by Emanuela Giangregorio, posted 12th Feb 2010

What is Anchoring ?

Whether you are aware of it or not, we are all affected by anchors throughout our lives. Some anchors provide a ‘resourceful state’, whilst others put us into an ‘unresourceful state’.

If you recall Pavlov’s experiment with the dog… every time the dog was given food, Pavlov rang a bell. After some time, he was able to ring the bell without producing any food - this would cause the dog to salivate. The sight and sound of the bell was an anchor that put the dog into a state of expecting food, and its body reacted accordingly.

Think about the times you saw a picture of something, heard a piece of music or smelled a familiar fragrance - and how in a split second this could change your mood… these are all examples of anchors. In most cases, these anchors have been built in situationally, i.e. we didn’t create the anchor. Anchoring is expressly creating an anchor so that you can access a resourceful state whenever you need it. I call these anchors ‘Designer Anchors’.

What is a ‘Resourceful State’ ?

A resourceful state is a state/mood/feeling that you find useful in one or many situations. Examples of resourceful states include feeling inquisitive, excited, motivated, enthusiastic, calm and grounded; examples of unresourceful states include feeling anxious, angry, annoyed, frightened, nervous and frustrated.

If you had an anchor that you could call ‘on demand’ to replace an unresourceful state with a resourceful state, imagine how much more successful and powerful you could be!

Types of Anchors
Anchors can be 

• Visual (a picture, e.g. of a peaceful landscape)
• Auditory (a sound, e.g, favourite ‘power’ song)
• Kinaesthetic (a touch, e.g. thumb a forefinger together)
• Gustatory (a taste, e.g. favourite savoury taste)
• Olfactory (a smell, e.g. favourite flower)

All the above types of anchors can be internal (in your mind) or external (what you actually see, hear, touch etc).

In most cases, the easiest Designer Anchors to install are visual, auditory and kinaesthetic.

You can also use more than one type of anchor to really strengthen the resourceful state: a picture + a sound + a touch.

10 Steps to Installing Anchors

1. Decide on the resourceful state you want to anchor, e.g. a state of calm. 
2. Choose an anchor (or anchors) that you wish to trigger the resourceful state, e.g. seeing the colour blue and pressing your thumb and index finger of your left hand together. 
3. Recall a time where you have experienced that state - take note of what you saw, what you heard and, most importantly, how you felt. 
4. Magnify the experience - hold the memory of the last time you felt this way and make the picture in your mind bigger and brighter, if sound was relevant make that louder, and magnify the feeling inside (e.g. of feeling calm).
5. Activate the anchor or anchors when the experience is vivid and you feel you are in the desired state, e.g. imagine the colour blue and press your thumb and index finger of your left and together. 
6. Break state: do something else - open your eyes, stand up, look around etc. 
7. Repeat steps 3-6 several times, each time making the memory and associated sensory experience stronger and stronger. 
8. Test: apply the anchor and check that the required state occurs. 
9. Important: Any time in reality when you are actually experiencing this state, strengthen the anchor by accessing it.
10. Check the anchor from time to time to ensure it is a permanent anchor. If it diminishes, repeat steps 3-9.

My Most Useful Resourceful States

As a management consultant and trainer, it is important for me to be in the best state possible. Like everyone, some days I feel down, uninspired or just tired. I decided that I don’t want to have more than two anchors otherwise I will be pinching and slapping myself all over all day! So I have chosen two resourceful states: one to combine being cool, calm and collected (3C’s on my left hand) and one to combine being energetic, excited and enthusiastic (3 E’s on my right hand).

Being Real About It All

Designer Anchors play an important part in helping us access resourceful states. You need to consider the use of anchors when you know you really need them, e.g. for an important meeting, a presentation, getting that extra bit of energy to meet a deadline, dealing with procrastination, meeting the in-laws! Designer Anchors help us in situations where we need to ‘put on the happy face’.

However, there are times when one is in an ‘unresourceful state’ and we sometimes just need to stay there for a bit. You cannot perpetually deny your feelings and emotions. If you feel sadness, grief, frustration etc - make some time to really feel those emotions. Understand them, feel them and make friends with them. Give your mind and your body the time it needs to recover.

So, now that you have read the article, give it a go and let me know how it worked for you!