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Circle of Excellence
Purpose - To create a state of confidence.
Explanation -
One of the methods you can use to summon up your confidence in a crisis is a mental technique called the "Circle of Excellence." It doesn't actually create competence in a skill you desire. Rather, it assumes ability,
so it gives you the ability to summon up the confidence for performing a skill.
For instance, you can use this to get rid of the fear of speaking when you have to give a talk, or boost your confidence for sports or other high performance needs.
Could there be a time in the future,
when going
into a situation, you would like to be more capable than you have been in
the past? This exercise teaches you how to plan for the future using all
the best of your past or the past of someone you know. Research has shown
that the subconscious cannot tell the difference between real practice and
imagined practice; they both prepare you for an upcoming event for which
you want to be at your best. This exercise will show you how to access
your best state any time you need it.
Here are the steps for using the Circle of Excellence, which you need to practice ahead of time in order to be able to draw upon it at will:
Step 1. Imagine an invisible circle on the floor. In your imagination, make it about 3 feet in diameter and 2 feet in front of you, something large enough to walk into. You can draw chalk on the floor if you like when you are first training to master this mental technique.
Step 2. Go inside the circle and imagine a time you were wonderful at what you want to be doing. Imagine that everything went smoothly, you were bright, funny, happy, confident, full of energy and a great success at your task. You were balanced, creative, powerful or any other positive state of your choice. You want all your memories to come up and flood your body with the good feelings of your confident performance.
Now if you don't have this particular personal history, just pretend you have this personal history. In your mind, you can use visualization to even step-into-the-shoes-of role playing of a movie hero, a living legend, or anyone you admire to get into that state you want.
Your brain cannot tell the difference between a REAL history and an IMAGINED history or the history of others, so all you have to do is emotionally capture that feeling of excellence using whatever role models or scenario playing that works for you. Go ahead, no one will know!
Step 3. Develop a full visual, auditory, kinesthetic representation of the state. Use all your sense to actually FEEL what it's like to be in that state. See yourself in the circle being wonderful... Visualize it fully. Hear what is going on around you and Overhear yourself responding wittily. Feel yourself gushing with pride, feel the greatness and calm.
Step 4. When you have added enough detail and resources, step automatically into the powerful state you've created within the circle. Move into that circle of excellence. Step into the picture of yourself, imagine it's as if you step into that person, that set of states, the whole of that experience.
Anchor this as a resource state so that you can bring it up at any time you require it. In other words, figure out how to draw upon this state at will by practicing it, and then associating some mental or physical link or cue with it to bring it back when needed. That might be tapping your fingers, holding your arms in a certain way or whatever physical link you can easily and accurately repeat. Repeat with more experiences to enhance the power of the circle of excellence.
If you come under stress in the future, you can then trigger the physical link and the feelings of that experience or experiences will return as you are back in your circle of excellence.
NOTE: This exercise does not create competence. It assumes ability is in
place. When ability is not enough and a dose of confidence is required,
this exercise works a small miracle. Please be aware of the important
difference between confidence and competence!
Clifford Wright
Basic Techniques Book II
Introductory Level NLP Workbook
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Building 
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