38:00] serious, sometimes it's almost like, like you have to li you have to use a little bit of force.

Like, you almost have to like to, to break that state of consciousness, like, and put 'em out there and put 'em in a new one, in a much better one. 

Yeah. 

And that's what your, your husband needed a little bit. Yeah. 

Lighting up and, yeah. No, and no, it's been great. It's been amazing. I mean, uh, he gets it now because he's experienced it.

You know, he experience why this change is so important, and that has changed everything for him, the way he presents himself in the world, uh, how brave he is in many circumstances. I mean, he is a, a very talented man, right? But in many areas. You know, sometimes he would stop himself from moving forward, and now he just goes and does it.

And he's able to find humor in many things. And, and, uh, and we are actually, our communication has improved, right? Because using NLP, you know, we, we both know NLP and, and we can read each other's faces, you could say, and, uh, oh, [00:39:00] you're accessing cues and stuff. And, and then it is, it is very interesting to be able to have that open communication.

And, and move forward and support each other. So I, you know, like for me personally, it was a very, um, uh, personal and, you know, helping my family to become stronger. So I always thank you Jimmy and also Juan, because, you know, Juan also was instrumental in, in all the training that he was leaving that week.

And, and the things that he, that I like about the boot camp is this optimization, this work that the trainer who is training is doing. It's goes beyond what he's explaining to the classroom. Right. And you've gone through that experience in your own boot camps, right? How you are not only training and teaching a lesson.

You're actually optimizing people. You're like, you know, calibrating, being uptime, seeing what people need, and then give that to them as well, because we want our students to [00:40:00] optimize in their lives, 

uh, keeping track of them. 

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And so for, and you've been a co-train a trainer in a, a student in the.

And in the boot camps, what we call the practitioner boot camps, uh, which is a style that we do in the next level. Pro Institute. You've been a student, you've been a, a co-train, and you've been a proper trainer in all these boot camps, you know, so maybe you can tell our listeners what is this thing of the boot camp?

What is happening here in this boot camp thing, and what is that different and how do you see it? 

Let me tell you, bootcamp is the best. I remember the first time we, uh, we sold, um, the bootcamp as a retreat. It was like the id, oh my gosh, I remember my first line. So good morning everybody. So you all sign up for a retreat, but this is a fucking bootcamp.

So the bootcamp ID is this, we rent a [00:41:00] beautiful Airbnb, especially in the us Well, the N'S also, we had a big one in the us. We had the pool and stuff like, like beautiful Airbnb and everybody who comes there for the training. Also the trainers. I'll stay in the Airbnb the whole week, seven days. And we do training in the morning, afternoon, and night.

And most of the times, like late night we have homework. 

Yeah. 

Literally a week long. It's literally eat, sleep, train, NL, be, and hypnosis. So you, you, you cannot, like the reactions we got from people after the week were, were beautiful. Like for a whole week, hypnosis and NOP doing all these techniques, all these exercises, but also, like you said, especially the first time when I, um, did my practitioner back home.

He's teaching the whole week, but he's also installing a lot of stuff to optimize everybody. So after a week long, getting all these post hypnotic suggestions, all these beautiful metaphors, and doing all these techniques, [00:42:00] because the thing with NLP, and I think I, I, I, I noticed this because for us it's so normal.

But when I was going back to my home place, a lot of people. Where, uh, talking about the trainings I did, and I noticed something, they were not aware that if we, for example, do a technique getting rid of a phobia, that we do it with somebody out of the group, put 'em on stage, do the phobia cure like they, uh, used to call it, right?

We do the technique, get rid of the phobia, but then everybody in the group starts doing the technique. On each other. So everybody gets rid of a fear or phobia. So it's not that we give a training, we just talk about our experiences, how we helped a, a client get rid of a phobia. No, we are gonna demonstrate it there and everybody is gonna do it there.

And I think it's a very, very big difference because when I talked about it back, there we're like a big group on the birthday. They were like, oh really? You do it that way? They, they, they couldn't believe it that it was like this. Because most of the times when you go to a training, a [00:43:00] lot of times it's just listening.

Right? A lot of theories and not like a lot of demonstrations and doing stuff so that there's a big difference. And I think in the bootcamp, that's what we do. So for a week long, the whole week, morning, afternoon, and night, you are literally thinking, okay. Do I have something I want to optimize? Trust me, day three, you're like, okay, do I have a bad memory?

Do I have anything left? Think about it. Think of do I have everything perfectly? Does everything feel good in my body? Right? It's like, because you don't have anything more, because we go through every part of it. It's beautiful. So you will definitely be optimized after that and you will have the skills.

Because with, uh, the way we teach NLP is by using NLP, so we install a lot of stuff unconsciously. So you will have the skills to do this outside in the world with other people. 

Mm-hmm. No, yeah, that's, that's, I mean, on, on, uh, the extended, um, schedule. Right. It might be a little scary for some people. It's like, what?

