| How to Create a Circle of Excellence
Are there areas or interactions in your life where your performance is less than optimal? Are there real life situations that you either fear or dread that take place during the normal course of events in your life weather you like it or not? Of course there are. Everyone goes through situations like these at one time or another. Imagine being able to go into these same situations having replaced your feelings of fear, dread, nervousness, or inadequacy with feelings of confidence, competence, joy, and enthusiasm. Possible? Certainly. It’s part of a very simple and effective Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) technique called the “Circle of Excellence”. Here’s how it works:
1. First, identify a situation in your life where your mental state is less than optimal for the task at hand. It could be a fear of public speaking, coming home from work in a bad mood and taking it out on your partner, difficulty relating to your boss at work, or any other interpersonal situation in which your performance is less than optimal due to fear, hesitancy, lethargy, etc.
2. Next, identify a mental state that would be more useful in the area you would like to perform better at. For public speaking it could be confidence. You pick the context most appropriate for the situation. For the purpose of demonstrating this technique, I am going to use the example of someone who is fearful of public speaking. In such a situation, confidence would be a more resourceful mental state than fear to be in prior to giving a speech.
3. Create an mental “anchor” that you will use to affix to the desired emotional state. The most common approach is to imagine a circle on the floor in front of you that you can step into and then back out of (note: this is where the technique gets its name – “Circle of Excellence”).
4. Remember a time when you fully possessed the attribute you would like to have available to you. For confidence, close your eyes and remember a time when you felt extremely confident. Recall as much detail as possible about that situation – sights, sounds, smells, breathing patterns, body posture, etc. Fully take yourself there in your mind and experience those same feelings all over again as strongly as possible. When you experience the fullness of this state, step into the imaginary circle from step 3. Connect the fullness of this experience to the circle by noticing yourself standing there in the circle feeling this positive, resourceful state.
5. Step back out of the circle and clear your mind for a moment. Think about something completely different. Try saying your cell phone number backwards. Think of a funny joke. In NLP, this is referred to as “breaking state”.
6. Repeat steps 4 & 5 two or three times until you can imagine that circle glowing with the vibrancy of your favorite color as you step into it while feeling the fullness of your desired mental state (in this example, confidence). With a little practice, you will be able to condition your mind to enter the desired mental state whenever you envision yourself stepping into the circle.
7. Now, picture the situation in which you’d like to have this resourceful state available. For public speaking, it could be that you desire feelings of confidence just as you step up to the podium. For relating to your boss, it could be just as you walk through the threshold of his/her doorway. Imagine that circle being right there at the point where you need it. In private, practice stepping into that circle and imagining what it will be like to enter that situation with your newly available resource. Complete the exercise by noticing how your actions and responses will improve by relating to the situation in this powerful, resourceful state.
8.Now its time to put this technique to use in the real world. As you enter the situation you’ve identified, imagine stepping into that circle just before you get down to the task at hand. Imagine it glowing with the full intensity of your favorite color. As you step into the circle, begin to feel the emotions and physiology you have associated with it. If you’ve anchored properly, you should be able to bring your desired mental state into an area of your life where it was not previously available. Your results should improve. How did it go? I encourage you to try out this technique and share your comments below.
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