Fundamentals of NLP – Chapter 96

Fundamentals of NLP – Chapter 95

Fundamentals of NLP – Chapter 94

Fundamentals of NLP – Chapter 93

Spelling Strategy

This technique improves your spelling. We use a lot of the internal visual modality in this pattern. Even if you consider yourself to be more of an “auditory” or “kinesthetic” person, try this method and see how well it is working for you. There’s a lot to be said about people who stubbornly cling to their most favorite modality and almost refuse to be flexible about it, but we’ll leave it to online arguments and discussions. Do not fall into this trap—even if your most frequently used modality has been auditory, you can still use well successful strategies that depend mostly on the visual modality, such as this spelling strategy. 

View the word.

Look at the word on paper or on screen, spelled correctly.


With your eyes closed, recall a familiar, relaxing experience. 

Once you have a strong sense of the feeling, open your eyes, and look at the word.

Picture the word.

Look up and left, mentally picturing the correct spelling.

Clear your mind.

Open and close your eyes rapidly, get up, move around if you have to.

Picture the word and write it down. Check it.

Look back up and left at your mental picture of the word. 

Write it down, as if you were transcribing from that image. 

Check the spelling against the correct spelling. 

If it is wrong, go to step one.

Picture the word and write it backwards. Check it.

Return your gaze up and left to your mental picture of the word. 

This time, write it backwards, from right to left. 

Check the spelling and return to step three if it is incorrect.

Imagine the word in the color that most fits the word. Maybe ludicrous should be purple. 

When you form the word in your mind, form each letter one at a time, in a font that is very different from a typical font. If there is a letter or letter combination that you tend to get wrong when you spell the word, make those letters big and bright compared to the rest of the word when you picture it. As you picture the word, build it one syllable at a time. 

Make sure that as you imagine the word, it fits in your mental view. 

You can experiment with seeing the letters forming a circle and filling your view. 

Use your finger to trace the letters in front of you, picturing your finger actually painting the letters as if on a canvas.