What if I can't do this? You know? [00:44:00] Like, you know, it's too long. I'm a nine to five person. You know? So how would you dispel that myth? Okay. 

Very, very good question. I like it and, and I get it, but I mean, I, I love it. Like I love the bootcamp. Like I, like one week, no sleep only training, but you get it. I get it.

Like, oh my, that's a lot. The funny thing is you can ask everybody who has been there, many people have been there. You, you don't experience it like it's a long day. It's like, oh man, the day is already over. I mean, like Punana said, it's, it's time distortion. So time is very subjective, right? If you are enjoying yourself, time flies by.

When you're really bored standing in line somewhere, it takes a long freaking time. So you will experience it like, oh my God, the week is already over it. It's very, very interesting. The thing with NOP, if you're not having fun, you're not doing NOP. 

That is true. 

We always make people laugh. We always make people smile.

If you want people to learn, you need to entertain them and teach them at the same [00:45:00] time. 'cause the better people feel, the more brain juices they have, the faster people learn. 

Mm-hmm. No, that is so true. And, and, uh, and, uh, you know, like I rem I mean, we are, if we are in this bootcamp, for example, we do a lot of hypnosis.

And when you're in the trance. It's like you're resting too. 

Yes. I'm like, why do you need sleep? You're sleeping the whole day. 

Exactly. You know, but that's what you get when you get, uh, someone, uh, that loves n lp, you know, training with you, you know, like Jimmy and me and Juan and Cam, you know, we're obsessed with it and that's what happens.

A boot camp. Yeah, 

it's amazing. It's amazing. I really love it. 

So, Jimmy, I have rapid fire questions for you. Okay. So the first answer that comes to mind, so what is a favorite NLP technique or skill that you use? Daily 

Swiss banner. 

Oh, okay. That was fast. And so do you want, do 

you want me [00:46:00] to explain or just uh, just ask Yeah, 

sure, sure.

You can explain, yeah. Yeah. 

Okay. Well, I think it's so cool about the Swiss pattern. I, I don't know how many people know, but the switch pattern, and I hope people know it in this, uh, podcast, but the thing is, when you build the target, whatever it is that they want, I like to build seeing themselves the way they want to be.

Right. So when you build that big, shiny image, when it's that big target, you literally change their whole direction in their life. Mm-hmm. If they see themselves doing something specific. Maybe you only change it for that situation if you build it more general. So they have a big shiny image of the way they want to be.

They can be that person in every area of their life. Mm-hmm. So, I mean, I have so many favorite techniques, but just the first thing come in my mind, twist pad. So we can, I'm gonna shut up now 

and I'm gonna ask you a really hard question for you. No. What is the one book? 

No. 

No. 

Knew it. 

You wrote one book that you would recommend to someone that's new to NLP.

Look at him. Suffering. Only 

one. [00:47:00] Okay. Who is new to NLP? 

New to NLP? Yeah. 

Make Your Life Great. A Guide to Transformations. 

Okay. 

Okay. You know what? What the reason is Paul McKenna writes the four words and he talks about also there that the first years he gave NLP practitioners, he used that book to give the practitioner.

There's such a complete. It, it, it, it's a beautiful book. I love it the way Dr. Bender explains all these things, how to use the metamodel in the right way, because at the beginning they turned everything upside down later, and it goes from the beginning to more advanced stuff, more hypnosis in the second part of the book.

So I would recommend that one, a guide to transformations make your life great. 

Very good. Excellent. And so in your opinion, what is the biggest mistake that people do when they're learning NLP? 

Only focusing on the techniques. 

Oh, 

and not focusing enough on the skills. I mean, this is what I learned [00:48:00] mostly from John Novell.

Focus on the skills. 'cause just like you said, techniques will always work. Until they don't. Until they don't. And when you have the skills, you can create new techniques. You can create new programs for every client that's in front of you. 'cause for everybody will be a little bit different. And some people are stressed out because they have one bad memory and some people are stressed out because they have 100 different images in their minds.

So you have to do something different. And if you have the skills, you can figure out what they are doing inside their mind. What is the process or how we call it an NOP? What is the machine that they have? Then you know how to change it, to reverse it, to modify, to streamline artificial design, whatever you need to do in order to make their life better.

So that's what I would say. 

Yeah. Good. And then now body building or NLP, which requires 

painful, 

which discipline? Come on. That's an easy one. 

Shit. Okay. I [00:49:00] ha Okay. To me, what do you do? To me, I have to say NOP and I have to say NOP because to me, sometimes people ask me, okay, Jimmy, what is more important to first fix your body or first fix your mindset?

And I always say mindset because in order to get your ass at the gym and start eating healthy, you have to start here. Yes. So you need to start here. Yeah. You have more of these hard questions. Do we need to turn on my laptop? 

And now, what is the best advice that you've received from Dr. Battler 

when you change the way you think, you change the way you feel, and therefore change what you are actually capable of doing?

