Anchors can be created accidentally, but can you create them to order? If you can, then you can learn to control your experience. You can use anchors to deliberately bring experiences under conscious control and produce their effects whenever you need them. For example, if you need to be confident, you can make an anchor to give you that confidence when you need it.

For example, you might feel nervous about a meeting, such as a job interview, and you want to be confident. Here’s how you can use anchors to accomplish this!

1. Recall an experience with the resource you require. For example, recall a time when you had the resource, self confidence.

2. When you experience this confidence at its maximum, touch yourself (for example, bring the thumb and forefinger together to make a circle) to anchor self confidence to the touch.

3. Recall, or imagine several other examples of being confident to strengthen your state and apply the anchor as in the previous step.

4. Test the anchor to see whether it evokes the state you want. If not repeat the above steps.

In the steps above we used feeling (or touch) to create the anchor. You joined the index finger and thumb to form a circle. You can also use a mental picture or a sound to anchor the state you want. You could, if you wished, use all three! That is you could touch yourself, recall a mental picture and a sound. For example, you could think a word, say the word “confidence”, touch your cheek, and visualize a circle. When you need to evoke the state of confidence, you would apply all the anchors.

You can apply anchors to others using these principles. For example, every time a person is in a good mood, you could cough, or make a subtle sign. You could touch them. You would does this when they were at the height of the resource state. After anchoring the state, you can recreate the state when you want to. For example, you cough and the person is in a good mood. Or if you used a sign, such as stroking your hair, then you could stroke your hair to get the other person in a good mood. When you apply the anchor, you make the sign, sound, etc, in exactly the same way that you did it when to established the anchor.