What Are Metaprograms?

"People who say that life is not worthwhile are really saying that they themselves have no personal goals which are worthwhile. Get yourself a goal worth working for. Better still, get yourself a project. Always have something ahead of you to look forward to...to work for and hope for." - Dr. Maxwell Maltz

Metaprograms are perceptual filters that we habitually act on. There is so much information we could attend to and most gets ignored as we have at most nine chunks of conscious attention available.

Metaprograms are patterns we use to determine what information gets through. For example, think of a glass full of water. Now imagine drinking half of it. Is the glass half full or half empty?

Both, of course, it's a matter of viewpoint. Some people notice what is positive about a situation, what is actually their others notice what is missing. Both ways of looking are useful in each person will favor one view or the other.

Metaprograms are systematic and habitual, and we do not usually question them if they serve us reasonably well. The patterns may be the same across contexts, but few people are consistently habitual, so metaprograms are likely to change with a change of context. What holds our attention in a work environment may be different from what we pay attention to at home.

So metaprograms filter the world to help us create our own map. You can notice other people's metaprograms both through their language and behavior. Because metaprograms filter experience and we pass on our experience with language, certain patterns of language are typical of certain metaprograms.

Metaprogram Summary

1. Proactive – Reactive
The proactive person initiates action. The reactive person waits for others to initiate action and for things to happen. He will take time to analyze and understand first.

2. Towards – Away
The towards person stays focused on his or her own goals and is motivated by achievement. The away person focuses on problems to be avoided rather than goals to be achieved.

3. Internal – External
The internal person has internal standards and decides for him or herself. The external person takes standards from outside and needs direction and instruction to come from others.

4. Options – Procedures
Options people want choices and are good at developing alternatives. Procedures people are good at following set courses of procedures. They are not action-motivated and are good at following a fixed series of steps.

5. General – Specific
General people are most comfortable dealing with large chunks of information. They do not pay attention to details. Specific people pay attention to details and meets small chunks to make sense of a larger picture.

6. Match – Mismatch
People who match will mostly notice points of similarity in a comparison. People who mismatch will notice differences when making a comparison.

7. Convincer Patterns
Channel:
Visual: Need to see the evidence.
Hear: Need to be told.
Read: Need to read.
Do: Need to act.

Mode:
Number of Examples: Need to have the information a certain number of times before becoming convinced.
Automatic: Need only partial information.
Consistent: Need to have the information every time to be convinced and then only for that example.
Period of Time: Need to have the information remained consistent for some period of time.

Metaprograms are not another way of pigeon-holing people. The important questions are: can you be aware of your own patterns? What choices can you give others? They are useful guiding patterns. Learn to identify only one pattern at a time. Learn to use the skills one at a time and only use them if they are useful.

The tools are available to make rapid, lasting changes in your life, the choice is uniquely yours as to what you do with them.

The Best is yet to come!

David Martin
Answer Concepts, S.A.
answerconcepts@msn.com