And I like to add this one because lately we're wearing, uh, Italy, neuro hypnotic tering. Mm-hmm. Where you change the way you feel. Spinning the feelings. 

Yeah. You would 

change the way you think and therefore change what you were actually capable of doing. 

Yeah. That was like, yeah, that's a specialization of NLP that Dr.

Ler [00:50:00] created a new thing, so, wow. It always is evolving. That's what's exciting to be there with him. 

Well, exactly. I mean, yes, we are. 

So now for you, uh, how would you define obsession in one sentence? 

In one sentence 

or two, I mean, I know you cannot do it in one sentence. 

I'm not good at very short answers.

No, no. He's like hours 

later. He's still defining obsession. 

Obsession, okay. Being relentlessly focused on one thing for a very long time. 

Good. And, and, and that's the thing, because lately I had a, a client and she's like, she's this obsession. And she would see it as a wrong thing, you know? It's like, oh, it's awful to be this obsess.

Right? But the way you define it, you can use it for many things, right? That's the whole spirit of NLP, the structure of 

it. So literally I had, yesterday I had a client because the way we fit was. The way I think about it, keep by myself is [00:51:00] obsession is a machine people have in their mind. They think about something in a way that makes 'em obsessed about it.

So that same way of thinking, that same machine, we can apply to many other different things in people's lives. Yesterday I had a client, he was sitting here, uh, next to me and he talked about his obsession in a very bad way. Mm-hmm. He said, Jim, I'm so stressed out, I feel so depressed. So at every moment in time I'm watching series.

And he's like, I don't even like the serial Netflix, but I just watch it so I don't have to listen to the stuff in my head. But he said, just five minutes before the series stops, I quickly press. So the next one comes on. So I don't have that minute of silence, and I have to listen to all the stuff in my head.

So he was obsessed. About constantly keeping himself busy. So he did, you know, avoiding the stuff, whatever was going on, on in his head, right? So he was obsessed about it. He constantly kept telling me about it. Like I'm obsessed about it. Obsessed about it. Okay, good. So ask him [00:52:00] that same obsession. Have you been obsessed about other things in your life?

He's like, yes. When I worked on my business, Jim, like years ago, I was obsessed about it. Everything I do. So he has a machine that works beautifully when he is doing his business because he made a lot of money. But now he used that same machine for something that's not very useful for him. So all I have to do is take that same machine that already works, put, put something new in its place, like getting healthy.

Then another point, which is very important I think, is every machine needs an on off button. 

Yes. 

So I put 'em in a trance turn on that machine because he wanted to be obsessed about working again. But I told him, so isn't it a better way of being obsessed? About your business while you are working at your business.

But at night, when you come back home by your wife that you are completely there with your wife and not thinking about the business all the time, but you can focus on her and doing fun stuff with her. It's like, well that, if that's possible, I would like that. Okay, good. [00:53:00] So you need an off button there. So put 'em in a.

Turn on that machine and teach him to have an on off button so that whenever he needs to turn on that machine, he can turn it off and when he doesn't need it, he can turn it on or off and on. Whatever. He has a control over it. Right? NOP. The way we teach NLB is to give people more freedom and to give people more control.

Yeah. The way I think about control is that people have more control consciously over their unconscious activity. 'cause all these problems are just unconscious processes and we can bring it more into the consciousness, right? Change it up a little bit and put it back. Mm-hmm. So obsession is a very good thing if you use it in a way for healthy stuff or good stuff for business, whatever.

For, yeah, for anything. I love what you did.

It's metaphorically right. I love it. It was perfect. So that's also one of the reasons why we always say conscious minds, unconscious mind. We never say subconscious mind subconscious that the prefix, that this under something [00:54:00] so undermines the other minds that that's not what it is, but metaphorically.

If it, you know, the process is in the un unconscious mind. We put it in the consciousness because I see it, one of, you know, it's, it's a big part of our job to literally squeeze out whatever is there in the unconscious so that it doesn't stay there and torture them for the rest of their life. Put it up, change it, and put it back so that the new program is just as automatic as the old program was.

Mm-hmm. That is so cool. Well, thank you for sharing all that, Jimmy, all your wisdom. This was such great time with you. And now if our listeners want to work with you and, uh, although one, one sessions, I know we'll have information about the institute in the YouTube description, but how can they reach you?

How can they get in touch with you? 

Well, one of the easiest ways is to scores through NLPI and otherwise social media, Jimmy Vanderham, just my name, uh, Instagram or Facebook. That's easiest to reach me. [00:55:00]

Okay, great. You know, and we'll put all those links, uh, as well so that people can reach you and you are based in live then.

Uh, Netherlands. 

Based in the Netherlands. Yes, 

yes. Or in the US travel. 

You wanna have a session and you're close by in the Netherlands. I would highly recommend you to come over to Lighten and of course, some things we can also do online, but life is always better. 

Life is always better. Yeah, no, I agree with that.

Well, thank you. And you know, like it's been a pleasure to have you here. Thank.