What is it that makes a Tiger Woods, a Bill Gates, a Shumacher or Leonardo Di Vinci? What is the structure of excellence, is it discoverable, is it replicable and perhaps most importantly is it possible to install the structure of excellence in ourselves and in our own lives so that we to can achieve excellence and become the architects of our passions and dreams?
If we study the lives of those that have achieved excellence in any walk of life we discover many common characteristics - hard work, dedication, a natural inclination and talent that has been developed and perfected over time, along with certain powerful supporting beliefs. Although an understanding of these traits is interesting and to some degree useful it is still quite superficial in that it does not tell us why these people are so dedicated, hard working and able to discover and develop their talents in the way that they have - it still doesn't give us the structure of excellence.
Why is it that some have big bright futures stretching out in front of them while many see their future as down right dark, gloomy and unclear. why is it that some lead lives of outstanding achievement while so many lead lives of quite desperation?
For the answer perhaps we could look to language for a clue. If someone describes their future as down right dark, gloomy and unclear and i was to ask them where in their visual field when they imagined their future the image was located and to describe its structure i would not be at all surprised to hear that the image was down and to the right, was dark and gloomy and unclear. If i was then to ask the person with the huge bright future stretching out in front of them to describe where in their visual field they saw the image of their future i would not be at all surprised to hear that it was out in front of them, that the image was big and bright. We would I'm sure find a similar pattern in the internal dialogue of these two people one being more negative, and the other positive, strong and confident and encouraging. We would also find distinct differences in the types of feelings each of them generate and experience.
So now perhaps we are getting a little closer to an understanding of what the structure of excellence really is, simply put it is the way in which we use our minds, the kind and type of pictures, sounds and feelings that we habitually run in our neurology. Those that habitually create dark gloomy unclear images and negative critical voice tones tend to experience heavy and gloomy feelings and as a result can feel, down stuck or depressed. Those who tend to use big bright pictures and strong encouraging internal dialogue tend to generate positive, strong feelings and as a result are more motivated, happier and feel better about life, themselves and the future.
So could it really that simple - could the difference between those that live lives of quiet desperation and those that are able to get themselves to consistently do what is necessary for the achievement of excellence be as simple as the types of pictures, feelings and sounds they habitually use? The answer it seams is - yes.
The types of pictures and sounds and associated feelings we create in our neurology create the states that we experience, and state is the master key to excellence for in the right state we make better decisions, have access to much more of our resources and can achieve much more success and even excellence.
There is a psychological technology called neuro linguistic programing or NLP for short. NLP has been described as the user manual for the mind and to put it in the simplest terms is a set of tools that enable us to model the very structure of excellence in others and replicate and install that excellence in ourselves. NLP enables us to understand and change the types of images, sounds and feelings we habitually run and install new more useful strategies. The results of which can often bringing about fast, dramatic and lasting changes.
I am talking about a set of tools that enables us to discover and install the very structure of excellence itself. For surely each and everyone of us has it in us to achieve our own personal definition of success and perhaps with a better understanding of the structure of excellence who knows what we may all still achieve.