May 2025

The attention direction filter in NLP helps identify whether a person tends to prioritize their own needs or those of others. In situations where there’s a clash of interests, whose needs come first? Do you naturally look after yourself before others, or the other way around? Like all filters, this one limits what gets noticed.

It’s an interesting question—can a whole country have a personality? While it’s certainly a broad generalization, Australia Day seems like the perfect moment to reflect on the traits I’ve seen again and again in many Aussies I’ve met over the years. As someone who didn’t grow up in Australia, certain qualities stood out immediately. Australians

This Meta program reveals whether a person is primarily motivated by possibility or by necessity. It helps explain why people make the choices they do—and whether they see those choices as opportunities or obligations. This filter also plays a role in how we generate motivation and how we perceive our freedom of choice. It shares

One of the fundamental meta programs that shapes how we think, decide, and evaluate is our frame of reference. It governs where we derive authority for our decisions and how we judge our achievements. Essentially, it answers: “Whose standards or approval do I rely on—my own or someone else’s?” Your reference point can shift depending

In understanding how people approach tasks and decisions, we can observe a key difference: some prefer exploring various possibilities (Options), while others focus on following set methods (Procedures). This filter, known as the Operational Style by Michael Hall and Motivation Reason by Shelle Rose Charvet, plays a critical role in how we function across different

Convincer Mode is part of our internal mental framework—called a Meta program—that influences how we come to trust something or someone after we’ve gathered relevant information. It is shaped by our past experiences with trust. Some people are naturally cautious, rarely taking things at face value, while others are more open and ready to believe

A belief is something you hold to be true based on what has convinced you. Convincer Strategies describe the ways in which you or others come to adopt these beliefs initially—and how those beliefs can later be changed. Understanding this is very useful when you want to persuade someone to accept your product, service, or

This Meta program relates to whether a person prefers to focus on the big picture or the finer details. It’s about the size of information chunks someone feels comfortable processing. People who think globally tend to get bored or overwhelmed by too many details, while those who are specific may find broad summaries frustrating and

The relationship filter, sometimes called the sameness-difference filter or matching-mismatching filter, plays a key role in shaping personality and influences how we respond to change. It affects the way we compare and interpret information. When someone uses the sameness or matching filter, they tend to focus on what things or situations have in common. Conversely,