Flexibility is freedom. The more flexible you are in your relationships, in business, and in general the more likely you are to “win”. (I haven’t explained the concept of “win-win or no deal” yet! Tomorrow’s post will make it all clear.) No matter what you consider a “win” for a given situation the most flexible wins.

Muscular flexibility is based on being able to stretch beyond their resting state. They lose flexibility when they maintain unnecessary tension or form in such a way as to restrict the ability to stretch. Behavioral flexibility is analogous.

So how do you develop flexibility?

A physical fitness method is to approach the current limits of a muscle group and then apply a controlled, even tension to pull the muscles beyond their previous stretching limit. Often the tension is applied via a force like gravity, a different muscle group, or a work out partner.

A chiropractic approach to built-up tension involves a controlled session where the doctor quickly “breaks through” the offending stopping point in the process of realigning the underlying muscular-skeletal system.

A physical therapy version uses controlled exercise of a joint (and it’s associated muscles and connective tissue) through it’s full range-of-motion. Often this involves a series of assisted motions through the ROM before assigning certain exercises to allow the patient to work the full ROM unassisted.

All of these methods are controlled. All involve an outside person or force. All go beyond the edges of what was previously possible.

This is why I like people like Richard Bandler, Tim Ferriss, and James Brausch. They push us beyond where we were before, offer a controlled system to follow, and/or stretch our perception of what is possible.

I had someone mention that Brausch seemed a bit extreme in his LM101 (see the previous post). I’m happy with extremes. They improve my “range-of-motion”. And just because I’ve gone to the extreme in a controlled setting doesn’t mean I must operate there. The flexibility of being able to go to these extremes gives the ability to win in more and more situations.

Are you ready for me to help push, pull, and prod you beyond your current limits? Go get three copies of Life Management 101, send the receipt, and add some NLP tools to your box.