Linking compulsive motivation to desired behaviors
nlparts.comThe Godiva Chocolate Pattern takes the motivational energy of a compulsion, something you feel irresistibly drawn to, and links it to a behavior you want to do but struggle to do. The name comes from its original demonstration: using the compulsive pull someone felt toward Godiva chocolate as the motivational driver for exercise.
The logic is elegant. You already have a powerful motivation engine, it’s just attached to the wrong behavior. Instead of trying to build motivation from scratch (which rarely works), you redirect the motivation you already have. The compulsion’s pull becomes the desired behavior’s pull.
This is different from the Compulsion Blowout (which destroys the compulsion) and the Swish Pattern (which replaces an unwanted response with a self-image). The Godiva Chocolate Pattern preserves and redirects the compulsive energy rather than eliminating it.
What is something you feel compulsively drawn to? It doesn’t have to be chocolate, it can be checking social media, playing a game, a specific food, shopping, or any behavior you feel a strong, automatic pull toward.
Access the feeling of the compulsion. What does that pull feel like? Where is it in your body? What are the submodalities of the internal representation that triggers the compulsion? Typically: bright, close, vivid, associated, with a strong kinesthetic pull.
What behavior do you want to do but struggle to motivate yourself to do? Exercise, writing, studying, cleaning, making sales calls, practicing an instrument. Something you know is valuable but can’t seem to start.
Create a vivid internal representation of yourself doing this behavior. Make it associated, see through your own eyes as you’re doing it. But don’t try to make it compelling yet. Just have a clear image.
Examine the compulsion image closely. What makes it so compelling?
• Is it close or far? (Usually very close.)
• Bright or dim? (Usually bright, vivid.)
• Big or small? (Usually fills much of the visual field.)
• Moving or still? (Often has movement, shimmering, pulsing.)
• Where is the kinesthetic pull? (Often in the stomach or chest, pulling forward.)
These are the submodalities that code “irresistible” in your brain.
Now construct a double image: the desired behavior appears first, filling your visual field with the compulsion’s submodality coding, bright, close, vivid, compelling. Immediately behind it or around it, the compulsion image is visible as a reward that’s available after the desired behavior.
The structure is: desired behavior (coded compulsively) → compulsion (as reward).
The desired behavior inherits the compulsion’s pull. The compulsion serves as the “light at the end of the tunnel”, still there, still motivating, but now you go through the desired behavior to get to it.
Run the linked representation five to seven times, fast. Each time:
1. See the desired behavior, coded with compulsion submodalities.
2. See or sense the compulsion reward just behind or beyond it.
3. Feel the pull activating toward the desired behavior.
4. Clear the screen. Break state briefly.
5. Repeat.
Speed matters. Like the Swish, this is a directional pattern that the brain learns through repetition and velocity.
Think about the desired behavior. What happens? If the pattern has installed correctly, you’ll feel a pull toward the behavior that wasn’t there before, a sense of “I want to do that” rather than “I should do that.”
The real test is behavioral: the next time the opportunity for the desired behavior arises, do you feel more drawn to it? Does starting feel easier?
You have a behavior you want to do but can’t seem to start.
Willpower-based motivation has failed repeatedly.
You have an existing compulsion with strong motivational energy that can be redirected.
The desired behavior is genuinely good for you (passes the ecology check).
• If you want to eliminate a compulsion entirely, use the Compulsion Blowout (Submodalities Guide Part 4).
• If you want to replace an unwanted automatic response, use the Swish Pattern (Submodalities Guide Part 3).
• If you want to redirect compulsive energy toward something productive, use the Godiva Chocolate Pattern.
These three techniques are complementary, not interchangeable. Choose based on what you want the outcome to be.
Pick a compulsion (social media, a snack, a game) and a desired behavior (exercise, writing, cleaning).
1. Access the compulsion. Map its submodalities, what makes it irresistible.
2. Build a vivid image of the desired behavior.
3. Code the desired behavior with the compulsion’s submodalities.
4. Place the compulsion as the reward behind the desired behavior.
5. Run the linked image 5–7 times fast with break states.
6. Test: think about the desired behavior. Feel different?
Give it a real-world test within 24 hours. The pull may surprise you.
NLP arts, The Godiva Chocolate Pattern
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